[darcs-users] Re: Still trying to debug FTP...

[Mark Stosberg]

On 2005-01-30, Dave Roberts <ldave at droberts.com> wrote:
>
> Ah. Okay. I get it. But then if that's the case, why the DARCS_APPLY_FTP
> variable at all? I mean, if you can't use FTP for push, then I feel like
> I got suckered by darcs into even fiddling around with this. Wouldn't it
> have been simpler to print an error message saying, "FTP is not
> supported for push," rather than, "To push using FTP, set the
> DARCS_APPLY_FTP environment variable" ???

The DARCS_APPLY_FOO variables (and friends) were added by Anthony Towns
in the last release to solve a particular problem. He wanted to be able
to have a working darcs repo that he could push and pull from without
having darcs installed on that server.   

To make this work, he invented these variables along with an
'darcshive://' protocol. I believe this invoked some shell or Perl
scripts, and may have been using SSH behind the scenes. 

The other context you may be interested in is that besides being a very
new 'feature', you are perhaps the first person to ask about it on the
list, which I suspect means you are one of the first people besides
Anthony to try it out. 

So it turns out you are an 'early adopter' of this feature and as such
are providing valuable feedback. :)

If you are using one machine as a 'central server', perhaps darcshive
will interest you. Although, it may have it's own inperfections.  It
looks like Anthony's darcshive server might be down now, but I could be
my copy online.

If you have 'root' on both your machines, you might just consider
using SSH instead. 

> Stuff like this would be great Wiki fodder, BTW. The manual needs to be
> expanded on these topics eventually. It's vague and even misleading in
> some instances. It hints at capabilities it doesn't seem to have. Just
> having some HOW-TO stuff on the Wiki could help make it clear.

I would be happy to update the docs on DARCS_APPLY_FOO. I must admit I
was confused into thinking that it might making pushing over FTP
possible as well. 

    Mark

-- 
http://mark.stosberg.com/