Re: Version control systems for Lua projects (was Re: LuaSocket development status)

[Miles Bader <miles@...>]

Christopher Berardi <cberardi@natoufa.com> writes:
> This really makes me wonder. What is the majority, commmonly used
> source code platform used at large in the Lua community?

I use git.  Git also seems to be by far the most popular in the
circles I frequent (biased towards FOSS though).

> If git is indeed the most popular, as is hinted at in the above quotes,
> what factors make it so as opposed to its competitors?

I think you can break down the differences a bit.

Most importantly there's DVCS ("distributed VCS") (git, mercurial)
vs. olde-style VCS (svn).  Using DVCS is a _huge_ breath of fresh air
for the user, the increase in freedom and flexibility is just
astonishing.  It's like the shackles have been removed.  In my mind
you'd be nuts not to go for DVCS given a choice.

Within the DVCS realm, there's basically git, mercurial, maybe bzr,
... and then everything else.  The latter includes some very
interesting systems, but nothing popular enough to really be much of a
contender if you're trying to decide on a "standard" vcs that you can
bet on being around, familiar, and supported in 5 years.

I think that git and mercurial are basically clean and elegant
systems, but bzr's a bit of a hot mess (which tried to "make things
simpler" but ended up making thing more complex, buggier, and slower
instead).  So I'd say that for anybody not constrained by external
factors (e.g. you work for canonical ...), the choice comes down to
git vs. mercurial.

My personal preference is for git.  It's always seemed a little
cleaner, a little faster (than mercurial -- it's a _lot_ faster than
everything else), a little less rigid, a little more elegant, and
doesn't depend on python.  Of course others have their own preferences
and intuitions, but I don't think mine are completely atypical.
[Python fanbois probably prefer mercurial of course :]

However, git seems to be increasingly winning the mindshare battle.
Historically this may have partially due to git's position as the
"official linux vcs", but more recently (the absolutely excellent)
github is a huge factor (a friend was interviewing with startups in
NYC recently, and noticed that _everybody_ was using github...),
support in Apple xcode, etc.  This mindshare advantage has lead to
better support in tools (like xcode), and better tool support of
course increases mindshare.  Rinse.  Repeat.

Subversion is _still_ probably the most used -- it's the
"conservative" choice for many companies, especially larger ones, the
default for many source repositories, "what we've always used", etc.
But I'd never recommend it, and I don't think the Lua community has
much in common with those who'd choose it.

Here's one statistic:

http://www.ohloh.net/repositories/compare

> Also, do most of you distribute your code on a public source hosting
> site (sourceforge, github, and bitbucket seem to be the most popular)?
> Or do you host it on your own site? 

Remember, with git (and other systems too), there's little reason not to
have it on multiple hosting sites.  

-miles

-- 
Freebooter, n. A conqueror in a small way of business, whose annexations lack
of the sanctifying merit of magnitude.