The short version is this: Based on the feedback we got, using /stable was a poor choice of words and we’re sorry for that. /stable/4.0 has now moved to /development/4.0. You can update your repositories by going into your main working directory, and using svn switch http://svn.textpattern.com/development/4.0.
And here’s a detailed explanation: Before we ‘finally’ changed repository layout last week, we had elaborate internal discussions about the best way to orgnaize it. When I persuaded my fellow developers to adopt my suggestion, a strong assumption I made was that svn would be mostly used by developers and mostly for (textpattern-)development oriented tasks.
But the feedback we got after the changes indicated that there are also plenty of other people using svn, and that even though we have releases on the download page and recommend that people use those, some people still prefer to use svn. In this new light (for me anyway), the word /stable in the repository suddenly seemed to communicate an unintentional meaning. While I chose the word to signify that the branch was feature-frozen and focus would be on fixing bugs, it was also well possible to interpret it in a way that could mean every check-out is stable and can be used on a production-site. That ambiguity was not good. One of the main motivations for changing the repo-layout in the first place was to make the branch-names expressive enough that no extra explanation would be necessary.
So after wrestling with ourselves and weighing the choices we decided to bite the bullet and did another little adjustment. Effectively we renamed /stable/4.0 to /development/4.0 which also means that in the future all active branches will sit in /development. And having the choice between /development and /releases for a subversion user should make it clear to anyone what they are getting into. Please note that /development/4.0 will not be any less stable than it was before, we’ll use it the same way: for checking in bug-fixes and preparing the 4.0.x releases.
We’re sorry for the inconvenience.
Comments
Patrick
hi sencer, did you hear about the trunk-tags-branches-concept of subversion? it could save from some inconvenience.
rene
If I want to use svn for the stable production release, where do I get it? Why not using /stable/4.0 for this, with the official bugfixes?
Sencer
Hi Patrick, sure we know about it and it was one of the options we were discussing and some of the ideas we are going to use.
@rene: The stable production releases will be on the download page, and in the tags in the releases branch. At both places you will get the same software. You can choose a different release by using svn switch.
rene
Sencer: at http://svn.textpattern.com/releases/4.0.0/ I’m getting r829 – is this really the same as I get in the download version, or did I misunderstand something?
Sencer
You understood correctly, it is the same.
To better explain: Revisions in subversion are always repository-wide. They are used to identify the state of the complete repository at one point in time. The tag/branch you refer to (/releases/4.0.0) has not been changed sinve the download was made available.
Most of the files that are used in textpattern also have information inside them, that shows at which revision number the latest change to that specific file has happened (that is also what is used in diagnostics).
Alex
The /releases/4.0.0 branch is not at r829. It’s r793, the same revision used to create the 4.0 zip downloads:
$ svn log http://svn.textpattern.com/releases/4.0.0/ | headr793 | sencer | 2005-08-15 01:33:33 +1000 (Mon, 15 Aug 2005) | 1 linerene
Hi Alex – and welcome back!
I’m more and more confused about how the repository is organized. Tonight, the release version seems to be here now: http://svn.textpattern.com/releases/4.0.0/source/
I’m using
svn co http://svn.textpattern.com/releases/4.0.0/source/ .to for a clean install via SHH, and at the end of the process, it saysChecked out revision 830Your command says r793 (which I can confirm when I do what you did) yet Diagnostics in txp finally says r789 – scratching my head.
Sencer
This discussion about how to use svn and what revision numbers mean, is being continued at the forums.
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