Switching from CVS to Subversion: test svn repo available

[Adrian Simmons]

First, a little Hello,

I'm Adrian Simmons and I've been subscribed to gnucash-user for some time, but 
decided I'd come and lurk here for a while, and though I'm only a web geek at 
least see if I can help out somewhere. I run Gnucash on OS X via Fink.

Chris Shoemaker wrote:
> Giving one more person commit access
> WON'T FIX THE PROBLEM.
The open source project I've been most involved in is Drupal, the web CMS, and 
this really strikes a cord - every few months someone suggests that Drupal-core 
needs more than it's current three committers. You're right, it really won't help.

> Their patches take weeks, months,
> or even almost a year to apply, often with no comment or feedback save
> perhaps "applied".
<snip>
> It's also clear from the commit and mailing list history that
> this problem is getting WORSE with time.
I'd suggest that something more formal than a mailing list might help. Take a 
look at Drupal's patch queue:
http://drupal.org/project/issues?projects=3060&states=8,13,14

This provides a central place for people to provide patches, comment on them, 
improve them, receive feedback etc. Until a patch is rejected the code never 
gets lost, and the contribution is visible. Contributers can monitor the 
progress of their patch, and have a URL to point to when advocating it. Would 
something like this help Gnucash?

(I'm speaking as someone unaware of how Gnucash devel currently proceeds here, 
so I may be off the mark..) There is a secondary element here though, it's not 
enough just to submit patches, usually a project will need more than the core 
commiters to review patches. If 'fringe' developers also review other developers 
patches it will help the core developers decide which patches to apply, and 
should speed progress though the queue. Admittedly reviewing patches is a lot 
less exciting than writing new code, but it has to be done and it's better if 
everybody joins in.

I think a web based patch queue would help with that too.

I'm not suggesting it would have to be based on Drupal. There may well be better 
options.

>> GnuCash handles people's money!  People need to be able to trust the 
>> code.  This
>> means limited commit access and gatewaying of patches.
I'd support that, a limited set of core commiters can help to ensure code 
quality and a solid overall architecture of the product. There is always going 
to be a tension between the latter and the rapid addition of new features.

>> If you really want a distributed SCM, consider SVK.
One of the plus factors of switching from CVS to SVN is that it's not all that 
different at the level of the command line. It's pretty easy to make the switch, 
not a lot of new commands or syntax to learn. And debates about SCM philosophy 
aside, SVN *is* better than CVS. Sometimes little steps are better than giant leaps.

-- 
adrinux (aka Adrian Simmons) <http://adrinux.perlucida.com>
e-mail <mailto:adrinux at gmail.com>
AOL/Yahoo IM: perlucida, Microsoft: adrian at perlucida.com