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RE: Re: Is CVS better for viewing commit history??

From: Reedick, Andrew <jr9445_at_ATT.COM>
Date: 2007-12-21 20:36:48 CET

> -----Original Message-----
> From: 4larryj [mailto:4larryj@gmail.com]
> Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 1:15 PM
> To: users@subversion.tigris.org
> Subject: Re: Is CVS better for viewing commit history??
>
>
> I really appreciate all the discussion my post has provoked. I'm glad
> I'm
> not the only one who misses this feature. It's interesting the
> differing
> viewpoints you hear from people who
>
> -- rarely use CVS and therefore minimize the value of this feature, or
> -- use a different branching strategy , such as frequent short-lived
> branches, 1 per bug, where this feature would not be so important.

There's also a third viewpoint: most tools are moving towards a change
set paradigm. Tracking individual files is becoming less useful since
multiple files can be modified to implement a single change (you cannot
deliver or merge just one file out of the three that were changed and be
successful,) and because of inter-dependencies between changes or
features (you have to deliver feature X with middleware change Y.)

And since features/changes can be checked-in over several revisions, you
probably need to start tracking things by bug/defect/ticket number.
Since CVS/SVN's history isn't aware of bug/defect/ticket numbers, the
ability to walk the logs for individual files across branches becomes
much less important.

If your process centers around change sets, then you're probably using
bug/defect/ticket dependency checkers and a change management system.
Once you're at that point, tracking individual file history isn't
terribly useful.

 

> In our environment we use long-running branches, merged often to the
> trunk,
> and back into other long-running branches. There are pros and cons to
> this,
> but trust me, in this environment, the comprehensive commit history
> provided
> by CVS is imperative for keeping developers in the loop on what others
> are
> working on.

Ok, so you're using CVS to track features/defects/bugs/tickets/whatever
instead of a formal change management tool. So it's just a difference
of scale and/or data-mining. Folks who don't miss CVS's commit history
are probably relying more on the change management tool to manage the
lifecycle at a higher level.

 
> I'm happy and surprised that the new 'Merge Tracking' feature of
> Subversion 1.5 will include this feature. I figured all it would
> provide was a saved repository version number so the developer
> doesn't have to search the logs before performing the next merge.
> But if it provides comprehensive file history as well, then I'm a
> happy camper!

> 7. **PROBLEM** Viewing history on the trunk does not show me the
> intermediate commits made on the branch. The only commits I will see
> are those made on the trunk, and then one that says 'merged from
> Branch A to trunk'. If a developer on the branch made a commit
> comment with some vital information, I will never see it if I do
> search the history from the trunk.
>
> This is a big downside, does everyone agree? In CVS all changes made
to
> a file, no matter on what branch, are viewable with a single history
> command.

Err.. 1.5 won't list the intermediate commits made on the branch. It
will highlight the merge points though:
        http://blogs.open.collab.net/svn/2007/06/merge_auditing_.html
        
http://merge-tracking.open.collab.net/servlets/ProjectProcess?documentCo
ntainer=c2__Sample%20repository

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Received on Sun Dec 23 01:27:23 2007

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