Messages in this thread | | | From | (Larry McVoy) | Subject | Re: How/where do we submit patches now? | Date | Sat, 06 Jun 1998 14:11:40 -0700 |
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: Do you know if there was any discussion with Linus about formally : spreading out this responcibility to other trusted people? : : I would like to do more for linux, but why put in the time if it's next to : impossible to get the stuff even looked at? For instance the initrd-archive : thingy I wrote I haven't even tried to fit in anything >.90's. I also wanted to : clean some things in the rd code. These haven't been done because it's doubtful : they'll ever see the light of day. : : With how big Linux is now, it needs to be better orginized.
Yes, there has been some discussion. Linus acknowledges that there is a bit of a problem and is taking some steps to resolve it. The first step was to start using Jitterbug as a patch queue, so at least things don't get completely lost.
A longer term answer is also in the works. I've quit my job to focus 100% on a new distributed source management system that may help a great deal; that remains to be seen. Linus & I and others have sat down and discussed this at length and we are converging on a set of tools which will help track things in a distributed manner.
Goals:
. provide a globally distributed source mgmt system . stick the kernel under source control . turn patches into version controlled things called "change sets". . change sets can carry history (both deltas & comments) so that can be used to fan out the load to Alan/David/etc.
Features: . It's not CVS - CVS has one repository and multiple clear text work areas. In my stuff, every work area is a repository and has all the revisions. So you can work while you are disconnected. . I revision control /everything/ - file contents, file names, symbolic tags, etc. So when you update, renames propogate like they should. . Free for free software development. . Works quite similarly to what people do now - you mail patches around. The patches have more information in them, they include the delta comments, tags, renames, etc. Thanks to Eric Raymond for that idea. . Change sets let source browsers ask questions like "this line of code is weird - who put it in and what are all the other lines of code in all the other files that went in as part of this change?"
Schedule: . My best guess is a working prototype available for public use in 2-3 months. The base revision control is pretty close to completion (I've been using it daily for about 6 months, I'm tieing up loose ends); I need to redo the repository resync / resolve code in C (it's currently in perl).
More info: . Mail me, lm@bitmover.com, and/or watch
ftp://ftp.bitmover.com/bitkeeper
Help: . The most useful thing to me right now is people that have thought about source mgmt over the years and can say stuff like "it had better solve problem XYZ". I've discussed it with a lot of people and it seems pretty good, but I like people that want to poke at it and try and break the model. I'll have a majordomo list up on bitmover in a week or so; stay tuned.
. If you are familiar with SCCS and want to test out the base revision control, mail me. If you aren't familiar with SCCS and you are freaking out because it isn't RCS, fear not - I give you "ci" and "co" compatible interfaces to the system in addition to the SCCS interfaces.
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