Re: Distributed Version Control for ports(7) ( was: Re: autoconf update )

2010-09-22 Thread Ion-Mihai Tetcu
On Mon, 20 Sep 2010 19:07:17 -0700
per...@pluto.rain.com wrote:

> Janne Snabb  wrote:
> 
> > On Mon, 20 Sep 2010, per...@pluto.rain.com wrote:
> > > One issue with either Git or Mercurial is that they are GPL.
> > > AFAIK FreeBSD prefers to avoid GPL in the base or in critical
> > > widely-used infrastructure if a viable non-GPL alternative
> > > exists.
> >
> > The project currently uses Perforce for many sub-projects,
> > so using GPL licenced solution could hardly be a problem.
> 
> According to the "General Information" table here:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_revision_control_software
> Perforce is not GPL -- it is proprietary (but "Free ... for OSS
> development").  Thus the fact that FreeBSD currently uses Perforce
> tells us nothing about the acceptability of a GPL licensed solution.
> (Ditto for SVN, which -- as someone already pointed out -- is not
> GPL either.)
> 
> There are two distributed, BSD-licensed VCS listed on that page:
> Codeville and Fossil.  Both are in ports, but Codeville has been
> proposed for removal as it seems no longer to be under active
> development.  That leaves Fossil as a possibly-viable BSD-licensed
> alternative to Mercurial.  (Of course, there may be others that
> aren't listed on that particular Wikipedia page.)

Keeping the original recipients when replying (all of them not only
To:) would be greatly appreciated (and it's required by the list
charted).

Thanks,

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Re: Distributed Version Control for ports(7) ( was: Re: autoconf update )

2010-09-22 Thread Carlos A. M. dos Santos
Smells like Debian.
Smells like Slashdot.
I give up.

On Wed, Sep 22, 2010 at 7:11 AM, Adam Vande More  wrote:
> On Wed, Sep 22, 2010 at 4:10 AM, Jeremy Chadwick
> wrote:
>
>> Given the amount of GPL'd software in the base system, why are we
>> already fighting over licensing?  What is it with the open-source world
>> and obsessing with licensing?  It should be up for discussion after
>> alternatives have been determined as viable candidates (see below).
>>
>
> Probably rhetorical, but not all licenses are created equal.  BSD license
> has a particular advantage in embedded/black box systems, so not polluting
> base with more viral licensing is pretty important to project as whole I
> think.  There's a reason things like IronPort aren't Linux based.  Take for
> example the way ZFS was implemented.  It was done that way to keep the CDDL
> out of the kernel.  That's part of the reason booting of ZFS is the way it
> is as a separate loader, not integrated.  Licenses are a big deal, our world
> is not laissez-faire regarding them.
>
> Yes there are still some GPL tools in base but the number is really quite
> small and shrinking, however what's there is pretty big and quite
> essential.  There has long been active if not frequently vigorous work to
> remove those bits.  It seems GNU grep is nearing it's end, and man page
> stuff is being worked on, CLANG over GCC, etc.
>
> Anyway, my point was not to advocate fossil for this task, but to point out
> BSD license is a concern.  Perhaps if you are able to find consensus,
> requesting a license change might be an option.
>
> --
> Adam Vande More
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Re: Distributed Version Control for ports(7) ( was: Re: autoconf update )

2010-09-22 Thread Konstantin Tokarev


22.09.2010, 14:11, "Adam Vande More" :
> BSD license
> has a particular advantage in embedded/black box systems, so not polluting
> base with more viral licensing is pretty important to project as whole I
> think.

