[Biopython-dev] biopython on github

[Tiago Antão]

I've been reading this thread and mainly staying silent but there is
one question that is not clear in my mind but I believe it is
important:

How is the "official" biopython trunk controlled? Currently what is on
CVS is the gospel and Peter and Michiel essencially have control of
what is there and what is labelled as a "biopython distribution". How
will this work now?
The second question, related to the first is how will different
branches (of different persons) be managed? I am seeing people
starting working on the same code in different directions and then
having problems merging everything together.

Maybe these questions stem from my ignorance of distributed version
control. But, if not, I think they should be resolved before
advancing.

My suggestion: write (or at least informally agree) the policy before
advancing. While distributed version control seems a good idea (no
opposition), it also seems a good way to create new problems.

BTW, I would be tempted to suggest that a labelled release would be a
good starting point for a distributed revision control bootstrap.

On Mon, Mar 16, 2009 at 10:42 PM, Brad Chapman <chapmanb at 50mail.com> wrote:
> Hey everyone;
> Wow, y'all are quick. Bartek, Giovanni and Peter -- thanks for all
> the hard work and organization. Consolidating a couple of threads
> below...
>
>> >> I've written a short guide on the wiki :
>> >> http://biopython.org/wiki/GitMigration
>> >
>> > I also have a draft for some documentation... I can contribute it later this
>> > morning (now I don't have time).
>>
>> In the meantime, I have updated the following pages accordingly:
>
> The documentation looks awesome. My only suggestion would be to
> change the navigation link that current points to CVS to point to a
> generic page like SourceCode. Then that landing page could link
> to the current CVS and explain we are working to transition to
> Git, with links to those pages. Currently, the Git docs are a
> bit buried from the front page.
>
> Peter, I don't appear to have wiki permissions to edit the navigation
> bar; do you?
>
> Peter:
>> I'm thinking a news post on
>> http://news.open-bio.org/news/category/obf-projects/biopython/ about
>> version control would be a good idea at this point.  How about this -
>
> This is great, and I would move the last paragraph describing
> the Git repository to the beginning; start with what we are doing and
> then describe the rationale. This should help for those with ADD, and
> also give more prominent credit to Bartek, Giovanni and you for the
> work that went into this.
>
>> > - Evaluate the success of Git. This is easy to measure in terms of
>> >  new contributors, increased happiness, and what not. At the same
>> >  time we can monitor how GitHub evolves over time.
>>
>> It may not be that easy to measure in practice...
>
> How about these two metrics:
>
> - How do current developers like it? Beyond the initial learning
>  curve, does it work at least as good as CVS for day to day stuff?
>
> - Does it lower the entry barriers to contributing to Biopython? The
>  main reason to do this is to ease the initial work for coders who
>  feel CVS/Patches/Bugzilla is too much. If we find new contributors
>  through this, it's a win.
>
> Modest expectations are good. If either of these fail miserably, then
> we can re-evaluate.
>
> Brad
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>



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