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Sparse Working Copy Checkout Personal Evaluation, kudo and complaint

From: Mark Swann <mswann_at_echo-inc.com>
Date: 2007-12-11 23:40:53 CET

I installed the file
"TortoiseSVN-1.4.99.11575-dev-win32-svn-1.5.0dev.msi" to evaluate and
preview the SVN 1.5 updates. Mind you, I tested the 1.5 client against a
1.4.x SVN server, so the "issue" I found may be related to that.
 
BTW, I love the new Repo Browser, so a very big "Thank You".
 
I was particularly interested in how TortoiseSVN facilitates the new
Sparse Working Copy Checkout, so I performed a few experiments and came
to the following conclusions:
 
(1) The process is way too tedious, especially if the directory you are
checking out is nested multiple directories deep. You have to check out
each ancestor directory one at a tedious time until you finally reach
the directory you really want. The Repo Browser Context Menu needs to
allow the "Update item to revision" option on any directory that has a
near or distant ancestor that is already checked out, and Tortoise
should checkout out all intermediate ancestors automatically.
 
(2) The normal procedure for checking in your changes should be to first
perform an Update, then a Commit. OOPS! Not with a sparse working copy,
you don't! If you make the mistake of doing what is intuitive (an
Update), you will suddenly find your working copy is no longer so
sparse. This feature is way bad. I don't know if this reflects SVN's
intentions but you should never add a feature that makes it easier for
the user to make a mistake. I don't care if you have provided an
alternative proper way to do the update, which is also very tedious, you
should make the sparseness of the working copy transparent to normal
daily use, i.e. you must allow the normal Update/Commit procedure
without retrieving all the un-checked-out files in the tree.
 
Please respond to this enquiry, and thanks for making such a great tool.
 
Mark Swann
Sr. Programmer Analyst
Electronic Clearing House, Inc.
 
 
 
Received on Wed Dec 12 03:36:13 2007

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