Size limit to changes

R. A. Harmon harmonra at webname.com
Wed Aug 12 22:17:17 UTC 1998


At 09:55 AM 8/11/98 -0700, you wrote:
[snip]
>>Since CompiledMethod stores the position of its source in three bytes,
once the changes file (or sources) exceeds 16 meg, the CompiledMethod will
no longer be able to recover its source.
>
>For the record, here are the recommended strategies for dealing with this
limit:
[snip]
>I am interested in hearing from serious users of Squeak regarding how they
would most like to see in this area.
[snip]

I have been increasingly uneasy about the way Smalltalk handles its code
sources -- especially code change management, revision control (RC), and
maintaining backup of the code.

Although I've never used Smalltalk professionally, I think I do serious
programming in it.  In my limited experience, RC seems a tacked on
after-thought, rather than a integral part of the software development
environment (SDE) that any meaningful development will need.  I seems
Smalltalkers have come up with creative and useful solutions to manhandling
the SDE into handling change, but I wonder why it requires manhandling in
the first place.

I've begun to think the Smalltalk (SDE) model might ought to be changed from
storing code in source and change files to store all versions of code in a
database.  I have no experience with databases, but what little I've heard
leads me to think this might solve a lot problems with RC.  Databases are
available off-the-self, a tested technology, run on most every platform,
have facilities for maintaining their integrity.  They have backup and
recovery, checkpoints for rolling changes in and out, a lot of utility
tools, and could handle the large number of method and other sources for
fine-grained control.  In my experience with public domain Revision Control
System (RCS) and other source control packages, keeping the current source
version, and the deltas to previous versions, allows on quick retrieval and
generally only takes twice the space required for one full text source.

A less radical approach I think would help a great deal is to use RCS
instead of the source and change files

If the DB idea is too silly, please give me enough warning to duck the
rotten fruit and vegetables.

--
Richard A. Harmon          "The only good zombie is a dead zombie"
harmonra at webname.com           E. G. McCarthy





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