[Gnu-arch-users] Questions from a Subversion user

[John Goerzen]

Hello,

I have been using Subversion for awhile now (and CVS before that), and
have found the Arch website -- and it looks appealing.

However, I have some questions for you -- ones I haven't found answers
to online.

1. Does arch support "shallow" or "copy on write" copies like
   Subversion does?  For instance, if I have a file foo.c, I can run
   svn cp foo.c bar.c.  bar.c will not have to duplicate foo.c's data
   on-disk, and moreover, knows its history.  Changes to bar.c will
   just create a delta from the version of foo.c from which it was
   copied.

   Can Arch do this as well?

2. How suitable is Arch for large repositories?  (I'm talking here in
   the 100MB to 1GB range)  If it is unsuitable, why, and how does it
   compare to Subversion or CVS for these?

3. One thing that makes me nervous is that Arch appears to be based on
   FTP.  As we all know, FTP has zero features for implementing any
   sort of reliable locking.  How does Arch insure repository
   integrity over such a protocol?

4. A lot of documentation talks about people making new repositories
   each year because old ones get "big".  Why do people need to make
   new repositories annually?  How does that reduce disk consumption?
   And wouldn't it be easier of the same repository could continue to
   be used?

Incidentally, what is the relationship between Arch and the FSF?  Is it now
an official GNU project?  Does that mean any practical differences for the
project?

Thanks,
John Goerzen