combining svn:externals and branching

["Robert P. J. Day" <rp...@mindspring.com>]

  based on a question i asked once upon a time, i just want to know if i 
can do the following.

  my original post asked about how to define a software project by picking 
and choosing from a collection of software components, and someone 
suggested the obvious solution of using "svn:externals",  which looks like 
it will do the job nicely.

  given the svn:externals property, my plan is to create a separate
repository of software components that new projects can pick from --
components that would include a 2.4 kernel source tree, a 2.6 tree
(perhaps more than once version of each), perhaps a couple different
versions of busybox, and so on.  this repository would include pure
source, and nothing else -- no build scripts or makefiles, at least i
don't think so yet.  the repository's job is to handle strictly source.

  anyone defining a new project would simply have to define how they
want their working copy structured, define the svn:externals they need,
and create the entire build/compile structure around those parts.  and 
here comes the question.

  if we consider two projects -- A and B -- that both pull in the 2.4
kernel source tree, it's possible that either of those projects might need 
to hack the actual kernel source, and create a new branch that's 
developing a new feature; say, fancier USB support.

  in some cases, this additional feature might be restricted to project A;
in other cases, this feature might need to be incorporated back into the
repository.  although i haven't nailed down how to do this yet, i'm 
assuming it's not going to be hard for a project to define new branches in 
either of two places -- strictly within the current project, or back in 
the main software repository.  is that doable?

  (it also might get messier -- i might have a project working with a 2.4 
kernel, having created a branch for a special feature, then later i'll 
want to try to merge that branch into the 2.6 kernel to try to add that
fancy new feature to the 2.6 kernel.)

  thoughts?

rday

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Re: combining svn:externals and branching

[Tom Mornini <tm...@infomania.com>]

On Apr 3, 2004, at 11:00 AM, Robert P. J. Day wrote:

> this repository would include pure
> source, and nothing else -- no build scripts or makefiles, at least i
> don't think so yet.  the repository's job is to handle strictly source.

I think this is a bad idea. The source tree should include build and 
make
scripts, certainly! What good is source code without a means of building
it? And, the build and make scripts will change with the source, so if 
you
want history capability for the project, these files MUST be included in
source control.

> repository.  although i haven't nailed down how to do this yet, i'm
> assuming it's not going to be hard for a project to define new 
> branches in
> either of two places -- strictly within the current project, or back in
> the main software repository.  is that doable?

I worked this through recently myself. Upon a label or branch, the 
svn:external
definition will need to be updated to point to a label or branch of the 
external
repository.

-- 
-- Tom Mornini


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