Re: the bzr switchover, how I got up to speed with bzr

[Karl Fogel]

Mike Mattie <address@hidden> writes:
> I read the discussion on the bzr switchover and I wanted to share
> my experience with using bzr.
>
> Before Bzr I used svn exclusively. To learn bzr I started off
> using it in conjuction with svn. In fact I still do.
>
> What I did is create a shared repository with a subversion
> checkout of my project in it. I was then able to use
> bzr to create "focused patches".
>
> I learned how to use feature branches, shelve, and the
> differences between commit,push, bound branches etc.
>
> I would suggest to the developers who want to get
> the hang of bzr before a flag day that this approach of
> using bzr in conjunction with the existing RCS system (CVS)
> is enormously beneficial.
>
> In retrospect it was far better than doing a flag day and fumbling
> with the learning curve. I knew I would botch things while I was
> learning the ropes and I was able to scratch a few repositories after
> some novice botches.
>
> A tip from the peanut gallery for what it is worth.

Thank you; that is an excellent idea.

But can one do foreign branching from CVS with Bzr?  I don't know of any
plugins that do that.  http://bazaar-vcs.org/BzrForeignBranches and
http://bazaar-vcs.org/BzrPlugins seem to indicate not.  There are ways
to serve a Bzr repository to a CVS client (which is of little use to
us), and ways to import CVS sources into Bzr (useful to us, but there's
no provision for committing back as with a true foreign branch).

-Karl