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Re: Subversion "labels" vs. "tags"

From: Julian Foad <julianfoad_at_btopenworld.com>
Date: 2005-05-24 00:36:14 CEST

David Weintraub wrote:
> For example, I'd like to use an older version
> of a particular file in my current working directory. If I knew the
> version number, I could do this:
>
> $ svn update -r<REV> foo.c
>
> But, I can't use the "svn update" with a tag at all. Instead, I have
> to use svn copy:

No, no, no. Use "switch" for that. Have you read the Subversion book? I
believe it explains how "switch" is the more general form of "update", able to
change your WC to reflect another place in your project tree (e.g. to a tag) as
well as another point in time.

Ah, but maybe you are assuming that tags or labels only refer to a previous
version of the current line of development of a file - that is, a direct
ancestor of the current head. If you want a "label" to be strictly a synonym
for a revision number, that's a much easier problem and one which is pretty
much separate from (orthogonal to) Subversions's tags. You haven't yet said
(on this list) what you want a "label" to be.

> The reason we decided to start the discussion over here was to allow
> the developers their say. How do they feel about adding a particular
> set of features? What is the best way to implement such a feature? Is
> it really worth the time and effort? Does it fit in with the way
> Subversion currently works?

You've probably gathered by now how most developers feel about the way tagging
is done:

o The status quo is intentionally very flexible.
o It works sufficiently well in practice.
o The command-line user interface is more clumsy than it need be for the
common use cases. There is room for improvement and we are glad to discuss this.
o GUIs can provide a much slicker interface.
o A need for an alternative or additional tagging concept has not been
sufficiently demonstrated by anyone.

I am sorry if I haven't yet understood what you are asking for.

- Julian

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Received on Tue May 24 00:36:58 2005

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