the bzr switchover, how I got up to speed with bzr

the bzr switchover, how I got up to speed with bzr

[Mike Mattie]

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Hi,

I read the discussion on the bzr switchover and I wanted to share
my experience with using bzr.

Before Bzr I used svn exclusively. To learn bzr I started off
using it in conjuction with svn. In fact I still do.

What I did is create a shared repository with a subversion
checkout of my project in it. I was then able to use
bzr to create "focused patches".

I learned how to use feature branches, shelve, and the
differences between commit,push, bound branches etc.

I would suggest to the developers who want to get
the hang of bzr before a flag day that this approach of
using bzr in conjunction with the existing RCS system (CVS)
is enormously beneficial.

In retrospect it was far better than doing a flag day and fumbling
with the learning curve. I knew I would botch things while I was
learning the ropes and I was able to scratch a few repositories after
some novice botches.

A tip from the peanut gallery for what it is worth.

Cheers,
Mike Mattie

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Re: the bzr switchover, how I got up to speed with bzr

[Karl Fogel]

Mike Mattie <codermattie@gmail.com> writes:
> I read the discussion on the bzr switchover and I wanted to share
> my experience with using bzr.
>
> Before Bzr I used svn exclusively. To learn bzr I started off
> using it in conjuction with svn. In fact I still do.
>
> What I did is create a shared repository with a subversion
> checkout of my project in it. I was then able to use
> bzr to create "focused patches".
>
> I learned how to use feature branches, shelve, and the
> differences between commit,push, bound branches etc.
>
> I would suggest to the developers who want to get
> the hang of bzr before a flag day that this approach of
> using bzr in conjunction with the existing RCS system (CVS)
> is enormously beneficial.
>
> In retrospect it was far better than doing a flag day and fumbling
> with the learning curve. I knew I would botch things while I was
> learning the ropes and I was able to scratch a few repositories after
> some novice botches.
>
> A tip from the peanut gallery for what it is worth.

Thank you; that is an excellent idea.

But can one do foreign branching from CVS with Bzr?  I don't know of any
plugins that do that.  http://bazaar-vcs.org/BzrForeignBranches and
http://bazaar-vcs.org/BzrPlugins seem to indicate not.  There are ways
to serve a Bzr repository to a CVS client (which is of little use to
us), and ways to import CVS sources into Bzr (useful to us, but there's
no provision for committing back as with a true foreign branch).

-Karl

Re: the bzr switchover, how I got up to speed with bzr

[Mike Mattie]

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On Mon, Mar 30, 2009 at 08:40:28PM -0400, Karl Fogel wrote:
> Mike Mattie <codermattie@gmail.com> writes:
> > I read the discussion on the bzr switchover and I wanted to share
> > my experience with using bzr.
> >
> > Before Bzr I used svn exclusively. To learn bzr I started off
> > using it in conjuction with svn. In fact I still do.
> >
> > What I did is create a shared repository with a subversion
> > checkout of my project in it. I was then able to use
> > bzr to create "focused patches".
> >
> > I learned how to use feature branches, shelve, and the
> > differences between commit,push, bound branches etc.
> >
> > I would suggest to the developers who want to get
> > the hang of bzr before a flag day that this approach of
> > using bzr in conjunction with the existing RCS system (CVS)
> > is enormously beneficial.
> >
> > In retrospect it was far better than doing a flag day and fumbling
> > with the learning curve. I knew I would botch things while I was
> > learning the ropes and I was able to scratch a few repositories after
> > some novice botches.
> >
> > A tip from the peanut gallery for what it is worth.
> 
> Thank you; that is an excellent idea.
> 
> But can one do foreign branching from CVS with Bzr?  I don't know of any
> plugins that do that.  http://bazaar-vcs.org/BzrForeignBranches and
> http://bazaar-vcs.org/BzrPlugins seem to indicate not.  There are ways
> to serve a Bzr repository to a CVS client (which is of little use to
> us), and ways to import CVS sources into Bzr (useful to us, but there's
> no provision for committing back as with a true foreign branch).
> 
> -Karl

I didn't look for anything like that. In fact I did not even use
bzr-svn though it is available. It is a little clumsy, but created a
bzr repository/branch with a svn checkout.

bzr init-repo foo
cd foo
mkdir trunk
cd trunk
bzr init
svn checkout .....
bzr add *.el

As you can see from above there is no direct integration between the
two. when I am ready to commit to subversion I cd in, fixup any
renames, and then do a typical svn commit.

It is not the prettiest way to do it. For subversion there is a real
plugin to interface directly with svn, but the approach above does
work, and it is fairly easy within a limited scope.

In fact using bzr itself is quite easy. Where I ended up scratching
some repositories is the process of finding a workflow that fit my
development style - not how to use the features, rather which features
to use, and how they fit into an overall scheme of development.

I hope your experience will turn out to be as positive as mine.

Cheers,
Mike Mattie

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