Re: "latest" resource

On Thu, Dec 21, 2000 at 12:26:29PM +0000, Tim_Ellison@uk.ibm.com wrote:
> > Is there a way to tell a VCR to "float" with the
> > latest version automatically?
> 
> No.

Grr. This seems a bit bizarre. Of the version control systems that I've used
(RCS, CVS, SourceSafe), they've all had floating VCRs (effectively). That
DeltaV lacks the same concept is quite astonishing...

> > I've got a strange feeling that if you CHECKOUT a
> > version resource, modify it, then do a CHECKIN, that
> > the VCR that pointed at the original version resource
> > doesn't get auto-updated to point at the latest
> > version.
> 
> You should listen to that strange feeling!  It's right.

*grumble*

> > Is there a way to do this automatically? If not, then
> > what is involved with keeping VCRs pointing at the latest?
> > Do I need to issue a bazillion SET-TARGET requests?
> 
> Yup, you have to issue your bazillion requests.

That simply blows.

> The alternative is that CHECKOUT/CHECKIN fail because some client has a VCR
> locked and you cannot honour the auto 'latest' for them -- even assuming
> that you know on which server the VCR resides and can modify it.

People can't lock stuff on my server :-), so I'm not worred about this.


Hmm. I just thought of something. Assume you have two people: Joe checks in
a bunch of stuff, creating new version resources. He then follows with a
bunch of SET-TARGET methods, so the VCRs get update. Jane fetches the VCRs
and sees his changes.

Now... what if Joe was replaced by an automatic process? From Jane's
standpoint, she doesn't care *how* the VCRs are updated, just that they are.

In other words, I might argue that the server can pretend there is somebody
out there updating all the VCRs in the repository to point to the "latest"
revision. The logs don't show it :-), but it is happening.

Does the spec forbid this? :-)

Cheers,
-g

-- 
Greg Stein, http://www.lyra.org/

Received on Thursday, 21 December 2000 07:40:52 UTC