Do embedded systems really need to use ports tree? I guess no, or only during
initial setup by manufacturer

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Re: Distributed Version Control for ports(7) ( was: Re: autoconf update )

2010-09-22 Thread Adam Vande More
On Wed, Sep 22, 2010 at 4:10 AM, Jeremy Chadwick
wrote:

> Given the amount of GPL'd software in the base system, why are we
> already fighting over licensing?  What is it with the open-source world
> and obsessing with licensing?  It should be up for discussion after
> alternatives have been determined as viable candidates (see below).
>

Probably rhetorical, but not all licenses are created equal.  BSD license
has a particular advantage in embedded/black box systems, so not polluting
base with more viral licensing is pretty important to project as whole I
think.  There's a reason things like IronPort aren't Linux based.  Take for
example the way ZFS was implemented.  It was done that way to keep the CDDL
out of the kernel.  That's part of the reason booting of ZFS is the way it
is as a separate loader, not integrated.  Licenses are a big deal, our world
is not laissez-faire regarding them.

Yes there are still some GPL tools in base but the number is really quite
small and shrinking, however what's there is pretty big and quite
essential.  There has long been active if not frequently vigorous work to
remove those bits.  It seems GNU grep is nearing it's end, and man page
stuff is being worked on, CLANG over GCC, etc.

Anyway, my point was not to advocate fossil for this task, but to point out
BSD license is a concern.  Perhaps if you are able to find consensus,
requesting a license change might be an option.

-- 
Adam Vande More
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Re: Distributed Version Control for ports(7) ( was: Re: autoconf update )

2010-09-22 Thread Jeremy Chadwick
On Wed, Sep 22, 2010 at 03:50:37AM -0500, Adam Vande More wrote:
> On Wed, Sep 22, 2010 at 3:27 AM,  wrote:
> 
> > As I understand it, what is being suggested is the adoption of a
> > new code base for a significant piece of infrastructure.  I think
> > the proposal is at less risk of being summarily rejected if it can
> > viably be based on BSD-licensed code rather than on GPL'd code.
> >
> 
> This  dvcs is BSD licensed:
> 
> http://www.fossil-scm.org/index.html/doc/tip/www/index.wiki
> 
> I believe it was originally GPL'd, and the author converted it BSD based
> license on request.  The requests came from multiple people who didn't want
> to to incorporate GPL into their project(s).
> 
> There is an interview about it here:
> 
> http://bsdtalk.blogspot.com/2010/07/bsdtalk194-fossil-scm-with-d-richard.html
> 
> Anyways, IMO license is quite a large deal when you're making this sort of
> decision.  OS code infrastructure has a way of expanding around what's
> used(eg csup in base) and you'd want to ensure any potential development
> paths are not hindered by LICENSE.

Given the amount of GPL'd software in the base system, why are we
already fighting over licensing?  What is it with the open-source world
and obsessing with licensing?  It should be up for discussion after
alternatives have been determined as viable candidates (see below).

The reality of the situation is this: you're going to need to find
something that 1) developers and users already have some familiarity
with, 2) has good/easy-to-read documentation in multiple languages, 3)
can be included into the base system, 4) provides significantly more
advantages than disadvantages when compared to CVS, and 5) provides an
acceptably low learning curve (e.g. Handbook docs will need to be
written to say "This is what you did in CVS, and this is what you now do
in XYZ"; meaning, easy to use and migrate to).

Simply put, that means:remaining with CVS, moving to SVN, moving to
Perforce, or moving to git.  Something tells me if there was a change,
it would probably be to SVN, simply because it's used by src.

-- 
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| Parodius Networking   http://www.parodius.com/ |
| UNIX Systems Administrator  Mountain View, CA, USA |
| Making life hard for others since 1977.  PGP: 4BD6C0CB |

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Re: Distributed Version Control for ports(7) ( was: Re: autoconf update )

2010-09-22 Thread Konstantin Tokarev

> This dvcs is BSD licensed:

IMHO, if it's worth to change VCS, it would be much wiser to use well-known one

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Re: Distributed Version Control for ports(7) ( was: Re: autoconf update )

2010-09-22 Thread Adam Vande More
On Wed, Sep 22, 2010 at 3:27 AM,  wrote:

> As I understand it, what is being suggested is the adoption of a
> new code base for a significant piece of infrastructure.  I think
> the proposal is at less risk of being summarily rejected if it can
> viably be based on BSD-licensed code rather than on GPL'd code.
>

This  dvcs is BSD licensed:

http://www.fossil-scm.org/index.html/doc/tip/www/index.wiki

I believe it was originally GPL'd, and the author converted it BSD based
license on request.  The requests came from multiple people who didn't want
to to incorporate GPL into their project(s).

