Bazaar still below the radar when evaluating VCS tools

[Martin Pool]

On 27 February 2010 19:49, James Westby <jw+debian at jameswestby.net> wrote:
> If the direction is clear, then it helps with selling it by word of
> mouth, and it helps focus development. When looking at what to work on
> next you can choose things that move you further forward in realising
> the vision. When working on a new feature it can help you design and
> pitch it.
>
> I think part of the dearth of people writing about Bazaar unprompted,
> rather than in response to reviews that ignore it or paint it in an
> unfavourable light is that they aren't sure what the pitch is. A lot of
> effort has been put in to convincing people that Bazaar is a viable
> alternative, so it will often only be spoken of as an alternative.
>
> What do you think is the Bazaar's vision? Do you think others agree with
> you? Do you think that we, as a project, do a good enough job of
> articulating that vision to the rest of the world?

We know the things we like in bzr, or what we want to improve, but to
capture the principle without a motherhood statement is difficult.

Bazaar's not a toolkit for building a vcs: you should be able to pick
it up and use it easily, with no prior experience of version control.
It suggests some particular models for use.  But it's an extensible
vcs: you can introduce new formats, or new ways of working through
plugins like pipeline, loom, and colo.  We're based on a dag, but it's
about more than just manipulating a dag, therefore the emphasis on a
particular mainline, and in tools like bundle buggy and Launchpad
merge proposals.

-- 
Martin <http://launchpad.net/~mbp/>