> I'm confused by two things:
>
> 1) Why you're asking this question on a mailing list when you
> could just
> try it in about 30 seconds?
> In fact, I think trying it would've been faster than writing the mail.
(That comes across as a bit rude.)
Sometimes people, novice or otherwise, don't know what to try because
they're missing some, perhaps very small, piece of information. The
answer might be obvious to you. Unless you're fairly familiar with SVN,
it may not be obvious how to cut a working copy down, and what the
consequences of doing that, or distributing it might be.
Some, particularly novice, users might even be unaware of the existence
of the .svn directories (both Windoze and Linux have methods of
partially hiding them). (Clearly the questioner in this case *is* aware
of this.)
If the answer to a question is not found on the mailing list already, or
in the documentation, then asking a question on a forum like this may
well be a person's quickest route to a solution, especially if the
answer is simple and already exists within the head of some other
convenient person.
I think most askers of questions appreciate that most answerers of
questions are busy people too. If you're too busy to answer a question
then don't; if you're too busy to read a question, well, then don't.
(I've certainly posted many questions to this list that have remained
unanswered; but many others have been answered.)
Besides, part of the purpose of a mailing list is to provide answers to
questions as a broadcast, so others can benefit.
As such, Merul's original question is a good one, even if the answer is
obvious or is just "don't do that".
> 2) As Ryan already asked: What would be the advantage??
I do agree with Ryan and Holger here... there are better things to
distribute.
You could distribute a Batch file (for Windoze users) and/or a Bash
script (for Linux users) containing the simple checkout command(s),
perhaps complete with revision numbers. It's probably just as easy to
just paste the required command(s) into an email.
Here are some other notes:
* If you distribute a compressed working copy, the zip might not contain
the correct file flags (e.g. read-only).
* Beware that Windoze XP's built-in compression does not include hidden
files and directories (by default at least; I don't know if you can
change that behaviour).
* If you distribute a "--depth empty" working copy, you will still need
to explain that update will require "--depth infinity" the first time.
* If you distribute a working copy, it may not be compatible with all
the clients your users have.
All in all, I think distributing working copies is a bad idea.
Personally, I'd just supply the required command clearly in an email (or
on a web page, or whatever).
I hope this helps, and adds to what has already been said.
Rob.
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Received on 2009-02-26 18:02:12 CET