There is an interview about it here:

http://bsdtalk.blogspot.com/2010/07/bsdtalk194-fossil-scm-with-d-richard.html

Anyways, IMO license is quite a large deal when you're making this sort of
decision.  OS code infrastructure has a way of expanding around what's
used(eg csup in base) and you'd want to ensure any potential development
paths are not hindered by LICENSE.

-- 
Adam Vande More
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Re: Distributed Version Control for ports(7) ( was: Re: autoconf update )

2010-09-22 Thread perryh
jhell  wrote:

> Feel free to correct me if I am wrong but it is not going to
> matter much to what extent a license has to do with this besides
> ease of mind maybe.  We would not be using the source for the VCS
> in a repo that holds the source that is being distributed and
> none of the contained software would be effected by a GPL'd VCS.
> I don't believe the GPL reaches out that far as to where it can
> effect the contents of a repo even if it would happen to be GPLv3.

My primary concern is not that the GPL would extend to the contents
of a GPL'd VCS -- AFAIK it would not -- but that the whole point
of moving to a _distributed_ VCS is presumably that a significant
fraction of ports contributors (not just committers and/or
maintainers) would be running the VCS locally so as to maintain
repositories.  I have the impression that some fraction of those
potential contributors will be less likely to participate if the
price of doing so is running a VCS that is GPL'd.

Beyone that, we should not overlook (what I understand to be) the
general policy that I mentioned earlier:

> >>> AFAIK FreeBSD prefers to avoid GPL in the base or in critical
> >>> widely-used infrastructure if a viable non-GPL alternative
> >>> exists.

As I understand it, what is being suggested is the adoption of a
new code base for a significant piece of infrastructure.  I think
the proposal is at less risk of being summarily rejected if it can
viably be based on BSD-licensed code rather than on GPL'd code.
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Re: Distributed Version Control for ports(7) ( was: Re: autoconf update )

2010-09-20 Thread jhell
On 09/20/2010 22:07, per...@pluto.rain.com wrote:
> Janne Snabb  wrote:
> 
>> On Mon, 20 Sep 2010, per...@pluto.rain.com wrote:
>>> One issue with either Git or Mercurial is that they are GPL.
>>> AFAIK FreeBSD prefers to avoid GPL in the base or in critical
>>> widely-used infrastructure if a viable non-GPL alternative
>>> exists.
>>
>> The project currently uses Perforce for many sub-projects,
>> so using GPL licenced solution could hardly be a problem.
> 
> According to the "General Information" table here:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_revision_control_software
> Perforce is not GPL -- it is proprietary (but "Free ... for OSS
> development").  Thus the fact that FreeBSD currently uses Perforce
> tells us nothing about the acceptability of a GPL licensed solution.
> (Ditto for SVN, which -- as someone already pointed out -- is not
> GPL either.)
> 
> There are two distributed, BSD-licensed VCS listed on that page:
> Codeville and Fossil.  Both are in ports, but Codeville has been
> proposed for removal as it seems no longer to be under active
> development.  That leaves Fossil as a possibly-viable BSD-licensed
> alternative to Mercurial.  (Of course, there may be others that
> aren't listed on that particular Wikipedia page.)

Feel free to correct me if I am wrong but it is not going to matter much
to what extent a license has to do with this besides ease of mind maybe.
We would not be using the source for the VCS in a repo that holds the
source that is being distributed and none of the contained software
would be effected by a GPL'd VCS. I don't believe the GPL reaches out
that far as to where it can effect the contents of a repo even if it
would happen to be GPLv3.

