Re: improving our workflow with better tools - let's test things.

[Carl Sorensen]

On 10/20/13 9:04 PM, "Joseph Rushton Wakeling"
<address@hidden> wrote:

>On 21/10/13 04:00, Carl Sorensen wrote:
>> I have to say that I much prefer the Lilypond method for handling tasks
>> and reviews to the Gitlab method.
>
>Can you describe in more detail what it is that you like about how
>Lilypond does 
>things, and how that is missing (or inferior) in GitLab?

When I track issues on LilyPond, I feel like the issue list is
well-organized.  For example, I found the grid view very helpful.

When I look at issues on Gitlab, I feel overwhelmed with the complexity.
I certainly can filter views by tags, and that helps, but as far as I can
see, I can't get the benefits of the grid view on google code.

Even though it can be a pain to rebase commits, when it's done on the
current Lilypond process I feel like the commit messages are much better
than the ones that show up by default on Gitlab (merging branch xyz).

I don't like the proliferation of branches on Gitlab.  I realize they can
be automatically deleted when the merge is accepted (and that's the
workflow I've been following, at least some of the time).  But then that
leaves an unmerged branch on the local system that it can be hard to tell
when it is safe to delete.  I don't like lots of branches hanging around
in my local repository.  I only like to have branches for issues I'm
currently working on.

I don't like the fact that the commit message is different on origin that
it is on my remote.

I find the Rietveld interface for reviewing patches friendlier than the
Gitlab interface, but that may be just because of my familiarity.

I haven't found a nice connection between issues and merge requests.  I
guess there isn't a nice connection in the current LilyPond toolset,
either, but I was hoping that using an integrated system would make it
easier.  I didn't find it so.

I had hoped that I could use the milestone facility in Gitlab to help with
the connection between issues and merge requests, but haven't found a good
way to do so.

As an overview (not really specific), I only have about 25 issues on my
Gitlab project, but I feel more out of control about it than I do with the
thousands of issues on LilyPond.

I recognize that much of this could just be familiarity.  It's difficult
to teach an old dog new tricks, and I'm turning into an old dog.

I'm not opposed to having you and Janek work on an improved system.  But
for my little project (3 developers), I'm seriously thinking of junking
Gitlab because the benefit seems to be more promised than realized.

Thanks,

Carl