3

At my workplace we use CVS tags to the extent that nobody ever retrieves the HEAD version of the trunk. Is there any reason why that version still needs to build fully?

The reason I ask is because recently there was a need to revert to older revisions of certain files, and instead of moving those versions to HEAD, we simply moved back the tag.

snips-n-snails
  • 151
  • 5

1 Answers1

6

The idea of HEAD is that every time a developer starts a task, they start with HEAD, and when they are finished they merge back into HEAD. That way you always know where to find the latest version of the code.

You are doing something different. It sounds like each programmer begins by selecting a somewhat arbitrary tag from the existing tags and starts from there. That sounds like it would result in a huge mess, but I don't really know what you are doing or why you are doing it that way.

Regardless, you aren't using HEAD the way the recommend practices suggest. As a result, keeping HEAD building is pointless. If you aren't going to use HEAD the way it its intended, don't spend time maintaining it.

However, you really should consider using the version control system the way it was intended.

Winston Ewert
  • 24,732
  • 12
  • 72
  • 103
  • "The idea of HEAD is that every time a developer starts a task, they start with HEAD, and when they are finished they merge back into HEAD." Do you have a source to support this statement? – snips-n-snails Jun 02 '16 at 02:23
  • @traal, for CVS in particular: http://commons.oreilly.com/wiki/index.php/Essential_CVS/Using_CVS/Tagging_and_Branching#Branching_Strategies – Winston Ewert Jun 02 '16 at 03:15
  • HEAD isn't mentioned in the section you linked to. – snips-n-snails Jun 02 '16 at 03:25
  • @traal, I assumed by HEAD you were referring to the HEAD of the trunk, are you not? My understanding is the HEAD in CVS always refers to the head of trunk, which is discussed in that link. – Winston Ewert Jun 02 '16 at 03:28