Re: NetBSD & Fossil

["J. Lewis Muir" <jlmuir%imca-cat.org@localhost>]

On 7/1/15 4:00 AM, Gour wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> recently I moved from Linux to Free/PC-BSD, but consider to switch to
> NetBSD.
> 
> I recall there was talk in the past about possible migration of NetBSD
> project to Fossil DVCS. There are some Fossil repos available like
> e.g.
> 
> http://netbsd.sonnenberger.org/timeline
> 
> http://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/misc/repositories/fossil/
> 
> and I have tried to clone it, but was aborted. Still, I wonder what is
> the current status in regard?
> 
> Is it still considered as an option?

Hi, Gour.

I think technically it's still an option since, as far as I know, the
NetBSD core group has only said its opinion is that NetBSD should switch
from CVS to *a* DVCS system as soon as possible and has solicited
proposals for such a switch [1].

However, it seems like Git and Mercurial are the only realistic options
right now.

> Personally I like Fossil, but for every project I do want to
> contribute I have to use Git and therefore ’switch gears’ which
> could be avoided by simply embracing Git.

Personally, I like Mercurial.  I think the biggest disadvantage
Mercurial has to Git for being selected as the next NetBSD VCS is its
dependence on Python.  I think a lot of people like the idea of having
the tools necessary for accessing the source code repository right in
the base system.  This is easier to do with Git since it has fewer
dependencies.  For Mercurial, it seems like some kind of bootstrap
approach would be needed to get it from pkgsrc, but I'm not sure most
developers would be OK with that.  (Of course, it could be that the
decision is made to bootstrap Git from pkgsrc too and not have it in the
base system, but I think for Mercurial, it's much more likely this would
have to be the approach.)  Also, Python tends to have a steady stream
of security vulnerabilities trickling in, so forcing anyone who wants
access to the source code repository to have Python installed adds an
additional maintenance headache.

There are lots of discussions in the tech-repository archive too
[2][3][4][5].

Regards,

Lewis

[1] https://mail-index.netbsd.org/tech-repository/2015/01/04/msg000497.html
[2] http://mail-index.netbsd.org/tech-repository/2015/01/08/msg000525.html
[3] http://mail-index.netbsd.org/tech-repository/2014/10/25/msg000472.html
[4] http://mail-index.netbsd.org/tech-repository/2015/01/06/msg000514.html
[5] http://mail-index.netbsd.org/tech-repository/2014/04/02/msg000467.html