[Python-Dev] Looking for VCS usage scenarios (original) (raw)

David Ripton dripton at ripton.net
Wed Nov 5 15:04:28 CET 2008

On 2008.11.05 11:09:24 +0000, Paul Moore wrote:

An average user (ie, not a core developer) finds an issue, and has an idea how to fix it. He raises a tracker item, checks out the Python sources, makes a fix, and wants to upload it to the tracker. Key points here are the initial work needed to grab a development checkout, and the ability to bundle up a fix for upload to the tracker. (I'm specifically thinking of a casual user, not a developer who already has a Python checkout to work on).

I'll freely admit a (not very) hidden bias here - the slowness of an initial clone (or going through the "download a shared repo, unpack it, create a branch and update" rigmarole) makes this a nasty test for Bazaar. But I do nevertheless think it's an important use case, as it's all about encouraging casual users to contribute.

All timings very approximate:

Time for average user to check out Python sources with bzr: 10 minutes

Time for average user to check out Python sources with git or hg: 1 minute

Time for average user's trivial patch to be reviewed and committed: 1 year

I love DVCS as much as the next guy, but checkout time is so not the bottleneck for this use case.

-- David Ripton dripton at ripton.net

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