[darcs-users] Re: current status of darcs

[Peter B. West]

Juliusz Chroboczek wrote:
>>  1. The conflict bug.
> 
> This is the big one.  Nobody knows how to fix it (or they're not saying).
> 
>>  2. --partial problems.  I've given up on partial repositories.  It's
>>     pretty random whether you get a get_extra failure when moving
>>     patches between GHC's 6.6 and HEAD repositories if one of them is
>>     partial; if both are partial then you are guaranteed a get_extra
>>     failure.
> 
> I agree, partial repositories are currently a hack.  They need
> a complete rework.
> 
>>  3. Slowness of 'darcs changes <file>', such that we can't use the
>>     Trac integration of darcs for GHC, or the web interface.
> 
> That's new to me (or I forgot about it).  I believe you, though.
> 
>>  4. Windows problems.
> 
> We know about that, and while we're doing our best not to break
> Windows, none of us are competent to fix the issues.  We're still
> hoping some Windows person will step up and fix Darcs on Windows --
> but it appears that nobody is interested.
> 
> (This, by the way, is also my experience in other projects.  I'm not
> sure what cultural differences cause Windows users to be passive users
> of their software.)
> 
>> Right now I'm clinging to the hope that at least #1 will be fixed at
>> some point
> 
> I fully agree; Darcs will remain a toy until (1) is solved.  I see
> little hope, though.
> 
>                                         Juliusz

This is all very depressing. The potential, and the experience, of darcs
is so compelling, that I keep hoping for a resolution, and in the
meantime I tread very carefully.

David, clearly, has little time to devote to the issue, and his
assessment of the state of darcs, as revealed in this thread, so greatly
at variance with that of many users, that I will reluctantly start
looking around for an alternative. A system that is reliable and
scalable, even if it offers a pale shadow of the capabilities of darcs,
is preferable. I will stay tuned though. If it looks as though the
conflict issue has been resolved, I'll be back in a flash.

Peter

-- 
Peter B. West <http://cv.pbw.id.au/>
Folio <http://defoe.sourceforge.net/folio/>