[ On Wednesday, February 16, 2000 at 22:11:48 (-0800), Terris wrote: ]
> Subject: Re: OK, Remove the locks then...
>
> The argument which goes like this:
>
> "hey if you want locking use another product..."
>
> Doesn't fit the requirement for a centralized
> repository for source code and web content.
Pardon my bluntness, but anyone with such a requirement doesn't have a
clue what they're talking about!
In any case there are ample numbers of other products that could fulfill
such a requirement even if it were not the "right" thing to do.
If you want locking then do not use CVS!
> Content, such as HTML and GIFs,
> can not be merged. Source code can.
HGML certainly can be automatically merged successfully. It *is* source
code. Some HTML generators format it in very useless ways, but that's
no excuse.
GIFs can in effect also be merged if they're generated programatically.
I.e. you merge the source to the diagraming program.
GIFS could probably be automatically merged with image analysis too.
> Locking is evil. But it's a necessary evil.
No, it is not necessary. Not even for unmergable files. Have you not
been paying attention to the critical points in this discussion?
> CVS is missing other functionality regarding
> locking -
>
> 1. It's not easy to create a report of the
> files that have been locked, including
> who locked them and how long they've been
> locked
> 2. Locking is a hidden feature - nobody can
> find it under "admin" (by design, probably)
Patient: It hurts when I lock my files.
Doctor: Don't do that!
Yes, 'cvs admin -l' should probably be restricted and perhaps even
permanently disabled. However it's no different than giving C
programmers pointers to play with. When some tool has sharp pointy
parts you have to treat it with caution.
> WebDAV may make this a moot point. CVS's
> days may be numbered.
I certainly do hope that CVS is no longer used for purposes WebDAV
excells at! The sooner such users "go away" the less flack they'll try
to deliver to the CVS community.
> They certainly are numbered
> if CVS can't effectively manage content. It can't
> handle UNICODE files either (that's my experience
> anyway) and that is a big problem because XML
> files can be UNICODE. XML will become the
> dominant format for content, and the system
> that best handles XML will win.
UNICODE files are text files. If you can 'diff' them then you can merge
them with existing tools. XML is no different than HTML -- it is a
textual source code too.
--
Greg A. Woods
+1 416 218-0098 VE3TCP <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> <robohack!woods>
Planix, Inc. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; Secrets of the Weird <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
