[Book] Confusing order

[Yuan-Yuan Sun <su...@access.ch>]

Hi

I've just set up a subversion server (using svnserve) while reading 
the book and I must say, I find it rather confusing.

While there is a "Quick Start" for SubVersion users, there's none for 
admins. You have to collect your bits and pieces from all over the 
place. Like, how to install, how to create your first repository 
(what layout?) and how to get the user authentication. Oh, it's all 
of it mentioned someplace - but not in the order I need it.
So, a Quick Start for someone who must set up and run a SubVersion 
repository please.

b) bits of information are simply missing. e.g. Where is that 
svnserve.conf I need to add to for user authentication? I had to go 
online to figure out "oh, it's the one in the repository"! It has 
nothing whatsoever to do with /etc/subversion or the conf in the 
user's Home...

So - yes, it's running, but...

Anyway, it was better than nothing, so thanks anyway. Especially for 
providing it for free.

Yuan-Yuan

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Re: [Book] Confusing order

["C. Michael Pilato" <cm...@collab.net>]

Ben Collins-Sussman <su...@collab.net> writes:

> On Mon, 2004-06-07 at 12:00, Yuan-Yuan Sun wrote:
> 
> > So, a Quick Start for someone who must set up and run a SubVersion 
> > repository please.
> 
> I disagree.  I don't think there *can* be a Quick Start for "setting up
> and running a repository."  There are dozens of difficult choices to
> make:  how will you organize the repository?  How will you back it up?  
> Who will own the repository?  What will your hook-scripts do?  Which
> server will you set up?  Which authentication and authorization systems
> will you use?
> 
> There's no way that a "Quick Start" guide can make these complex choices
> for you.  Administrators actually have to read all of chapter 5 and 6 to
> get the full background they need to make these important decisions. 
> That information isn't compressible into a tiny bulleted list.
> 
> Not everything in life has shortcuts.

I was about to send a similar mail.  A quickstart for repository setup
would have to work more like a flowchart, with decisions taking you
off into whole different universes for more decision-making.  Heh, we
could write it as a choose-your-own-adventure story:

   You are standing at a fork in the road.  To the left, the way
   becomes narrow, winding, and dark.  There is a rickety wooden sign
   that reads, "Berkeley DB".  To the right the road is straight and
   wide, seemingly heading towards a bright glow you spy on the
   horizon.  The path is marked with a neon sign reading "FSFS".

      To go left, jump to page 55.
      To go right, jump to page 134.

Hmm... writing that was more fun than I expected.  

C-Mike considers the task for a bit, then hears his son playing
upstairs and decides, "Not today, m' boy.  Not today."

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Re: [Book] Confusing order

[Ben Collins-Sussman <su...@collab.net>]

On Mon, 2004-06-07 at 12:00, Yuan-Yuan Sun wrote:

> So, a Quick Start for someone who must set up and run a SubVersion 
> repository please.

I disagree.  I don't think there *can* be a Quick Start for "setting up
and running a repository."  There are dozens of difficult choices to
make:  how will you organize the repository?  How will you back it up?  
Who will own the repository?  What will your hook-scripts do?  Which
server will you set up?  Which authentication and authorization systems
will you use?

There's no way that a "Quick Start" guide can make these complex choices
for you.  Administrators actually have to read all of chapter 5 and 6 to
get the full background they need to make these important decisions. 
That information isn't compressible into a tiny bulleted list.

Not everything in life has shortcuts.

> 
> b) bits of information are simply missing. e.g. Where is that 
> svnserve.conf I need to add to for user authentication? I had to go 
> online to figure out "oh, it's the one in the repository"! It has 
> nothing whatsoever to do with /etc/subversion or the conf in the 
> user's Home...

What about the 2nd bullet, right at the very beginning of the
authn/authz section for svnserve?

  "The server processes the repository's conf/svnserve.conf file, and
begins to enforce any authentication and authorization policies defined
therein."

That bullet is pretty explicit about the location of the file.
Granted, I guess we can be a bit clearer about that.  We could write a
separate sentence somewhere else that re-states the file's location.



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