[webkit-dev] Git Familiarity (was ChangeLog)

[Maciej Stachowiak]

On Jul 5, 2009, at 5:00 PM, Benjamin Meyer wrote:

>> However, not everyone on the project is comfortable with git (or is  
>> willing to give up svn), so I don't see a near-term solution at the  
>> moment other than improving the existing tools (prepare-ChangeLog,  
>> resolve-ChangeLogs, etc.).
>
> I have heard this for about a year and presumable it has gone down  
> over the year so I am curious what percentage of developers use Git  
> or more importantly don't know git today.  Both Nokia and  
> TorchMobile use Git completely.  Gnome has switch to Git earlier  
> this year so presumably the Gtk developers know Git (correct me if I  
> am wrong).  Can someone from Apple and Google comment on how much  
> Git usage you guys have?  I am curious how close (or far away) we  
> are to a tipping point where most of the devs know or are familiar  
> with Git.

At Apple, most developers use svn for day-to-day development. Some use  
git. Some use git for special projects like branch rebasing, but  
otherwise use Subversion for normal development. Some haven't tried  
git at all. I don't know the exact proportions, but from looking at  
patch files from my colleagues, less then a quarter submit patches  
that appear to be generated by git. So far, none of the git users at  
Apple have advocated changing over wholesale, though it's possible  
they would prefer that but have been reluctant to say so.

I think at some point we need to consider a change in version control  
system. I would like us to work on the bug tracker and patch review  
system first, to avoid making too many tools changes at once, and  
because that issue seems to be more urgent and disruptive of workflow.  
I'm whipping up an email on what I think are the right short-term and  
medium-term steps. Once we have that well in hand, then revision  
control and build system would probably be the next things to review  
for change.

Regards,
Maciej