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From: michaelv@MindBender.HeadCandy.com (Michael L. VanLoon)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,comp.unix.advocacy,comp.unix.misc
Subject: Re: Linux vs FreeBSD
Date: 07 Dec 1995 05:58:23 GMT
Organization: HeadCandy Associates... Sweets for the lobes.
Lines: 46
Message-ID: <MICHAELV.95Dec6215823@MindBender.HeadCandy.com>
References: <489kuu$rbo@pelican.cs.ucla.edu> <87rayn8ion.fsf@interbev.mindspring.com>
<49qa85$q80@agate.berkeley.edu>
<MICHAELV.95Dec2230815@mindbender.headcandy.com>
<49sql5$99f@pell.pell.chi.il.us>
NNTP-Posting-Host: mindbender.seanet.com
In-reply-to: orc@pell.chi.il.us's message of 3 Dec 1995 10:35:17 -0800
Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.os.linux.advocacy:29387 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:9880 comp.unix.advocacy:11786 comp.unix.misc:19871
In article <49sql5$99f@pell.pell.chi.il.us> orc@pell.chi.il.us (Orc) writes:
In article <MICHAELV.95Dec2230815@mindbender.headcandy.com>,
Michael L. VanLoon <michaelv@MindBender.HeadCandy.com> wrote:
>But once again, the fact is raised that at least the *BSD groups keep
>the entire source tree in a well-managed CVS enlistment system. Is
>there any of the native Linux system in such well-managed state?
>Could you retrieve a specific kernel file from a specific date for me?
>Any commercial company who developed software like that would quickly
>go out of business, after their software got buggier and harder to
>maintain, and users quit buying the stuff.
I don't know how Linus does internal version control, but there
are plenty of companies that don't use version control (or have got
Company Standards(tm) like DEC's CMS, which is worthless) that are
not known for 'buggier and harder to maintain' software. SCCS is
an unqualified Good Thing(tm), but, regretfully, it's not necessary
to use it to produce good reliable code.
No, of course not. Not initially, anyway.
However, it's indispensable for QFE (Quick-Fix Engineering [i. e. bug
fixes to post-released code]). It's also indispensable for large
development teams.
My point is not that you can't write software without good version
control. But that you can't efficiently maintain it for an extended
period of time. And that effects one or more of quality/bugginess,
date slippage, and/or number of features developable per release
cycle.
Sure, you could do anything without version control. But if it's big
enough, and all other things are equal, a competitor with tight
version control policies is going to end up doing more, better, in the
long run.
--
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Michael L. VanLoon michaelv@HeadCandy.com
--< Free your mind and your machine -- NetBSD free un*x >--
NetBSD working ports: 386+PC, Mac 68k, Amiga, HP300, Sun3, Sun4,
DEC PMAX (MIPS), DEC Alpha, PC532
NetBSD ports in progress: VAX, Atari 68k, others...
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