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Re: Eric Sink's blog - notes on git, dscms and a "whole product" approach

From
Jakub Narebski <jnareb@gmail.com>
Date
Apr 28, 2009, 18:16 UTC
Message-ID
<m3ocugod96.fsf@localhost.localdomain>
In-Reply-To
<46a038f90904270155i6c802fceoffc73eb5ab57130e@mail.gmail.com>
Martin Langhoff <martin.langhoff@gmail.com> writes:
Show 14 quoted lines
> Eric Sink hs been working on the (commercial, proprietary) centralised
> SCM Vault for a while. He's written recently about his explorations
> around the new crop of DSCMs, and I think it's quite interesting. A
> quick search of the list archives makes me thing it wasn't discussed
> before.
> 
> The guy is knowledgeable, and writes quite witty posts -- naturally,
> there's plenty to disagree on, but I'd like to encourage readers not
> to nitpick or focus on where Eric is wrong. It is interesting to read
> where he thinks git and other DSCMs are missing the mark.
> 
>    Maybe he's right, maybe he's wrong, but damn he's interesting :-)
> 
> So here's the blog -  http://www.ericsink.com/

"Here's a blog"... and therefore my dilemma. Should I post my reply as a comment to this blog, or should I reply here on git mailing list?

I think I will just add link to this thread in GMane mailing list
archive for git mailing list...
 
> These are the best entry points
*  "Ten Quirky Issues with Cross-Platform Version Control"
>   http://www.ericsink.com/entries/quirky.html
which I have answered in separate post in this thread
*  "Mercurial, Subversion, and Wesley Snipes"
>   http://www.ericsink.com/entries/hg_denzel.html

which I will comment now. The 'ES>' prefix means quoting above blog post.

First there is a list of earlier blog post, with links, which makes article in question a good staring point.

ES> As part of that effort, I have undertaken an exploration of the ES> DVCS world. Several weeks ago I started writing one blog entry ES> every week, mostly focused on DVCS topics. In chronological ES> order, here they are: ES> ES> * The one where I gripe about Git's index

where Eric complains that "git add -p" allows for committing untested changes... not knowing about "git stash --keep-index", and not understanding that comitting is (usually) separate from publishing in distributed version control systems (so you can check after commit, and amend commit if it does not pass test).

ES> * The one where I whine about the way Git allows developers to ES> rearrange the DAG

where Eric seems to not notice that you are strongly encouraged to do 'rearranging the DAG' (rewriting the history) _only_ in unpublished (not made public) part of history.

ES> * The one where it looks like I am against DAG-based version ES> control but I'm really not

where Eric conflates linear versus merge workflows with update-before-commit versus commit-then-merge paradigm, not noticing that you can have linear history using sane commit-update-rebase rather than unsafe update-before-commit.

ES> * The one where I fuss about DVCSes that try to act like ES> centralized tools

where DVCS in question that behaves this way is Bazaar (if I understood this correctly).

ES> * The one where I complain that DVCSes have a lousy story when it ES> comes to bug-tracking

where Eric correctly notice that distributed version control would not help much if you use centralized bugtracker, and speculates about required features that distributed bugtracker should have. Very nice post in my opinion.

ES> * The one where I lament that I want to like Darcs but I can't

where Eric talks about difference between parentage in merge commit (which is needed for good merging) and "parentage"/weak link in cherry-picked commit; Git uses weak link = no link.

ES> * The one where I speculate cluelessly about why Git is so fast

where Eric guesses instead of asking on git mailing list or #git channel... ;-)

ES> Along the way, I've been spending some time getting hands-on ES> experience with these tools. I've been using Bazaar for several ES> months. I don't like it very much. I am currently in the process ES> of switching to Git, but I don't expect to like it very much ES> either.

Aaaargh... if you expect to not like it very much, I would be very suprised if you find it to your liking...

ES> So why don't I write about Mercurial? Because I'm pretty sure I ES> would like it. ES> ES> I chose Bazaar and Git for the experience. But if I were choosing ES> a DVCS as a regular user, I would choose Mercurial. I've used it ES> some, and found it to be incredibly pleasant. It seems like the ES> DVCS that got everything just about right. That's great if you're ES> a user, but for a writer, what's interesting about that?

Well, Mercurial IMHO didn't get everything right. Not mentioning
implementation issues, like dealing with copies, binary files, and
large files, it got IMHO wrong:
 * branching in multiple branches per repository
 * tags which should be transferrable but non-versioned
-- 
Jakub Narebski
Poland
ShadeHawk on #git
Previous: Martin LanghoffNext: Sitaram Chamarty
Message 9 of 39 in “Eric Sink's blog - notes on git, dscms and a "whole product" approach”
  1. Martin LanghoffApr 27, 2009
  2. Cross-Platform Version Control (was: Eric Sink's blog - notes on git, dscms and a "whole product" approach)Jakub Narebski, Apr 28, 2009
  3. Robin RosenbergApr 28, 2009
  4. Martin LanghoffApr 29, 2009
  5. Jeff KingApr 29, 2009
  6. Markus HeidelbergApr 29, 2009
  7. Jakub NarebskiApr 29, 2009
  8. Martin LanghoffApr 29, 2009
  9. Jakub NarebskiApr 28, 2009
  10. Sitaram ChamartyApr 29, 2009
  11. Why Git is so fast (was: Re: Eric Sink's blog - notes on git, dscms and a "whole product" approach)Jakub Narebski, Apr 30, 2009
  12. Michael WittenApr 30, 2009
  13. Jakub NarebskiApr 30, 2009
  14. Shawn O. PearceApr 30, 2009
  15. Kjetil BarvikApr 30, 2009
  16. Shawn O. PearceApr 30, 2009
  17. Kjetil BarvikApr 30, 2009
  18. Steven NoonanMay 1, 2009
  19. James PickensMay 1, 2009
  20. Kjetil BarvikMay 1, 2009
  21. Mike HommeyMay 1, 2009
  22. Kjetil BarvikMay 1, 2009
  23. Tony FinchMay 1, 2009
  24. Dmitry PotapovMay 1, 2009
  25. Mike HommeyMay 1, 2009
  26. Dmitry PotapovMay 1, 2009
  27. Shawn O. PearceApr 30, 2009
  28. Jeff KingApr 30, 2009
  29. Linus TorvaldsMay 1, 2009
  30. Jeff KingMay 1, 2009
  31. david@lang.hmMay 1, 2009
  32. Nicolas PitreMay 1, 2009
  33. Daniel BarkalowMay 1, 2009
  34. Linus TorvaldsMay 1, 2009
  35. david@lang.hmMay 1, 2009
  36. Nicolas PitreApr 30, 2009
  37. Alex RiesenApr 30, 2009
  38. Andreas EricssonMay 4, 2009
  39. Jakub NarebskiApr 30, 2009

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