S.Ramaswamy wrote:
 > >
 > > Interestingly with a distributed model, the notion of commit access may not
 > > be that important at all. Nobody commits directly to the Linus git
 > > repository of the kernel except himself yet we have that model scaling
 > > incredibly well. Just a side note.
 > >
 > 
 > This line of reasoning is slightly bizarre.Getting your code into an
 > official release is not just a matter of cloning a repository and then
 > committing changes locally with a distributed version control system.
 > Regardless of the nature of the version control system there are
 > always gatekeepers who choose to accept or reject your changes. In the
 > case of subversion it's the committers and in the case of Linux it's
 > Linus' gatekeepers like Andrew Morton. I can clone the Linux git tree
 > and commit locally, but one of the kernel gatekeepers has to accept
 > it. Otherwise it's not going to get into the official Linux kernel.
 > 
 > What Senthil has achieved is not merely making code changes, but
 > getting them accepted through a review process. Congrats Senthil.
 > 
 > I think the distributed version control  guys have not been able to
 > articulate well their case well, and have been throwing out this "You
 > don't need commit access with DVCS" marketing bit. There actually
 > might be a few scenarios for which the DVCS approach is suited (like
 > the Linux kernel), but those have not been explained well so far
 > AFAIK.

Distributed version systems work well for a multiple of reasons.
I don't need constant network connectivity. I can hack away on a local tree and 
send
a pull request when I am done. Branch creation is local and not remote, which 
makes it
almost instantaneous, merging becomes a really trivial affair.
I have the entire history locally, so tracing/bisecting a bad commit is 
possible.

Yes, you are right that there a few final gatekeepers who manage the releases, 
but
it encourages a model where your code will be reviewed by many people before
finally being accepted. And code review is surely a good thing. :)

Sujith
-- 
http://sujith-m.blogspot.com
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