Re: [tlug] Open-source repository question

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@example.com>]

Jon Povey writes:

 > Also re merge tracking:
 > 
 > Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:
 > > The problem with CVS (and Subversion) is that
 > > once you've branched, you have to stay on the branch until you merge
 > > back to mainline.
 > 
 > Not quite sure what you mean by this, see my description above of 
 > feature branches with repeated merge-from-trunk operations and merge 
 > tracking. Are you aware of that ability in Subversion?

Yes, and it's useful, but still very constraining.  It also took many
years to get it.

 > Perhaps you mean that changes made on the branch have to stay there 
 > until you reintegrate the branch - there are ways around it but yes, 
 > that is the normal model.

That is indeed what I meant.  As far as "ways around it" go, there
were ways around the problems of CVS, too, but they were all of the
"don't try this at home, kids" variety.  I don't know enough about
Subversion to judge whether the means you're talking about are
similarly fraught. :-)