Re: CVS Update Behaviour

[Greg A. Woods]

[ On Monday, February 25, 2002 at 00:17:58 (-0800), Paul Sander wrote: ]
> Subject: Re: CVS Update Behaviour
>
> Renames are not usually a requirement of maintenance, but they are a
> requirement of new development.  Bug fixes are done during maintenance,
> and merged into new development.  That means that bug fixes are merged
> into new development, often after prior new development involved renames.
> This mode of operation is common!  Sometimes renames are done on a task
> branch and folded into the next release

It is extremely rare for bug fix merges to work automatically with CVS
commands alone, with or without any renames getting in the way.  If the
maintenance programmers don't understand explicitly what they're doing
then they will not succeed.  If you've seen such problems so often then
you've been working with people who do not understand what they are
doing, and that's very dangerous for the product they're working on.

> and I've seen this more often
> than I care to remember on vendor branches.

huh?  what do vendor branches have to do with this?  If you don't
understand that you have to manually move changes between files that
have been renamed by the vendor then you should not be messing with such
complicated things that you do not understand.

> When's the last time anyone's used tsort(1), join(1) or fmt(1), or even
> cut(1), paste(1) or fold(1), and Greg's favorite ed(1), even on this list
> that's full of toolsmiths?

Hmmm... I don't use fmt or fold, or cut & paste very often, but that's
because I use better tools to do what they can do....  I certainly do
know of their existance though, and what they could do if I needed them.

If a "developer" doesn't read down to "SEE ALSO" section then they are
not really a developer.  RTFM means the WHOLE manual, not just the
synopsis!

Would you allow a dentist to work on your teeth if he or she didn't know
of all the "standard" tools a dentist might need to do a good job fixing
your teeth?  Would you sit in the chair after you saw a lone pair of
vice grips on the tray, even if it was a very nice shiny sterilized
stainless steel pair?  Get real Paul!

-- 
                                                                Greg A. Woods

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