Re: Kudos to svn for what it is. (was Re: general replies, last in thread?)

On Wed, Feb 06, 2002 at 06:59:34AM -0600, Eric W. Sink wrote:
>
> Greg Stein writes:
>
> > Our choices are not the same as yours. Leave it at that.
>
> This whole conversation seems to be happening absent a
> clear reminder of Subversion's goals and the laudable
> degree to which the team has pursued them. This project
> is an effort to develop a compelling replacement for
> CVS. Everything else is out of scope.
>
> It's not easy to keep a true focus. The svn team deserves
> a pat on the back for the discipline to stay on task.
>
> Every now and then, somebody comes along and wants to compare
> their SCM tool to see which is bigger.
>
> Wouldn't it be more appropriate to just suggest that Tom Lord
> go have a nice argument with Larry McVoy? ;-)
>
> --
> Eric W. Sink
> eric@sourcegear.com
> http://www.ericsink.com/

May I applaud Eric's sentiment?

As a long-time CVS user and lurker on the CVS lists, I've followed
many "my tool is bigger than yours" discussions. I always felt
that one of the secrets of CVS's success was that the developers
stayed on-track and kept CVS well-focused, not as the CM tool
to end all CM tools, but as the best CM tool it could possibly
be, given its goals and constraints.

Those goals and constraints were modest, but well-targeted
on the needs of many an overworked software developer.

We responded by beating a path to CVS's door.

I believe Subversion has an exceedingly good start at emulating
these virtues which helped drive CVS's success. Please accept
my praise and encouragement, and please preserve what looks
to an outsider like a well-defined mission and good sense among
the developer community concerning the fine and all-too-often
mistaken distinction between a nice feature addition, and one that
could lead to destructive mission creep.

-- 
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