[wp-hackers] Switching from SVN

[Otto]

On Fri, Dec 10, 2010 at 12:13 AM, Brian Layman <bulk at thecodecave.com> wrote:
> It all depends upon the paradigm.  It seems strange to me too, but I can
> definitely see advantages, especially in a corporate environment with many
> hands at various skill levels are in the mix.  The real issue I see is that
> you really don't use the repository iteratively. The WordPress repository
> functions almost primarily as a distribution tool, and is VERY unsuited for
> mid-development check ins.

True, and I'll totally grant you that. I do not see the point of
iterative check-ins at all. Maybe it helps some people. I can't argue
that. I still can't see a use for it, but that's just me.

In all the corporate environments I've used where a group had "commit"
access to a central repository, checking something out actually locked
it, and it stayed locked by that person until they released the lock
by checking in their changes. Sometimes it's a pain to work with, but
generally speaking you make your changes then have to do a merge later
when you have the ability to check it out. If you need it now, you go
talk to that person and coordinate. This can be a pain in the ass
sometimes, but it certainly does ensure code integrity. Most of the
time it was not a problem. You made your changes, then checked out and
merged before checking in. So files were only locked while somebody
was actually in the process of merging code.

On the other hand, in these cases, the code in the repository was the
"staging" code (when it wasn't the "production" code). It was running
live somewhere. So what you checked in had to work (or at least, not
crash). This has been the case everywhere. If you checked in broken
code, you brought down a system somewhere.

I've never seen any other way of using a code repository in a
corporate environment.

-Otto