Re: starting over

[Todd Denniston]

Mark E. Hamilton wrote:
> Robert,
>
> Huber, Robert wrote:
>
> > Dubious in this case basically means that CVS has not been used by the
> > various developers on the project consequently there is no confidence in
> > the contents of the repository and the concern is that a developer may
> > get a copy of old code. The code in the production area is what is used
> > to make changes; a personal copy is made, modified, tested and basically
> > put back in production.
>
>
> Well, the first thing that you must address is your management problem. 
> As section 1.2 of the CVS manual states: "CVS is not a substitute for 
> management." If you have developers not committing changes to the 
> repository and directly updating the production area there's no way you 
> can guarantee that your production area is correct.
<SNIP>
> The first thing that you must do is document a development model for how 
> your developers should work; how to check out current code, how to 
> change and test it, how to commit it, and how and when to update the 
> production area. (If you involve the developers in this you'll have less 
> resistance later on.)  I'm sure there are some good books on this, but 
> I'm not that familiar with them. Perhaps someone else here can recommend 
> some. You also need to get management buy-in for your model, since they 
> will be the big-stick when it comes to enforcing it.
>
> You also need to select a branching model for your repository. Where I 
> work we use the model where development is done on the head of the 
> default branch, with regular branches made off of this branch for 
> releases. Only bug fixes are then allowed on the release branches. This 
> works fairly well for us, but there are other approaches. Some never 
> branch at all but simply tag release points (which might work well for 
> you,) others allow multiple development branches and merge them together 
> for releases.
<SNIP>
Suggested reading for the branching and dev model (where I go when I am trying 
to explain it to folks around here).
"Streamed Lines: Branching Patterns for Parallel Software Development"
http://www.cmcrossroads.com/bradapp/acme/branching/
and "The ACME Project" "Assembling Configuration Management Environments (for 
Software Development)"
http://www.cmcrossroads.com/bradapp/acme/

--
Todd Denniston
Crane Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC Crane)
Harnessing the Power of Technology for the Warfighter