[Zope-dev] Re: [Zope] Barriers to Zope popularity: Part 2: source control

[Jay R. Ashworth]

On Thu, Sep 23, 1999 at 11:39:11AM -0700, Jonothan Farr wrote:
> I am in the process of convincing my management to convert to Zope for
> several of our internal tracking applications. The lack of source control is
> the number one barrier to my progress. As Dylan pointed out, it's not merely
> about backup and versioning. It's about tracking and accountability for
> changes to the system.
> 
> I would also like to encourage more discussion about source control, as I
> also see this as a sizeable barrier to some people's acceptance of Zope.


Jonothan, you've nailed the _one_ thing that's always bugged me about
big integrated projects like Zoep, Frontier, and the like: there are 30
years of development invested in tools like vi, emacs, CVS, RCS, lint,
and the like... 

and you can't use them, because all the code you care about is "inside"
that big amorphous container.

I understand the performance issues involved, but I have to agree with
your point of view: the largest single use of computers in the
telephony business isn't the switching, it's what's termed OAM&P --
operations, administration, maintenance, and provisioning: that is, the
_management_ of the work, not the work itself.

I'm not remotely dissing Zope or the work these folks have put in on
it, but I have to agree with you -- to bring in another analogy, it's
like the difference between a program, a programming project, and a
programming systems project that Fred Brooks makes in his _Mythical_
Man_Month -- and if you haven't read this yet, folks, drop your
keyboards and go get it.

There isn't yet the facility that I can see for project management
around Zop that I think there will have to be.  Whether that facility
_needs_ to be externally accessible is a question, but I suspect it might be;
there's a _lot_ of installed base of other stuff out there.

Food for thought for the development team.

Cheers,
-- jr 'hoist on the petard of your own success...' a
-- 
Jay R. Ashworth                                                jra@baylink.com
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