[development] FAQ: Why is Drupal still using CVS when X is a much better choice?

[Earl Miles]

Steve Scotten wrote:
> On Aug 5, 2008, at 11:33 AM, Earl Miles wrote:
> 
>> Steve Scotten wrote:
>>> Bottom line: I have no desire to become any sort of expert or even 
>>> semiexpert in version control. I want version control to be a tool 
>>> subservient to my needs rather than a black hole sucking up my time, 
>>> attention, and overtaxed brain cells.
>>
>> You only need three commands:
>>
>> cvs checkout
>> cvs commit
>> cvs tag
>>
>> You'll need pretty much the same commands with an svn system as well. 
>> If this is difficult it is only because you're making it so.
> 
> Well, no, I also have to read up on creating the config files, define 
> environment variables and anything else I need to do to get the CVS 
> client to speak to another CVS server, since

I've never touched a cvs config file, nor defined an environment 
variable for it.

> cvs --help checkout
> Usage:
>   cvs checkout [-ANPRcflnps] [-r rev] [-D date] [-d dir]
>     [-j rev1] [-j rev2] [-k kopt] modules...

Luckily, drupal.org knows this command: Available as a page beneath 
http://drupal.org/handbooks/repos (which in turn is beneath 
handbooks/cvs): http://drupal.org/node/321

I wouldn't expect cvs to know where our repositories are anyway, so you 
have to get information from drupal.org on where to check out anyway. 
Conveniently the exact command you need is in the same place...

> That's assuming that the version I have (1.12.13) is compatible with the 
> version we're using around here. It's dated 2005, so I'm guessing the 
> odds are about 60/40 in favor.

If version compatibility were an issue, people would complain. A lot.

> It's not about me and I'm not pretending that this is a dealbreaker or 
> should be the only consideration. It's just two facts to consider out of 
> many: A CVS user can pick up SVN a lot more easily than an SVN user can 
> pick up CVS, and SVN is the more useful skillset in the job market 
> nowadays. If these are truly irrelevant, accept my apologies for piping up.

If you say so, but eh. If we could snap our fingers and switch to svn, 
we would. I promise you, it's a lot easier for you to figure out the CVS 
commands than it is for all of drupal.org to change all of our tools and 
code to use svn instead of cvs.

But that's okay; there's a lot more to maintaining a contribution than 
just using CVS, and if CVS is an impediment for you, I expect the other 
stuff will be worse anyway.