Re: Choosing a moment for the Bazaar switchover.

[Alan Mackenzie <acm@muc.de>]

Hi, everybody!

On Fri, Mar 20, 2009 at 01:49:41PM -0400, Karl Fogel wrote:
> Thanks to Jason Earl and others, we've solved most of our Bazaar
> conversion issues.  There are still a few things to clean up, but I
> think we're at the stage where it would help to plan for a switchover
> date.

> When should we do this?  Some options:

>    1) Now, i.e., as soon as the conversion is ready (in which case we'll
>       start prepping knowing that it's for real this time).
>    2) When we branch for release.
>    3) Immediately after the release.

> I advocate for (1), on the grounds that there is never a good time for
> these things anyway, and the sooner they are done the better.  By going
> through a release process with a new version control system, we know
> we'll work out all the kinks, and by the end of it, everyone will be
> comfortable with Bazaar.

> (No doubt it will interfere with the release a bit -- but that would
> happen whenever we first release with a new VC system.)

I think there is doubt here.

> Also, (1) is the option that doesn't tie the switchover to things that
> could take an unknown amount of time.  (2) or (3) create a dependency
> that can delay the switchover indefinitely.

Yes.  You and the other heroes doing this switch are full of adrenalin
at the moment.  That's going to go sour if you an indefinite 6 - 12
months wait.

> References: http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs-en/EmacsBzrSwitchover

> Thoughts?

I say, convert as soon as possible.  Clearly Emacs 23 isn't anywhere
near ready for release yet, and as you say, there's no good time to
convert to a new VCS, just like there's no good time to have a baby.

If we're assuming that bzr will help us work more efficiently than we're
doing with CVS, then the sooner we make the change, the longer we'll be
working more efficiently.  :-)  My gut feeling is that the saving we'll
get from bzr will outweigh the effort of learning it well within the
time up till 23.1's release.

Let's do it now!

> -Karl

-- 
Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany).