QBzr Eclipse plugin

[Russel Winder]

On Sun, 2008-08-17 at 21:09 +0200, Nicholas Allen wrote:

> I don't think the end user probably cares too much about whether SWT is
> used or not. I think they just want a Bazaar plug-in that works and has
> a nice interface. It is true that the level of integration may be less
> by launching the interface in another process and perhaps one day the
> SWT interface of bzr-eclipse will surpass the excellent work being done
> by the QBzr developers. Until then though I think this will be a better
> alternative (I know it will be for me at least and I hope other people
> too).

I think you are right in that most users don't care what technology is
used as long as the result is consistent and it works.  On the other
hand when it comes time to install people might question that all the Qt
libraries get installed for an Eclipse plugin when everyone knows that
SWT is the official Eclipse GUI toolkit.  Not a strong argument but
people will ask the question.  There is also the issue of the licencing
of the Qt library:  some people still think there are issues with the Qt
licence.
 
> I think one of the advantages is that Bazaar gets a common interface as
> I know the TortoiseBzr project will be using QBzr too. The QBzr
> interface seems to be improving at a faster rate than the bzr-eclipse
> one so these benefits will come for free to Eclipse users.

Consistency is indeed very important.  The question is whether
consistency across OS and applications is more important that
consistency within an IDE.  I would favour the latter, hence the
original question.

> If you don't want to use it then don't. I'm publishing it because it
> will be useful to me and I hope others. Choice is not a bad thing and
> this project won't stop the work being done on the existing bzr-eclipse.

Clear abstention is always an option.  On the other hand we are
proselytising and trying to sell Bazaar as the VCS of choice in Eclipse,
NetBeans, IntelliJ IDEA, Emacs, etc.  If there are multiple choices the
danger is Balkanization.  So having only one Bazaar Eclipse plugin may
not be to everyone's taste but it means there is no possibility of
undermining the overall message.

Personally I tend to use command line bzr in a terminal and then do
"synchronize" or "refresh" if I am using an IDE.  This is essential
using NetBeans as there appears to be no Bazaar plugin.  It is also
essential with IntelliJ IDEA at the moment as the bzr4idea plugin needs
a lot of work to be really usable.  On the other hand I am trying to
write about how the average user will use the tools of choice in
2009/2010, so I am having to crystal ball gaze to decide what the tools
of choice will be in a year or two's time.
-- 
Russel.
====================================================
Dr Russel Winder                 Partner

Concertant LLP                   t: +44 20 7585 2200, +44 20 7193 9203
41 Buckmaster Road,              f: +44 8700 516 084
London SW11 1EN, UK.             m: +44 7770 465 077
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 189 bytes
Desc: This is a digitally signed message part
Url : https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/bazaar/attachments/20080820/83ad45e0/attachment.pgp