Re: Apologia for bzr

[Josh]

On Fri, Jan 3, 2014 at 11:49 AM, Stefan Monnier
<address@hidden> wrote:
>>> I think getting new blood into emacs devel is critical or we might find
>>> ourselves in the same situation as bzr a few years later.
>> I agree about the need, but have my doubts about the results.  We've
>> heard similar arguments for switching from CVS, too.  I hope I will be
>> proven wrong.
>
> Using Git won't magically give us any new blood.  But using Bzr is
> a hindrance.

Indeed, that removing hindrances to becoming a contributor should
result in new contributors is not magic, but common sense.

> A few years ago, users seemed happy to use Hg for one
> project, Git for another, DaRCS for yet a third, etc....

I suspect that in those days, as now, users decided whether or
not to invest the time to learn a new tool based mainly on their
assessment of the likely payoff of the investment.  Given Git's
present dominance[0] and the attendant benefits from network
effects, it's no surprise that a bias has emerged among users
that did not exist a few short years ago.

> Nowadays most users complain when they have to learn another tool.

Tsk, can you believe these kids today?! ;)

[0] 
http://qa.debian.org/popcon-graph.php?packages=cvs+git+bzr+mercurial+darcs+subversion+rcs++&show_vote=on&want_percent=on&want_legend=on&want_ticks=on&from_date=2008-01-01&to_date=2014-01-30&hlght_date=&date_fmt=%25Y&beenhere=1