RE: [chairs] Recommendations for Version Control System!

From
Mike Edwards <>
Date
2008-10-31T11:38:10+00:00
ID
Thread
RE: [chairs] Recommendations for Version Control System!
Folks,

The main use I see for a version control
system is going to be with the mass of files which are going

to be associated with conformance and
test suite,  This stuff really is like a coding project, at least
for

the SCA related TCs.  XML files,
code files of various types.

Rather than "bug tracking",
the SCA TCs think that an issue tracking system is vital for any TC work

and we have been using a JIRA system
hosted on www.osoa.org
for some time now.  We needed

permission from OASIS to do this, but
we ensured that OASIS rules apply to that system, with full

public read access and a controlled
list of issue editors elected from each TC.  It has worked well

for us so far.

Yours,  Mike.

Strategist - Emerging Technologies, SCA & SDO.

Co Chair OASIS SCA Assembly TC.

IBM Hursley Park, Mail Point 146, Winchester, SO21 2JN, Great Britain.

Phone & FAX: +44-1962-818014    Mobile: +44-7802-467431  

Email:  

From:
"Dennis E. Hamilton" <>

To:
<>

Cc:
"'Norman Walsh'" <>,
"'Duane Nickull'" <>

Date:
30/10/2008 18:08

Subject:
RE: [chairs] Recommendations for Version
Control System!

It doesn't look like CMIS is going to be looking at
versioning in the

source-control sense any time soon (they mention WebDAV as related work,
but

not DeltaV).

I think the current stability and ubiquitous deployment of Subversion makes

it the SHOULD case, and there has to be good reason not to use it.  It
is

also valuable that distributed versioning systems like git (I don't know

about Mercurial) have adapters in and out of Subversion so, from my

preference for off-line use, I can have my cake and eat it too, with or

without a local-machine hosting of Subversion.  There are also Subversion

gateways into Microsoft Team Server style systems, such as CodePlex. (I

forget what I once knew about Eclipse, though confident Subversion support

is there along with CVS.)

I am not so sure that a source-code versioning system is all that

well-suited for standards development work, and even building repositories

of sample documents related to conformance work.  If there is software

involved, that's a different matter.

An important consideration in using such a system is whether it is hosted
by

OASIS or not.  The advantage of hosting by OASIS is that the IPR rules
and

considerations for contributions, whether by a TC membership or public

submitters (similar to public commenters), would presumably be handled
for

anyone having write access, although there could be open read access and
a

web interface, features that Subversion hostings provide for.  Dealing
with

submission provenance and curation is important for TC work.

Finally, I think consideration of bug tracking is valuable, as are

change-management support.  I notice in my own experience with errata
for

the ODF specifications that a bug tracking system is important in making

sure that we are attentive to public comments, that in-TC counterparts
of

comments are preserved and tracked, and that tracking of the impact of

new-edition changes on existing approved standards are managed properly.

Having tool support for this strikes me as very important, and a

bug-tracking mechanism might be pressed into that service rather well.

There appears to be too much friction in the current Kavi functionality
to

do tracking easily.  A wiki can help, but something more structured
and

systematic, if set up with care, can be much more easily used and the

content maintained reliably.

 - Dennis

PS: I didn't know, until I started receiving posts to this list, that a
TC

Secretary is viewed somewhat like an unelected committee officer as far
as

OASIS lists and such are concerned.  Makes sense, just wasn't expecting
it.

I will now see if my receiving the list allows write privileges. (If there

is an archive, I haven't found it.)

Dennis E. Hamilton

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-----Original Message-----

From: Duane Nickull [mailto:]

Sent: Tuesday, October 28, 2008 19:05

To: Norman Walsh; 

Subject: Re: [chairs] Recommendations for Version Control System!

Let's see what CMIS brings.

;-)

On 28/10/08 6:25 PM, "Norman Walsh" <> wrote:

>  writes:

>> SVN, no ifs or buts! It is the only way to go.

> 

> Well, something more peer-to-peer like Mercurial has advantages too.

> The ability to do commits when I'm on a plane is very nice.

> 

> That said, svn is probably the most straightforward choice.

> 

>                    
                    Be
seeing you,

>                    
                     
norm

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