Fwd: [ODE] From unstable to trunk...

[J. Perkins]

Doh, I hit "reply" instead of "reply all"

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: J. Perkins <starkos at gmail.com>
Date: Jul 1, 2005 7:35 AM
Subject: Re: [ODE] From unstable to trunk...
To: "Jon Watte (ODE)" <hplus-ode at mindcontrol.org>


On 6/30/05, Jon Watte (ODE) <hplus-ode at mindcontrol.org> wrote:
> Is it time to change to something like Perforce or Subversion, which
> tracks specific related change sets? It's much easier to integrate "this
> particular patch" with those tools.

Coming in late to this discussion...I use Subversion on the day job to
manage incoming changes to a large website. I never thought about it
before but it is pretty similar to the task the ODE maintainers face:
several people working on modifications, which then need to be
reviewed before they can be accepted in the trunk. Subversion has
handled this brilliantly for us (I'm sure Perforce is even better, but
I haven't used it and while it is free I don't know of any repository
hosting services that support it).

Switching to Subversion would definitely help ODE development.
Branching and merging are much simpler (IMHO). If someone want to make
a change, create a branch and let them do it. I can now merge the
changes from their branch into my working copy -- much easier than
finding and applying a patch (and I can back it out later). And unlike
a patch, we can collaborate on improving the branch. When it is ready
it can be easily merged with the trunk. And if nothing else, putting
every patch in a branch makes it easy to find and test them.

A system for collecting feedback about patches would also be
great...right now there is no good way to know how many people have
tried a patch. The SF.net tracker would probably be sufficient and is
already available. I would happy to tack a note onto the patches I
have tried.

I also agree with Gary R. Van Sickle: the quickest, easiest way
forward is for someone to start checking the patches into the stable
branch. I wish one of the maintainers would explain why they are so
protective of the stable branch (not criticising, just curious). It
seems like there is a lot of good work simmering right below the
surface.

Jason