Switching from CVS to Subversion: test svn repo available

[Chris Shoemaker]

On Tue, Oct 25, 2005 at 01:12:31PM -0400, Josh Sled wrote:
> On Tue, Oct 25, 2005 at 01:00:35PM -0400, Chris Shoemaker wrote:
> 
> | On Tue, Oct 25, 2005 at 10:14:46AM -0400, Dan Widyono wrote:
> | > So.
> | > 
> | > Is it possible for me to jump in, pull SVN down, install SVN + SVK on my
> | > workstation, diddle away using my own local personal branch, submit frequent
> | > patchsets to the list, and when all is said and done, submit my branch
> | > somehow to the central repository for safekeeping?
> | 
> | If you figure out (or if someone knows) how to preserve history in
> | that last step, I'm very interested to learn.
> | 
> | However, even if you lose the history, there are some advantages to
> | that method, and I will probably be moving to adopt a similar process.
> 
> Chris, you expressed some hesitation about SVK before; I confess I've
> not had time to adequately look at it, myself.  Pros?  Cons?

I'm pretty frustrated with SVK at the moment.  I've put about 4
hours effort into installation alone and I haven't succeeded yet.  It
doesn't even seem like I'm close.  I'm trying to write a HowTo for
installing SVK on FC4 (preview at www.codesifter.com/svkOnFedora.html)
but it's obviously not worth anything unless it works.

It seems it will happily install without all the dependencies, just
not run.  It thinks it can auto-install required modules, but some of
them fail to build and it just blindly skips them.  *Some* of the
modules are available as rpms, but even after installing 250 (no
kidding) rpms I don't have a working install.

I wonder if my troubles are because I'm using version 1.05.  I'm not
sure if I should try an older version or push forward.  The
documentation is pretty lousy compared to CVS, SVN and git/cogito.

And so far, when things have gone wrong, the error messages have not
been suggestive of the corrective actions.

It's especially frustrating since git/cogito took 30 seconds to
install (yumable), about 4 hours of understanding the *concepts* by
reading the (nice) docs, and I had the full repo imported and I was
branch-hopping in seconds.  I even had time to peruse the surprisingly
concise code (just a handful of c files and scripts).  They've both
been work, but so far, SVK has been mind-numbingly frustrating, while
git/cogito was enlightening and inspiring.

Honestly, the only reason I'm still trying to get SVK to work is that
I'm so darn stubborn! :) (plus, if this ends up being the recommended
approach, I want to have a HowTo for new devs.)

Assuming I get it to work, I'll probably have more to say then.

-chris