[Vm-dev] I'll come in again...

[stephane ducasse]

On Jun 27, 2010, at 9:02 PM, Andreas Raab wrote:

> Folks -
> 
> I feel like I've been thoroughly misunderstood in the recent discussion about using a distributed version control system. Let me try to make my point as clearly as possible:
> 
> First of all I don't *care* whether to use a "distributed" VCS or not. Is that clear? I really don't. What I care about for a version control system is how easy it is to use and how well it integrates with the system I use.
> 
> Having been clear on the initial point, my concern in this discussion is about *why* people seem to be excited about using an DVCS. What I'm hearing is "great, now we can fork" instead of "great, this will make it easier to contribute".
> 
> There is a difference between a "branch" and a "fork". A "branch" is something where you (usually temporarily) diverge from the main line in order to make the original product better. A "fork" is a (usually permanent) divergence from the main line WITHOUT the intention to make the original product better. For example, Cog is a branch, Pharo is a fork.

a fork as croquet, Tweak and Etoy were (I recall myself harvesting Etoy changes in 3.9 without real support),
so just one more :)
For the record we knew that. Now this was the only way to move and as one of the writer of most of Squeak book and related material this was never an easy decision. 

> Branches are *great*. Branches allow us to explore directions without destabilizing the main development. Forks are *terrible*. Forks split communities, force duplication of efforts, and split mindshare that would better be spent on making the system better for everyone.
> 
> As a consequence, when I hear people being excited about the ability to "fork" I am starting to ask myself what we can do to avoid the need for forks. Forks don't just happen - there are events that lead up to it and I am trying to understand if there's something we can do to alleviate the perceived need for forking.
> 
> I'm not trying to tell you that you *must* host your private experiments on Squeak.org - I am asking to find out what kind of frustration exist in our current development process, and what we can do to address them.
> 
> Cheers,
>  - Andreas