scm tools

Starting a new line of development is also an opportunity
to optimize your workflow. We should consider switching from
CVS to a distributed source control system (I'm using Arch,
more popular ones are darcs and git).

When using a distributed system every developer works with
his or her own repository; creating branches is cheap,
adopting other peoples changes is very easy, tracking the
mainline source and keeping ones patches up-to-date is easy.
I think it would lower the bar for potential contributors
and it would make it easier for project developers to
evaluate and adopt patches offered by contributors.

Another good reason for "every developer his own branch"
lies in the way we use SCM systems: I use it for managing
source and recording its history, but, more trivially, to
keep the working copies of the source on different machines
in sync.
For instance, before I go home, I often check in the "mess
of the day" into my repository and later check it out on
my laptop to continue working on it. Such changes should
not go into a mainline repository.

Ralf


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
This SF.net email is sponsored by: Microsoft
Defy all challenges. Microsoft(R) Visual Studio 2005.
http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/vse0120000070mrt/direct/01/