Re: using libsvn_fs standalone

On Tue, Jun 10, 2003 at 04:06:23PM +0100, Tim Hawkins wrote:
> Im looking at using libsvn_fs in a standalone mode as a versioned contentstore for a content management system.
>
> Features I would like to implement over the lib are:
>
> 1. Timetravelled content store, ie view repository at a given date/time.

No problem.

> 2. File/directory meta data, attach additional versioned non-svn metadata to files/directories.

libsvn_fs records versioned metadata for files and dirs. There is
unversioned metadata on a per-revision basis.

> 3. Add DASL type query support on said metadata.

You would need to create separate indices, which you'd keep up to date each
time you made a change to the FS data. The FS API does not have adhoc query
facilities.

[ for our readers out there: http://www.webdav.org/dasl/ ]

> 4. Add a WVCM style object api over the libary.

Should be possible, I'd think. We already export a subset of the DeltaV
protocol, so I see no reason that a versioning API couldn't also be applied
over the top of the FS.

[ for our readers out there: http://www.webdav.org/deltav/wvcm/ ]

> Questions:
>
> 1. Has anybody had any experience of using libsvn_fs outside of the subversion project?, and do the panel belive there would be any major problems with using it in this fashion.

Absolutely. See the SubWiki project at http://subwiki.tigris.org/. It stores
and serves all of the Wiki content directly in/out of an SVN FS repository.
Of course, the neat thing is that you can also use standard SVN to alter the
Wiki content, but SubWiki works just fine without that. It uses the Python
bindings to do its dirty work.

I'm not aware of any other projects directly using the FS, though.

> 2. Is there any usable documentation on the libsvn_fs api?

See svn_fs.h.

> 3. Is any of the above worth attempting to export back to the svn project?.

I'd be interested in seeing the WVCM stuff. Note that we already have some
work progressing on Java bindings against the various SVN libraries. I don't
have a good handle on their status (I stick with the Python bindings). But
in any case, adding a WVCM layer, bound against the SVN FS or REPOS
libraries would be a fantastic win.

Regarding the DASL stuff, I wouldn't see a lot of utility there until we get
a SQL backend, which can then support the adhoc query facilities provided by
DASL. (altho.. note that DASL *can* limit what is possible to query; you can
arrange it such that DASL only queries the particular subset of items that
you happen to index)

Cheers,
-g

-- 
Greg Stein, http://www.lyra.org/
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