Re: wc format version bump for file externals?

On Tue, Jun 10, 2008 at 08:52:23AM -0500, kmradke_at_rockwellcollins.com wrote:
> > Besides, what's so bad with requiring people to check out new working
> > copies when they upgrade to a new non-patch release? I hope we don't
> > have users who consider checking out a new working copy the end of the
> > world.
>
> The biggest problem is users that use multiple clients. Think of a
> windows user that has TortoiseSVN, Subclipse, and the command line
> utils installed. They must be smart enough to upgrade all at the
> same time.

Or just not use the same working copy with different clients
written against mismatching versions of the svn API.

Once they bump one of their clients to a higher version, it
will auto-upgrade the working copy format anyway. The other
clients will stop touching the working copy if they're not
upgraded as well.

> A lot of our users are more and more nontechnical,
> so they might not even know all the steps.

Sure, but I don't think we should stop adding new features to the
working copy because of that. Sometimes, there's no way around a
working copy format bump. I agree that in your situation it would
help to avoid the bump. But then, it often boils down to either
having the working copy format stay the same or having new features.

> (We also have the added burden of needing to support "old"
> Eclipse installs which may not even have a newer Subclipse
> build that matches the wc format.)
>
> I'm not against bumping the format, just envisioning my pain
> at trying to coordinate the upgrades for thousands of users
> on a few hundred different projects. Ugh...

If people really want to use so many different clients all
at once with the same working copy, then they need to deal
with the pain this can involve. If you tell your non-technical
users to do this as an admin, then you need to deal with it.

You could tell them to use one working copy per client, and have
them commit to a branch if they really need to transfer changes
between their various working copies without disturbing main line.

> Looking forward to wc 2.0 which solves all the worlds problems... :)

I'd be surprised if "not supporting working copy format bumps"
was a design goal for wc-2.0.

Stefan