[wp-hackers] WordPress plugins SVN server malfunctioning?

[Justas Butkus]

Actually you got me. :-)

On 2013.01.15 21:32, Otto wrote:
> I'm not so much in favor of those things in all cases.:)
>
> Call me "ad-hoc" if you like, but when you say "structure", what I see
> is "bureaucracy". I've been in enough programming shops to see this
> sort of thing, and frankly I prefer the wild and sometimes messy world
> of Open-Source.
> - Standards are fine, if they're flexible and not rigidly enforced
> beyond reasonable limitations.
> - Unit Testing is fine, when you have a large and well-defined scope,
> which you rarely have.
> - Documentation is fine, but the best documentation for a programmer
> should be the source itself.
>
> I'm not discounting all-the-things, I'm saying that all things have
> their place, and you don't need to rigidly adhere to them at all
> times.
>
> If you want to do local version control in your development, good for
> you. I don't. I've never needed it before. If I wasn't sharing my code
> with others or collaborating on a project with others, then I'd have
> absolutely no need for version control in my life and probably would
> not use it.

That may be due to the fact, that I have been a bit too deep into 
scientific environment.

Not the kind, where you are expected to put down your signature under 
any variable used (hereby signed, I, Justas, confirm, that I will use 
"integer" type variable "$count_of_plugins" in the context of "plugins 
directory", since version "alfa-beta-and-until-omega"), but still - the 
one, with an accountability for what you do. And where you may make a 
change, run all the tests (some may be procedural), and after a full 
year and a half understand, that you actually needed to use 
pre-pre-previous build, since when thousands of coefficients have been 
changed...

That's off-topic, really.
But that's the reason, why I use SVN to keep '/etc' of my own PC. That's 
a habit, and a damn good one. Like the one, to wash hands on a regular 
basis, or see where you are putting your feet.
And so I have learned, that it helps.

So sure I understand, that at times, on some projects, you may very well 
keep yourself perfectly organized, without any kind of version control. 
IF you are that organized, IF you know and differentiate perfectly well, 
when there is a need to commit, and when not, IF you can foresee future 
and know, you won't feel sorry for your choice.

But to apply this on a general basis - that's a drastic approach.
As in most cases - the environment changes.
I am by no chance in favour of bureaucracy, but sure I am in for a 
chance to take a different path, from where you have left long time ago.

As long as I recognize, that (once again - for a developer like you) it 
may be possible to get out without any version control, or some other 
things, it does not sound like a good practice to recommend such 
adoptions widely.
I have seen far more and worse solutions made by people, who started 
without any version control, because "they know how", and far less from 
those, who were taught to use version control and other whistles-and-bells.
Of course, one may say, that that's just statistics, and some people may 
be taught anything and still write poor code.

I just wanted to put an accent on my point...


-- 
Regards,
Justas B.