Re: the FAQ, and de-emphasizing the whole "project" thing

See proposed changes below...

On Saturday 13 September 2008, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
> 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.

+ "Firstly, Subversion has no concept of projects. Everything a repository
+ contains is a file tree. The interpretation of what constitutes a project
+ in that tree is completely left up to the user. This is similar to branching
+ and tagging, which are also conventions built upon Subversion instead of
+ rules built into Subversion itself.
+
+ Now, this means that the revision number attached to the repository will
+ always be a sequential number given to the repository as a whole.
+ The global revision number attached to the repository

> 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.

+ I you want to attach a version number to your project, use the
+ filesystem. This works in a way similar to branching and tagging
+ (maybe tagging is even just what you want!) and documented here
+ <link>TODO</link>.

> "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 think this paragraph is way too technical and abstract. I would drop it
completely.

> 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.

I second that.

Uli

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