use git instead of bzr

[Michael Nagel]

this bug should be used to discuss if simple-scan should (at some point) migrate to git.

currently is see the following pros and cons:

PRO:
- possibly attracts more committers because more people know git than bazaar.
i have no hard data to support this claim, but personally i strongly prefer git and see e.g.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/simple-scan/+bug/931496
git is gaining traction everywhere and ubuntu/launchpad seems to be the last stronghold for bazaar...

CON:
- bazaar has great integration with launchpad, and i see no reason to leave launchpad in general
- current committers are probably more familar with bazaar
- migration is overhead

[Michael Nagel (nailor)]

IRC chatlog follows:

(08:47:03) Michael Nagel: do you have any experience about setting up a git mirror for a launchpad bzr repo?
(08:47:16) robert_ancell: no, I know how to do the other way though
(08:47:27) robert_ancell: where would the git repo be hosted?
(08:48:20) Michael Nagel: i do not really care. github has a lot of activity recently and a decent web interface.
(08:48:39) Michael Nagel: the thing is... deep down... i am still doubtful about bzr.
(08:48:56) Michael Nagel: but the launchpad integration is a killer argument.
(08:49:18) robert_ancell: yeah, the world really has standardised on git (unfortunately)
(08:50:09) robert_ancell: there seem to be slowly growing calls for GNOME to consider using github because that's what everyone is used to.
(08:50:14) robert_ancell: or something similar
(08:50:41) robert_ancell: but there's a lot of people who want to be independent. It would be much easier to develop on a fully integrated site like that
(08:51:15) Michael Nagel: the code hosting part (including the web interface) of github is rock solid.
(08:51:29) Michael Nagel: bugs and answers is better in launchpad.
(08:51:39) robert_ancell: https://bugs.launchpad.net/launchpad/+bug/1032731
(08:51:40) Michael Nagel: github has wikis, though
(08:51:55) robert_ancell: I think github will pass LP soon at the rate it's going
(08:52:21) Michael Nagel: yes, at least for non-ubuntu-centric project this has already happened imho
(08:53:25) robert_ancell: I recently split the GNOME games repository. It was excruciatingly hard to do in git and would have been really easy in bzr
(08:53:44) robert_ancell: that's the sort of thing that worries me about git
(08:54:17) Michael Nagel: all the tools have their strong and weak sides.
(08:54:39) robert_ancell: git has the weak side in that there was absolutely no thought put into the user interface of it
(08:54:45) robert_ancell: great performance though
(08:55:14) Michael Nagel: but unnecessary choice, diversion and incompatibilities are bad. and "the world" seems to be betting on git.
(08:55:24) Michael Nagel: it is "good enough"
(08:56:14) Michael Nagel: the user interface is one of the weaknesses but imho a lot could be achieved with simple interfaces for the existing backend
(08:56:48) robert_ancell: Yeah, I'm really surprised there's not a git 2.0 type interface. If that gets done then there's really no question
(08:56:54) Michael Nagel: and github with "github for mac" and others are working on dumb/friendly guis
(08:57:18) robert_ancell: the guis are good, it's the command line that needs the improvement
(08:58:50) Michael Nagel: yes, mostly. i am waiting for the perfect gui still, but you are right the cli needs an overhaul with most commands hidden and few simple exposed for a clearly defined workflow.
(08:59:37) Michael Nagel: splitting a repo might still be difficult, but there could be tools build ON TOP of git to handle it...
(09:00:48) Michael Nagel: back to my initial question: do you think it is feasible to sync a git repository with the official simple scan repo (i do not care who is master and who is mirror)?
(09:01:08) robert_ancell: I think it might be possible, but I don't know
(09:0...

[Michael Nagel (nailor)]

https://github.com/mnagel/simple-scan

[Michael Nagel (nailor)]

for the records, here is what i did:

# install git-bzr dependencies
sudo apt-get install bzr-fastimport python-fastimport

# install git-bzr (assumes $HOME/bin is in your $PATH)
git clone git://github.com/termie/git-bzr-ng.git
ln -s $(pwd)/git-bzr-ng/git-bzr /$HOME/bin/git-bzr

# create the mirror (i did not check bidirectional sync (or any sync for that matter))
git bzr clone lp:simple-scan simple-scan
cd simple-scan
gitg # optional, to have a look
git remote add origin <email address hidden>:mnagel/simple-scan.git
git push -u origin master

[Michael Nagel (nailor)]

PS: I truncated the IRC log above. It follows the remainder:

(09:01:56) robert_ancell: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3294076/how-can-i-mirror-a-project-hosted-on-launchpad-on-github
(09:03:02) Michael Nagel: i will investigate. what direction do you prefer?
(09:03:45) robert_ancell: I'd prefer the repository to be in bzr so the bug tags works
(09:04:05) robert_ancell: and make it easy for people to propose branches using git if that's what they'd prefer
(09:05:00) Michael Nagel: i will check You could try some kind of git-bzr bridge like this git-bzr git-bzr script:
(09:05:00) Michael Nagel: This script allows you to add bazaar repositories as git branches in your git repository.
(09:05:01) Michael Nagel: After that, you can fetch the Bazaar repo, make some changes, and push it back into Bazaar.
(09:05:14) Michael Nagel: copy paste chaos...
(09:05:47) Michael Nagel: however i will check this on to mirror the bzr repo to a git repo and probably put the repo on github.
(09:06:43) Michael Nagel: i do not know how well pushing back new git branches to bzr works, but in the worst case you make a patch from the git branch and feed it to bzr
(09:07:33) Michael Nagel: and probably the sync bzr->git would be manual at first, but thats ok for me, the project is not that big and not that volatile
(09:10:27) Michael Nagel: if thats ok with you i try what i can achieve and you could have a look at

[Michael Nagel (nailor)]

from a related question:

Hi,

just wanted to know if it would be a good idea to move simple-scan to the gnome infrastructure? Then all gnome guys can improve the code. At launchpad, the dev team for simple-scan has only 2 members.

Cheers,

Tom

[Michael Nagel (nailor)]

Hi Tom,

thanks for your suggestion! I'd really like to see simple scan turn into a real community project with several committers.
I do not think that the gnome infrastructure is inherently superior to the launchpad infrastructure and magically solve all issues hindering community participation. However, it seems plausible that the usage of bzr instead of git is counterproductive, as "the world really has standardized on git" (quote robert ancell). There is ongoing discussion on this topic at https://bugs.launchpad.net/simple-scan/+bug/1038923 and I would really like to hear your opinion over there! Let's keep discussion centralized and continue discussion over there!

Best Regards
Michael

PS: you might be interested in https://github.com/mnagel/simple-scan

[Robert Ancell (robert-ancell)]

Now on GNOME git.