The original Java Apache Project didn't have permission boundaries. Everything was stored in /products/cvs/master and anyone could have modified any of the other repos in there as needed. This is the way that *I* decided to set things up.
Later, I decided to split things into different repos so that it would be easier to manage user access so I could know who had access to what and getting permission was as easy as simply asking for it. Big deal. Over the last ~4 years of managing CVS tree's for literally hundreds of people, I can only think of a single time where someone has asked for access and not gotten it and that was because that person was not showing the ability to follow code guidelines and their code stinked (this was years ago on the Apache JServ project). I don't like the idea of simply allowing people in one project to write over what people have done in another project. I think it tends to mislead each project's community around it because there is no permission to check with first. It isn't about control, it is about enforcing respect and communication. The funny thing is that people rarely used their ability to edit across projects even when they did have full access. I think that flattening things is simply moving the problem around again. I don't see why it is such a big friggen deal to simply ask for write access. You would want people to do that anyway simply out of respect. If Fede or Peter came to the Turbine project or any other project that I'm heavily involved with and asked for write access so that they could contribute, I would give it to them in a second (and in a good number of cases, it is literally minutes). I don't see it being any different for any other projects. Giving commit access isn't what fosters or opens a community. It is becoming part of the mailing list and actively participating that fosters community. If you don't believe me, then look at the success of the Turbine project and its *wonderful* community of people that 9.9 times out of 10 get along perfectly. Therefore, I'm going to have to give a -1 to flattening the tree and a +1 to simply asking for permission. thanks, -jon
