On Thu, 1 Apr 2010, Tim Bunce wrote:
Random thoughts...
* If you squint a little you can view git as a database with excellent
replication support.
* cpanminus already supports installing from a git repo.
* For backwards compatibility a simple perl web server could provide a
classic CPAN http mirror 'view' over a git repo like gitpan.
This cpan-git-server would create and serve up cached distro tarballs on demand.
Someone could whip up one to work over gitpan as a proof of concept.
* The need for widespread mirroring is less significant than it was in
years past. (Also using git as the inter-mirror transport of source files
means there'll be much less traffic between mirrors. Effectively only
the diffs between releases.)
* New approaches to replication, such as git, don't have to be supported
by existing mirror providers. A new set of cpan-git-mirror providers could
emerge.
* Any cpan-git-mirror provider running a cpan-git-server could be
included in the list of mirrors used by existing installers.
* Over time the number of cpan-git-mirror's and cpan-git-server's could
grow and the number of traditional CPAN ftp/rsync mirrors could fall.
From what I've heard about git, this sounds like a workable idea, and being
an established and semi-portable tool, should alleviate the whininess over
replacing the sacred cow, er, rsync.
--Arthur Corliss
Live Free or Die
