[RFC] bzr whatnow: Inline help on workflows

[Richard Wilbur]

On Mon, 2009-07-13 at 23:12 +0200, Marius Kruger wrote:
> 2009/7/13 Jerome Leclanche <adys.wh at gmail.com>:
[...]
> > One of the problems that often come up when I help people switch to Bazaar
> > is the workflow. I don't know them all myself and cannot always be of help.
> > The modularity of Bazaar sometimes makes the job even more confusing for the
> > end user.
> >
> > This morning it struck me that Bazaar doesn't actually have any kind of
> > inline help on Workflows. http://bazaar-vcs.org/Workflows is great, but
> > requires an internet connection, and you can't always find your way into it;
> > particularly if you are not used to a specific workflow.
> 
> yes it may be useful to add some online help topics on workflows.
> 
I think this would greatly ease the migration from other version control
systems.  The different workflow descriptions (with use cases?) would
allow someone to more easily decide on their own how to structure a new
system based on bzr.

This becomes even more important when discussing a workflow that wasn't
available in an organization's previous version control system.  It
provides a good beginning for the discussion leading to the proposal to
migrate to bzr.

> 
> > My proposal is to add a command, either in bzr or bzrtools, that will query
> > the current environment and provide inline help on the user's workflow
> > depending on local changes, so on. Look at it like a "What should I do
> > now?".
> 
> this is a crazy-cool idea, but I think we should get it working as
> a separate plugin for now, until its ready for broader adoption.
> This is like an interactive tutorial  or a bzr-NPC-helper-bot :)
> 
The utility of the combination of 'bzr help workflow' documentation and
the "bzr online coach" ('bzr whatnow') is greater than an onsite bzr
training session because it provides first the notes and then
context-sensitive suggestions based on chosen workflow.  Should greatly
reduce the pain of both VCS and workflow migration!

To me, this makes bzr an even easier sell.  I enjoy talking up the
fabulous flexibility and cool configurations bzr offers, but with this
you would have personalized workflow and bzr coaching, every step of the
way!  (Forgive me for glowing a little.;>)

Sincerely,

Richard