Re: VCS comparison table

From: Ilpo Nyyssönen <iny+news@iki.fi>
Date: Oct 28, 2006, 11:18 UTC
Message-ID: <m3mz7gheoe.fsf@iny.iki.fi>
In-Reply-To: <20061027144656.GA32451@fieldses.org>

"J. Bruce Fields" <bfields@fieldses.org> writes:

> Documentation helps, though sometimes extensive documentation is a sign
> of a problem--it takes a lot more documentation to explain how to manage
> a branch in CVS than it does in any sensible system....

Usability:

I have used bzr, bk for development and git very little for following kernel development. I have followed this discussion quite well.

1. It is easier to start using something you are already familiar
with. (Just try to use Mac OS X with a Windows or Linux background.)

G: Something totally new and so no points from here. The way of using
git is just so different from any other similar software.

B: Quite clearly gets points from this. Normal branches work quite
like many other software, the checkout stuff works like CVS and SVN.

2. Finding commands.

G: Quite big amount of commands, some clear, but some not so. With all
the installed commands, it is even more confusing. What's the
difference between fetch and pull and which one I should use? Same for
clone and branch.

B: A bit clearer I think, but the pull and merge does cause confusion. 
Also the checkout stuff could be better shown in the command line
help. With plugins like bzrtools the amount of command raises and
confusion increases. Maybe better separation for plugin commands in
the command line help?

3. Understanding output

G: Speaks a language of its own, hard to understand. No progress
reported for long lasting operations.

B: Could maybe speak a bit more. Progress reporting is quite good.

4. Misc stuff

G: You have only one workspace and this forces you to use git more or
to make several repositories. You can't just diff branchA/foo
branchB/foo. You can't just open file from old branch to check
something while you are developing in some new branch. Do I have to
commit my changes before changing a branch in the workspace?

G: What is this git repack thing and do I have to use it? If yes, why? 
Nobody told me that I should run it, but I did notice Linus mentioning
it somewhere. Definetly causing harm for usability.

B: People migth misuse the revnos and so be confused when things won't
work like they expected.

Conclusion: I would say that Bazaar is more usable than git.