[rfc] bzr-colo into core

[Gordon Tyler]

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On 3/22/2011 10:18 PM, Martin Pool wrote:
>  * I feel the user model is in an unhappy valley where users do need
> to know about the repository, branch, wt components, but the ui and
> documentation don't really expose them as such; instead we tend to
> talk about the stylized arrangements such as lightweight checkouts and
> standalone branches.
> 
>  * The thing that is closest to being a default, standalone branches,
> is not something we would normally recommend at all.

So how about this: `bzr branch URL [DIR]` will create a colo repo if
there is no shared repo in a parent dir. If URL contains a colo repo,
all branches would be cloned. A `--standalone` option can be added to
make it work like it currently does.

The problem with the bzr-colo implementation is that the URL to a
particular branch is a little messy if you want to fetch only one
branch. The only way I can see that getting resolved is by adding some
kind of indicator to the URL for which branch to fetch. Whether that
gets resolved to the .bzr/branches/BRANCH or if branches are
incorporated into repo metadata, I don't know.

>  * The stylized models we do present don't really flow from each
> other, but rather you have to go back and set things up again if you
> want to switch from say using standalone branches to using a
> repository with branches and a switchable tree.

Isn't that what `bzr reconfigure` is for?

> There are other ways to address these than bzr-colo.  We could for
> instance standardize John's model; or we could make the moving parts
> very clear and just describe how to compose them.

I honestly believe that a colo model is important for ease of use. It
has to be easy for a developer to get their project under version
control and not find themselves in an awkward position later when they
need to make branches.

Ciao,
Gordon

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