Re: [Monotone-devel] Merging cvssync in small pieces: Pipe abstraction

[Chad Walstrom]

Zbynek Winkler <address@hidden>  wrote:
> I've converted to Mercurial and I had 2 main reasons:
> 
> 1) not being able to compile monotone with gcc -- Mercurial is in Python

I believe there are pre-compiled, static binaries floating about, and
RPM and DEB packages provided on the Monotone website.  Regardless, I
feel for you. :(

> 2) the need for custom 'server' and not being able to easily use one
> machine for multiple projects (one running instance of monotone
> handles only one database and I didn't want to put unreleated
> projects to the same database) -- Mercurial can export repositories
> over http using a Python cgi script (I can have as many different
> repositiories exported as I want) and any user with the right to
> execute cgi script can export repo without additional privileges

I had played with Mercurial (Hg) a bit and might be using it today if
I didn't have to work with other people. ;-)  When reviewing the
various SCM's out there (including Hg), we came to the conclusion that
Monotone's commands were simpler and less prolific than other tools
and its work-flow was easy enough to follow.  Monotone's FAQ and
documentation convinced me that the use of GnuPG for signing had its
flaws, and that Monotone's answer in libcrypto++ was more than
sufficient.

And perhaps it was in no small part to Nathan's visibility on SCM
related blogs, pushing his favorite one, that convinced me to take
another look. ;-)

Really, I think the deciding factor for my team-mates was the Windows
support.  Hg was designed (as are many SCM's) with *NIX environments
in mind.  The creator of the tool admitted that he had no interest in
trying to address Windows environment issues, such as piping, CRLF
conversion, etc.  I'm sure the project has since collected a Windows
development expert or two, but at the time, the comment was
discouraging enough to tip the argument in Monotone's favor.

I don't find the use of the smart server to be a detriment, even if
there is a small extra step to configure the ACL's to the database
(which I actually find encouraging from a security-conscious point of
view).  The work-flow may involve an extra step (or two, if you want
to tunnel over SSH), but if you recall correctly, Hg supports such a
command as well.  It has a built-in simple HTTP server (ala Python
libraries) that doesn't just run itself. ;-)

In any case, I'm committed to using Monotone now. I'm looking forward
to the usher code and cvssync code making its way into the main tree.
;-)  Great work guys!

-- 
Chad Walstrom <address@hidden>           http://www.wookimus.net/
           assert(expired(knowledge)); /* core dump */