RE: merge mode for XML

[Paul Sander]

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>> Yeah.  That'd  be a cool feature.  But  then, CVS will no  longer be a
>> standalone  program.  If  you move  the repository  to  another server
>> where the modules are missing, how would you expect CVS to behave?

>The plugins would be part of the module, so if you moved the module to
>another CVS
>repository running the same versions of CVS everything would still work
>perfectly.
>(or if you moved the entire repository)

Agreed.

>> Consider the  case where programmers are working  on UNIX workstations
>> with  an NFS  mounted CVS  repository.   The "cvs"  command just  runs
>> locally,  without using  the  CVS client-server  operations.  In  this
>> case, it is possible that  those pluggable modules are present on some
>> workstations but not the others.   So, files commited from one machine
>> may fail to  check out in another.   And how can we now  make sure the
>> snapshots  (tags) is  really  reproducible, when  CVS  now depends  on
>> extension modules?

>CVS would have to use a thin client, and the diff/merge program would have
>to be on
>executed on the server side.  This would ensure that rules are enforced
>correctly.

Unfortunately, the diff/merge program might have too high an overhead,
or they might be interactive and therefore inappropriate for use on the
server side.  My preference is to have diffs and merges run on the client
side, but recognize the value of having the option of running them on
the server (e.g. if the merge can be done competely automatically in
all cases, as with diff3).  If I were to implement something like this
today, I'd put a switch in the type manager to specify where the merge
program runs.

Another issue is that the diff/merge programs may not even be present
on the server.  Take sourceforge as an example:  They won't install
custom software on their servers just to supply a free service, especially
if the tools come from commercial vendors.

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