[ensembl-dev] Git

[Matthew Astley]

On Mon, Sep 10, 2012 at 04:24:37PM +0000, Youens-Clark, Ken wrote:

> While meeting on campus, I brought up the multiple advantages to an
> outside developer such as myself to having the Ensembl code
> repository move to Git.

The ensembl CVS repository hosts several projects, some more tightly
coupled than others.

ensembl-otter was in there, it was and still is connected to Ensembl
as a "leaf", so no other code should depend on it.

We moved it to Git last year, and later also to Github,
  http://cvs.sanger.ac.uk/cgi-bin/viewvc.cgi/ensembl-otter/MOVED.txt?revision=1.2&root=ensembl&view=markup

and have been almost entirely pleased with the results.  We still have
other code in CVS.



> I'll list a few points to start the discussion:

I tried starting discussion a while ago.  Some ensembl projects were
quite happy with CVS and had no plans to move.  Others have been
quietly interested.

I'm happy to support owners of code with the migration process.  It is
gradual & minimally invasive.  There's no commitment to switch until
the addition of MOVED.txt or similar, and marking the CVS files
read-only.

I also maintain cvs2git ghosts for some projects.  We use these
internally and occasionally, and were not planning to share them.


> - [...] CVS was started in 1986.  [...]  Basically, CVS development
> appears to have been abandoned about 4 years ago.

True (or at least true enough for me).  But like other old software,
CVS can still do what it always did; and the later versions do add
extra info to mark commitids.

Provided there are no security problems, the incentive to switch is
only that newer tools are better.


> - [Git] is enormously powerful (and, yes, more complex than CVS, but
> not necessarily in the main) and is actively developed by a vibrant
> community of dedicated hackers.

Exactly as with CVS, I would recommend having one person "nearby" who
can deal with the unusual and difficult Git issues.  The rest is just
commit and push.

The tools supporting Git are great.


> - Git's social ideas of coding are worth exploring and adopting.

The social side is also optional.  I have private Git repositories for
some passwords, diary entries etc. which live on encrypted filesystems
and are not shared with anyone.

-- 
Matthew