[REVIEW] Ch4. Branching and Merging - Advanced Merging

C. Michael Pilato cmpilato at red-bean.com
Thu Jun 12 23:57:28 CDT 2008


I've filed Trac ticket #121 for this sidebar addition.

C. Michael Pilato wrote:
> Arfrever Frehtes Taifersar Arahesis wrote:
>>> Perhaps the best compromise for now is to put a sidebar in chapter 4
>>> which alludes to the mega-complexity of svn:mergeinfo, and points
>>> people to the collab.net paper?
>>
>> I would prefer a new "Mergeinfo Implementation Details" section :)
> 
> I have to side with those who wish to hide most of this complexity from 
> the users.  As has been noted, even if most users know *what's* going 
> on, they either don't care (because it ain't causing them problems), or 
> caring doesn't matter (because it *is* causing problems but no amount of 
> implementation knowledge will help them).
> 
> The goal of the book is help folks use Subversion, which includes 
> helping them know what to expect of it.  This way, when something they 
> suspect is wrong occurs, the book can help confirm or deny that suspicion.
> 
> To that end, a sidebar about some of the things folks might see (such as 
> copy/move creating mergeinfo, mergeinfo appearing on files that weren't 
> really touched, a glossed-over explanation of elision) would be a great 
> thing -- it helps them know they aren't seeing bugs or using the tool 
> incorrectly.  And if the sidebar also helps folks learn best-practices 
> for avoiding the nastier situations, double bonus!
> 


-- 
C. Michael Pilato <cmpilato at red-bean.com> | http://cmpilato.blogspot.com/

"The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting.  It has
  been found difficult; and left untried."  -- G. K. Chesterton




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