[Python-Dev] Source control tools (original) (raw)

Thomas Wouters thomas at python.org
Tue Jun 13 00:30:29 CEST 2006

On 6/13/06, Oleg Broytmann <phd at oper.phd.pp.ru> wrote:

On Mon, Jun 12, 2006 at 11:31:14PM +0200, Thomas Wouters wrote: > First of all, changing SCM means changing how everyone works. Distributed branches is not the only requirement.

Oh, I know, no worries about that.

There are also:

-- subtree authorization (different access rights in different parts of the tree); in distributed SCMs this is solved by policies, not by tools, as far as I understand;

Pretty much a no-brainer in most SCMs, yes: you need privileges to push certain changes to a repository, not to commit them locally. The receiving repository can make as complicated an authentication and authorization step as it wants. Monotone's approach to this is particularly enjoyable: it works with digital signatures, and you can (have to) tell Monotone who's checkins you trust ;)

-- web-based access (ViewCV or like);

-- tracker integration (like Subversion with Trac);

-- mail notification.

All of these are of course requirements before Python can switch to another SCM, but not for looking at them in the first place -- in most cases, it's not hard to add, if they don't have it already. And besides, while svn has trac integration, we don't actually use it (yet).

Slightly offtopic: I am working for a company where developers work in

different OS (Linux, w32, FreeBSD) and speak different languages (Russian, Latvian and English). Two features I really love in Subversion: svn:mime-type and svn:eol-style. The former allows to set character encoding for a file (useful for web-based access); the latter allow SVN to automatically convert line endings between different OSes, but it also allow to set a fixed line ending style for specific files. I don't know another SCM that supports such useful features.

Those two I actually consider more important features than the three you mentioned above -- as they aren't as easily bolted-on. Thanks, I'll keep them in mind :)

-- Thomas Wouters <thomas at python.org>

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