Re: Problems using CVS transparently

[Eric Siegerman]

On Thu, Apr 04, 2002 at 03:45:51PM +1000, Sonam Chauhan wrote:
> PROBLEM #1: CVS usage must be transparent. This means no 'CVS' 
> meta-directories 
> are allowed in the development(working-set) file hierarchy since the 
> proprietary 
> development environment modifies this hierarchy directly. How can I do this?
> 
> The proprietary IDE (something called 'webMethods B2B'), though lacking 
> version 
> control, has a inbuilt release mechanism. It zips up release directories in 
> the 
> working set. These ZIP files are then distributed to other servers. Hence we 
> end 
> up with CVS directories in 'live' servers. This takes us far far away from 
> 'support land' and also may cause complications with the software's  internal 
> functioning.

1. Have you looked for a way to tell webMethods to ignore certain
   files or directories?  I imagine so, but I gotta ask...

2. Are there any other points where webMethods lets you customize
   the deployment process?  Wherever a hook exists, there's the
   possibility of using it, with a little lateral thinking, to
   get rid of the offending CVS directories without disturbing
   the sandbox itself.

3. How often do you need to release?  One possibility would be:
    - work in a sandbox with CVS directories -- edit, compile (if
      what you're working on needs that), test, commit, repeat

    - to cut a new release:
        - "cvs export" your work to a temporary directory
        - tell webMethods to deploy the latter

    But if you make several releases a day, even that'd be pretty
    cumbersome.

Finally, let me add a "me too":  trying to build shadow sandboxes
using links seems very fragile and error-prone.  Give up on CVS
before going there.

--

|  | /\
|-_|/  >   Eric Siegerman, Toronto, Ont.        address@hidden
|  |  /
"Outlook not so good."  That magic 8-ball knows everything!
I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
        - Anonymous