Lets not bring licensing into this unless the license clearly states
that the beholder needs to be rewarded for their work by any use of so
said product.

-- 

 jhell,v
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Re: Distributed Version Control for ports(7) ( was: Re: autoconf update )

2010-09-20 Thread perryh
Janne Snabb  wrote:

> On Mon, 20 Sep 2010, per...@pluto.rain.com wrote:
> > One issue with either Git or Mercurial is that they are GPL.
> > AFAIK FreeBSD prefers to avoid GPL in the base or in critical
> > widely-used infrastructure if a viable non-GPL alternative
> > exists.
>
> The project currently uses Perforce for many sub-projects,
> so using GPL licenced solution could hardly be a problem.

According to the "General Information" table here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_revision_control_software
Perforce is not GPL -- it is proprietary (but "Free ... for OSS
development").  Thus the fact that FreeBSD currently uses Perforce
tells us nothing about the acceptability of a GPL licensed solution.
(Ditto for SVN, which -- as someone already pointed out -- is not
GPL either.)

There are two distributed, BSD-licensed VCS listed on that page:
Codeville and Fossil.  Both are in ports, but Codeville has been
proposed for removal as it seems no longer to be under active
development.  That leaves Fossil as a possibly-viable BSD-licensed
alternative to Mercurial.  (Of course, there may be others that
aren't listed on that particular Wikipedia page.)
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Re: Distributed Version Control for ports(7) ( was: Re: autoconf update )

2010-09-20 Thread Janne Snabb
On Mon, 20 Sep 2010, per...@pluto.rain.com wrote:

> One issue with either Git or Mercurial is that they are GPL.
> AFAIK FreeBSD prefers to avoid GPL in the base or in critical
> widely-used infrastructure if a viable non-GPL alternative
> exists.

The project currently uses Perforce for many sub-projects, so using
GPL licenced solution could hardly be a problem. I was shocked to
notice that I need a proprietary binary-only software which does
whatever unbeknownst to me to be able to access the TrustedBSD
repositories.

Using some free modern VCS for new sub-projects which would
traditionally go to perforce would be a good way and first-use
candidate to start experimenting with and getting developers used
to the slightly different new way of doing things.


>From my point of view as a *user* it would be very nice to have
some modern VCS interface to ports and src. The current system (SVN
& CVS) makes it troublesome for users to keep in sync with the
central repository while maintaining their local modifications.
Also, if I want to be able to access port version history easily,
I need to use anoncvs to update my ports tree, but that is terribly
slow (or I could mirror the whole CVS repository to my disk, but
that is quite a bloat). Luckily src has been migrated to SVN, which
makes my life slightly easier.

The above is just a point of view as a pure consumer of the source
tree. My contributions to the project come as patches in PRs (it
would be easier to work on those patches with a modern VCS). My
personal favourite is Bazaar as it tracks not only files but also
directories properly, which I need for some projects, Mercurial
comes 2nd and Git 3rd as it is quite a mess. All of them are tolerable :).

I do know that the migration is a big burden which makes the whole
thing very difficult to accomplish.

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Re: Distributed Version Control for ports(7) ( was: Re: autoconf update )

2010-09-20 Thread Romain Tartière
On Mon, Sep 20, 2010 at 05:20:39AM -0700, per...@pluto.rain.com wrote:
> SVN [...] is GPL;
nope, it's under Apache License 2.0, see:
http://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/subversion/trunk/LICENSE

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Re: Distributed Version Control for ports(7) ( was: Re: autoconf update )

2010-09-20 Thread perryh
Konstantin Tokarev  wrote:

> Why not Git?

One issue with either Git or Mercurial is that they are GPL.
AFAIK FreeBSD prefers to avoid GPL in the base or in critical
widely-used infrastructure if a viable non-GPL alternative
exists.  Granted SVN, currently used to manage src, is GPL;
but its critical use is only on the project's own servers
whereas the use being proposed for Git or Mercurial would
involve their being used in a distributed manner (that being
the whole point).

A second issue with Mercurial is that it is written in Python,
which seems to have adopted -- granted to a lesser extent --
the unfortunate Perl tendency for newer versions to be less
than completely compatible with earlier versions.  It would
seem problematic if the Python version used by Mercurial were
to be superseeded by an incompatible version, requiring the
entire distributed user base to migrate.
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Re: Distributed Version Control for ports(7) ( was: Re: autoconf update )

2010-09-20 Thread Dominic Fandrey
On 20/09/2010 03:01, Carlos A. M. dos Santos wrote:
> On Sun, Sep 19, 2010 at 6:34 AM, Ion-Mihai Tetcu  wrote:
> 

Is this just my impression or are we trying to build a bikeshed
here?

I think we all agree, that the stage is not set for a VCS change.

Regards

-- 
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Re: Distributed Version Control for ports(7) ( was: Re: autoconf update )

2010-09-20 Thread jhell


On Mon, 20 Sep 2010 03:17, Konstantin Tokarev wrote:
In Message-Id: <174981284967...@web24.yandex.ru>





1). http://bit.ly/d5UrtN

2). http://www.keltia.net/BSDCan/paper.pdf

3). http://bit.ly/97Y8Xi

4). Because CVS just does not do any of this.

Make your final comparison here:
http://bit.ly/cyQBn8

For the sake of argument can you think of any reason to not switch ?



Why not Git?
Or you prefer to manage ports tree from Windows?



For one it really has a steeper learning curve for the interface than what 
mercurial presents. It presents a lot of information upfront to the user 
which tends to be overwhelming in some cases. GIT is nice, I like its 
speed but I have more of a preference to mercurial than anything else. I 
also like the fact that mercurial makes direct use of the python language 
but this is not really for this thread and could lead off in directions 
that were not intended.


I do not do any development for anything to do with FreeBSD in a Window$ 
environment, Its not needed for me to do so because I always have access 
to a command line wherever I go. If the time comes and I would need to, 
it is nice to know that there is a front-end for Mercurial on Window$.




Thanks for inquiring,


--

 jhell,v

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Re: Distributed Version Control for ports(7) ( was: Re: autoconf update )

2010-09-20 Thread Konstantin Tokarev

>
> 1). http://bit.ly/d5UrtN
>
> 2). http://www.keltia.net/BSDCan/paper.pdf
>
> 3). http://bit.ly/97Y8Xi
>
> 4). Because CVS just does not do any of this.
>
> Make your final comparison here:
> http://bit.ly/cyQBn8
>
> For the sake of argument can you think of any reason to not switch ?


Why not Git?
Or you prefer to manage ports tree from Windows?

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Re: Distributed Version Control for ports(7) ( was: Re: autoconf update )

2010-09-19 Thread Carlos A. M. dos Santos
On Sun, Sep 19, 2010 at 6:34 AM, Ion-Mihai Tetcu  wrote:
> On Sun, 19 Sep 2010 02:38:28 -0400
> jhell  wrote:
>
>> On 09/18/2010 07:17, Ion-Mihai Tetcu wrote:
>> >
>> > I'm still to see a concise, clear, precise, listing of advantages
>> > that switching from CVS would bring us,
>> > that would overcome the effort needed to do it (committers, users,
>> > infrastructure, tools).
>>
>>
>> 1). http://bit.ly/d5UrtN
>>
>> 2). http://www.keltia.net/BSDCan/paper.pdf
>>
>> 3). http://bit.ly/97
>> Y8Xi
>>
>> Make your final comparison here:
>> http://bit.ly/cyQBn8
>
>>>
> concise, clear, precise, listing of advantages, that switching from CVS
> would bring _us_
>>>
>
> I have to work daily with 3-4 (D)VCSes for my work and OSS work, so I'm
> pretty well aware of some good and some bad points of each.
>
>> 4). Because CVS just does not do any of this.
>
> Neither does any of them make coffee or pick up girls for me, but this
> neither here nor there, since we're talking about advantages - of
> switching - for ports.
> General "this is why $VCS is the coolest" and general features matrix
> are only the starting point.

You can keep discussing this subject forever, using this kind of
argument. The point here is not if a DVCS is better than CVS or not.
It is if FreeBSD ports will keep using CVS or move to something else,
preferably a DCVS. This move will happen if - and only if - somebody
volunteers to to the work or get paid to do it. So I suggest you to

1. Define what must be done, as well as a deadline.
2. Calculate the amount necessary to pay somebody with the right
skills to do the work.
3. Create a bounty to raise the required funds.
4. Start working on the task.

And yes, I'd happily donate some money to such initiative.
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Re: Distributed Version Control for ports(7) ( was: Re: autoconf update )

2010-09-19 Thread Ion-Mihai Tetcu
On Sun, 19 Sep 2010 02:38:28 -0400
jhell  wrote:

> On 09/18/2010 07:17, Ion-Mihai Tetcu wrote:
> > 
> > I'm still to see a concise, clear, precise, listing of advantages
> > that switching from CVS would bring us,
> > that would overcome the effort needed to do it (committers, users,
> > infrastructure, tools).
> 
> 
> 1). http://bit.ly/d5UrtN
> 
> 2). http://www.keltia.net/BSDCan/paper.pdf
> 
> 3). http://bit.ly/97
> Y8Xi
> 
> Make your final comparison here:
> http://bit.ly/cyQBn8

>>
concise, clear, precise, listing of advantages, that switching from CVS
would bring _us_
>>

I have to work daily with 3-4 (D)VCSes for my work and OSS work, so I'm
pretty well aware of some good and some bad points of each.

> 4). Because CVS just does not do any of this.

Neither does any of them make coffee or pick up girls for me, but this
neither here nor there, since we're talking about advantages - of
switching - for ports.
General "this is why $VCS is the coolest" and general features matrix
are only the starting point.

> For the sake of argument can you think of any reason to not switch ?
> lets hear those, I'm interested.

Well, first of all, since we are already using CVS, anyone wishing for
a change will have to do the work to break the status quo (ie. convince
the rest that is worth the effort).

Quick args against:
1. Human side:
- all existing committers know to use CVS
- we have a few people that know its internals very well
- most of the user base also
- CVS is simple to use (yes, simple that any of the other; partially
  because it lacks "complicated" "features")
2. Infrastructure:
- everything we have revolves around CVS, from pointy to tindy to
  portsnap to mirrors to ...
3. All the scripts / apps / ... out there that make use of it or csup.

About the only two things I see that we could benefit from switching to
something else are:
- easy move/rename while preserving history (repocopies now)
- better speed for a whole tree checkout/update (if)

I've watched the src switch from CVS to SVN, and I can't say it was
fully a success. part of the problem is that even after all this time,
people haven't completely made the switch in their minds.
And the switch implies much more that a table of command equivalencies.

Anyone wishing to push for a change will have to:
1. Produce a list of shortcomings of CVS in relation to our ports.
2. Produce a comparison of other VCSes in relation to CVS, CVS'
shortcomings in relation to our ports, and each other.
3. Import the existing ports CVS history in the VCS they'd recommend to
switch to.
4. Produce a tested migration path (exporter to CVS that works, etc.).
5. Produce a tested migration path for part of the pieces in our
infrastructure.
6. Document 4. and 5. and CVS to $VCS user giude and be available to
run/fix things related to 4. and 5. for months if not years.

1. to 4. are prerequisites of any serious endeavour to convince our
committers and users (and pormgr@, core@). This implies a few month of
work, without any guarantee that it won't be for nothing.

-- 
IOnut - Un^d^dregistered ;) FreeBSD "user"
  "Intellectual Property" is   nowhere near as valuable   as "Intellect"
FreeBSD committer -> ite...@freebsd.org, PGP Key ID 057E9F8B493A297B


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