Hi Aaron,

I couldn't agree more. The ASR web team uses Git (we moved from Subversion a
few years ago), but we'd love to see a centralized source code hosting
service from OIT. Not only does it make good security sense, but I think
it'd also provide a mechanism for inter-departmental collaboration. Just
think of things like CAH authentication code and how hard it is sometimes to
track down source code and authors to contribute changes/patches.

I've mentioned this idea a while ago to Patton Fast, who runs the OIA server
team at OIT and he seemed into it. I think we just have to speak up and
demonstrate that there is a demand for a service like this.

I also absolutely agree with Garrett about Git. In a collaborative
environment, it's superior. Git also has web more capable front-ends like
GitHub and Gitorious that handle collaboration very elegantly.

In fact, Gitorious is open-source and free. I think it would be such an
quick and easy win for OIT to set up an instance of Gitorious. Then the we
the developers could manage our own repositories and access; it would be
minimal work for OIT.

Would you all be into something like this? Patton, are you on this list?

Chris

PS - Git also 'talks Subversion' and moving between the two is ridiculously
simple.

On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 10:26 AM, Aaron J. Zirbes <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> U of MN Developers,
>
> Is there anyone (besides me) out there on the list that feels that a
> common-good SVN service would be a good idea?  Bad idea?  Not sure?
>
> As a web, application and systems developer I feel that I couldn't do my
> job with out a proper revision control system (RCS).  It gives me a
> giant UNDO button for all of my projects to any commit point in time.
> It forces me to comment all my changes.  It gives me the confidence I
> need to make sweeping changes to a system without the worry of "how do I
> undo this?"
>
> Using SVN has become almost trivial as most development platforms (Adobe
> Dreamweaver included) support SVN out of the box.
>
> We run our own subversion (SVN) server at EnHS for our department's
> needs, but I'd be willing to guess that most departments do not.
>
> I know not all departments are large enough to support their own SVN
> server, but I feel that any one who isn't using some sort of RCS in
> their web development is suffering because of it.  It is putting
> developers and their work at too much risk.  I think that all developers
> at the U should have access to SVN, but for that to happen, U of MN
> central would have to set it up as a common-good service.
>
> --
> Aaron
>



-- 
Christian Dinger
Academic Support Resources
University of Minnesota
612-625-6031