Re: new "Advanced Versioning Semantics" section

From: Geoffrey M. Clemm (geoffrey.clemm@rational.com)
Date: Sat, Apr 29 2000

  • Next message: Geoffrey M. Clemm: "Workspace/Target-Selector vs. Target-Selector/Request-Target-Selector"

    Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2000 13:14:05 -0400 (EDT)
    Message-Id: <200004291714.NAA08090@tantalum.atria.com>
    From: "Geoffrey M. Clemm" <geoffrey.clemm@rational.com>
    To: ietf-dav-versioning@w3.org
    Subject: Re: new "Advanced Versioning Semantics" section
    
       From: jamsden@us.ibm.com
    
       It wasn't clear how the SET-TARGET method populated the workspace with
       revisions. Maybe just another sentence there would help.
    
    It occurs to me that although SET-TARGET and MERGE are equivalent
    on an empty workspace, it would probably be better to say that the
    MERGE method is the standard mechanism for initializing a workspace,
    since a workspace is commonly initialized from a baseline, and using
    a MERGE would mean that this baseline would be tracked in the
    DAV:predecessor-set of the workspace.
    
    The primary use of SET-TARGET on a workspace would be to "jump back"
    to a previous revision or to a different branch, which is a much less
    common scenario.  Adding some words to this effect would probably be
    worthwhile as well.
    
       If core versioning uses a default revision on a versioned resource,
       wouldn't using a default workspace be in conflict with this?
    
    On an advanced versioning server, a request to set the default target
    is really a request to set the target of the default workspace
    (but a core client doesn't have to know that).
    
       Wouldn't there
       be two defaults specified? Or are these merged by setting the default
       version of a versioned resource to a workspace rather than a label? If so,
       this should be pointed out so one can see how default workspaces don't
       introduce a new paradigm. 
    
    I agree.  I'll try to add a sentence or two to make this clear.
    
       It also wasn't clear how one would use different
       default workspaces on different resources, but noting that they are just a
       revision selector just like a label might clear up this confusion.
    
    Will do.  There is only one default workspace for a URL, but you can
    override this with a Target-Selector header.
    
       I particularly liked the sections on merging and activities. Indicating
       merge conflicts arise when neither revision is a predecessor of the other
       is the simplest way I've ever heard this described.
    
    Thanks!
    
    Cheers,
    Geoff