[fpc-other] [fpc-pascal] Google Code closing down

[Mark Morgan Lloyd]

Martin Frb wrote:
> On 14/03/2015 11:45, Graeme Geldenhuys wrote:
>> On 2015-03-14 11:38, Mark Morgan Lloyd wrote:
>>> [Sigh] I feel like I'm being pushed onto git rather than Subversion.
>> Then don't resist it. As 99% of developers would tell you, Git is simply
>> the better product. [Graeme runs and hides :-P]
>>
> 
> If more features equals better ...
> 
> Moth fly into the light, not because it is better, but because it is shiny.

Moths fly into flame,
not because it is better,
but because it shines.

> And a sledge hammer is not the best tool to drive a nail into your wall.

That one's more difficult, since it lacks allusion to a season :-)

> Look around. I have seen many git repositories (svn probably too), where 
> the (sole) committer uses git in a way, that cvs would allow to do more. 
> How is git better for them?
> 
> This may still leave git the better choice for many (maybe even a 
> majority). But 99% ?
> 
> Also one should make such decisions based on what is needed. Not what 
> others do.

A practical problem with Git, as I've said already, is that it's got 
much less proven portability. Also since it was originally written for 
Linux developers, there might be an irrational revulsion on the part of 
closed-source programmers and administrators. Sorry Tony, but those also 
apply to Fossil.

The bottom line, however, is that when one is looking for a public (and 
preferably free) hosting service one is constrained to looking at what's 
available, which in practice means Subversion and Git- even if they're 
overkill in many cases.

Losing Google Code is unfortunate, particularly after losing Berlios.

The obvious alternative for a small project would be to run an svn 
server as a parasite on a router: something like svnserve (possibly with 
an SSH wrapper) is pretty small. There's obviously the risk that the 
server will be lost, but if collaborative users are persuaded to pull 
and republish the entire repository (svnsync or whatever) that can be 
mitigated.

The downside of that is the number of "script kiddies" out there who are 
quick to try to abuse anything that looks like a login port. A few 
months ago I put an SSH login on a number of outward-facing servers, and 
within a few hours our Internet traffic had gone up substantially: there 
were no successful penetrations, just a constant drone of attempts which 
in aggregate came close to exceeding our office-hours quota.

-- 
Mark Morgan Lloyd
markMLl .AT. telemetry.co .DOT. uk

[Opinions above are the author's, not those of his employers or colleagues]