OT: Method of packaging software for shipment

[Craig White]

On Thu, 2010-03-11 at 19:53 -0600, Alex Dean wrote:
> On Mar 11, 2010, at 4:08 PM, Craig White wrote:
> 
> > On Thu, 2010-03-11 at 14:47 -0700, Eric Cope wrote:
> >> It needs to be deployed to Linux and Windows. I can't just tar /dir
> >> because I have .svn files I don't want to include as well as test
> >> directories. I planned on using a form of tar/zip.
> >>
> > ----
> > ignoring that this really should have been on the development mail
> > list...
> >
> > svn help export
> >
> > I can't imagine a single good reason for using an existing directory
> > instead of exporting specific 'tags' from svn and using that for
> > packaging except that there really wasn't much understanding and
> > planning in svn.
> 
> Can't speak for anyone else, but at least in my case I think there was  
> quite a lot of understanding and planning.
> 
> If the build machine already has a recent working copy of the branch  
> you want to build, switching to a different branch or getting the last  
> bug fix with 'svn up' or 'svn switch' is a lot simpler and faster than  
> getting another full 'svn export'.
----
I tend to think bigger picture and don't resort to simplifications just
because they are simpler or faster.

Reasons that come immediately to my mind to only use an svn export (from
a specific 'tag':

- stability - you can always see what was packaged by doing a checkout
in another directory or on another computer.

- repeatability - you will always get the same files regardless of
where, how you package them.

- durability - one of the reasons you chose a version control system in
the first place... that if the system that you built it on or saved it
on isn't available, you still can get the files that comprised the
package.

- identification - easy enough to tag and identify which version but if
you have some 'build machine with a recent working copy of the branch',
that machine is going to change if not within minutes, certainly in some
days.

There's a reason that management systems and practices are developed and
rarely do they focus on simpler or faster.

Craig


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