Hi folks,
As many know already, Subversion is currently unable to properly deal
with the checking out and maintaining of partially populated working
copies. The existence of the svn tool's -N options to checkout and
update suggest otherwise, but it turns out that the use of the -N flag
gives you only temporarily partial working copies at best, and broken
working copies at worst. Issue number #695 in the Subversion Issue
Tracker details this problem. See
http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=695 for details.
This state of affairs has been particularly troubling to some/many of us
that switched over to Subversion after significant experience with CVS.
CVS was able to maintain partial working copies, and so we CVS converts
know particularly well what we're now missing. CVS aside, many
development houses with larger source trees must be wishing that they
could limit the scope of their Subversion working copies.
So, after a few failed attempts at pushing things along myself, I
propose a new solution....a Hired Gun...
I am SOLICITING PLEDGES of monetary donations towards hiring someone to
fix Subversion Issue #695. I will seed the kitty with $1000 to start
things off. If you are interested in contributing to this cause, please
send me an email message stating any solid pledge you can make. As on
eBay, Please don't make a pledge unless you plan to follow through
should we find the right individual(s) to do this work. For significant
pledges ($500+), please feel free to state that you want Green Light
Approval Rights before you commit. I will endeavor to draft a plan for
fixing #695 that must be pre-approved by the Subversion core developers
and significant pledgers before giving the Green Light and committing
our monies. I may even put my $1000 on the line to get to that point.
And be assured...I have no interest in paying for a hack. If we pay for
anything, we're going to pay to have this fix done right for the benefit
of the entire Subversion community.
Regarding how much we actually pay to get this work done...this isn't a
sweepstakes. If, upon evaluating the scope of this task, it turns out
that the monies available are beyond those necessary to somewhat
generously pay an individual/group to do the work, we will prorate the
actual pledge amounts appropriately. For example, if we raise twice the
amount necessary, each pledger will be expected to pay half his/her
original pledge. I'll endeavor to keep open communications with all
involved as to the state of the project at any point in time.
So if you are interested in making a pledge towards the cause of Issue
#695, please send me an email.
If you are a programmer who thinks he/she is capable of affecting a
quality fix for #695, please contact me as well. I can pay you $1000
right now. We'll have to see how well I do at raising more funds.
Thanks all for considering my plea.
Steve Johnson
Vice President of R & D
Equilibrium
Received on Sat May 13 00:40:30 2006