"Robert P. J. Day" <rpjday_at_crashcourse.ca> writes:
> from the svn FAQ (http://subversion.tigris.org/faq.html):
>
> "Why does the entire repository share the same revision number? I want
> each of my projects to have their own revision numbers.
>
> "The global revision number attached to the repository as a whole
> is meaningless from a user's perspective. It's an internal mechanism
> that accomplishes the goal of the underlying schema design. It just so
> happens to be exposed so that the user's interface can sometimes be a
> little more convenient than always having to type obnoxiously long
> date/time strings.
>
> "The revision number is only relevant to the repository, and user
> convenience. It has no impact on any other factor of what you store in
> the repository. Repository revision number bumps aren't nearly useful
> enough to be an accurate indication of the real rate of change of a
> given code base. There are other more complicated ways to get a much
> better picture of a code-base's rate of change."
>
> i've whined about this before, but i don't think the above is
> really as informative as it could be since it doesn't really hammer
> home the idea that there is ***no such thing*** as a "project" in
> subversion, and i think that misunderstanding still has the potential
> to lead newbies badly astray.
>
> personally, i wish the word "project" was dropped entirely from any
> discussion of subversion since it can only confuse the issue. but if
> it's going to be addressed in the FAQ, perhaps it should be stressed
> that "projects" are simply an interpretation placed on a repo's
> contents by the user, and they mean nothing beyond that. that might
> clear up some beginner confusion.
We can't get rid of the word entirely, because many people already
arrive at the FAQ thinking in terms of projects, and even if we wanted
to teach them not to we'd still have to use the word just to start
talking about the problem.
But anyway, there are many ways in which it is useful to think in terms
of projects (e.g., top-level subdirs in your repository). We just want
users to understand that Subversion isn't (currently) aware of those
projects.
A good solution would be a FAQ entry explaining the situation, and then
we could link the word "project" from all the other entries to that
entry.
Would you care to write it?
-Karl
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: users-unsubscribe_at_subversion.tigris.org
For additional commands, e-mail: users-help_at_subversion.tigris.org
Received on 2008-09-14 01:28:31 CEST