[lug] Request/bug tracking systems--suggestions for small team

[Jeffrey Haemer]

> On Feb 16, 2008 1:48 AM, Sean Reifschneider <jafo at tummy.com> wrote:
>
>> I know subversion is quite popular and I'm sure it's quite stable, but
>> when I tried it I found it far too difficult to secure compared to the
>
> Wait, what?

There are lots of options for source-code-management and bug-tracking
systems.  They're all better than the others at something.

Right now, my business card says Source Code Manager.  At my company, we
were going to reorganize a bunch of source-code trees, so I migrated us from
CVS to SVN.  Renaming files and directories is a pain in CVS.    At my last
job, we didn't rename files or move directories much, and CVS was swell.

Folks often like things they're used to much better than the alternatives.
("Vi!" "No.  Emacs!" "Perl!"  "No.  Python!")   For a while, we had a
developer who insisted CVS and SVN were probably good for casual use, but
they couldn't do more sophisticated things, like branching.   We just *had*,
he told my boss, to adopt the really good system he'd used at his last job:
ClearCase.  He moved on to another company, where he's probably happier.

One cost of switching systems is changing mental models.  For CVS, a
check-in changes a collection of files; for SVN, it changes the repository.
Most day-to-day operations are the same -- cvs checkin/cvs checkout vs. svn
checkin/svn checkout -- but when you step off the sidewalk, thinking about
what's going on underneath is important.  When you think about it wrong, you
think, "That should have worked.  This system won't even let me frobitz the
framistan.  It's no good!"

As Sean's pointing out, there's often a perfectly good way to frobitz the
framistan, but you may have to approach it in a new way.

Sometimes you don't even need to frobitz the framistan.  Guys accustomed to
RCS get the willies when I give 'em CVS and they can't lock files.  Well,
they could, but I eventually talk them out of it.

Switching mental models is harder for some folks than others; the ClearCase
guy always wanted to know how to handle his "Subersion VOB."

This can be pretty important.  I chose SVN to switch to because I thought
it'd require the least developer retraining.

Now, I have a new project where the right SCM tool is "git."  "git checkout"
and a "git checkin" both work.  Fine.  I've made a mess and want to start
again?  Just wipe my tree, check-out a new copy and ... What?  What do you
mean I can't?  My whole source-code-repository's *gone*??

My advice?  Find a tool you like and that does a reasonable job solving your
problems.  Get comfy with it and use it until you have a compelling reason
to switch.  But don't freak when you do switch and things work differently
at first.  Listen to folks who are passionate about their tools, but don't
assume they're right if they say, "You can't possibly do X with Y."  Even
when that person is yourself.

But ClearCase?  Eeeeeew. :-)

-- 
Jeffrey Haemer <jeffrey.haemer at gmail.com>
720-837-8908 [cell]
http://goyishekop.blogspot.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.lug.boulder.co.us/pipermail/lug/attachments/20080216/ece377e3/attachment.html>