[BangPypers] Python switches to Mercurial

[Ramakrishna Reddy]

Source :: http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.python.devel/102706

From: Guido van Rossum <guido <at> python.org>
Subject: And the winner is...
Newsgroups: gmane.comp.python.devel
Date: 2009-03-30 14:58:38 GMT (16 hours and 8 minutes ago)

Dear Python developers,

The decision is made! I've selected a DVCS to use for Python. We're
switching to Mercurial (Hg).

The implementation and schedule is still up in the air -- I am hoping
that we can switch before the summer.

It's hard to explain my reasons for choosing -- like most language
decisions (especially the difficult ones) it's mostly a matter of gut
feelings. One thing I know is that it's better to decide now than to
spend another year discussing the pros and cons. All that could be
said has been said, pretty much, and my mind is made up.

To me, the advantages of using *some* DVCS are obvious. At PyCon,
Brett already announced that Git was no longer being considered --
while it has obviously many fans, it also provokes strong antipathies.
So it was between Hg and Bzr (both of which happen to be implemented
in Python FWIW). Based on a completely unscientific poll (basically
whatever feedback I received in my personal inbox or on Twitter), Hg
has a strong following among Python developers and few detractors,
while few (except Canonical employees) seem to like Bzr. In addition,
most timing experiments point towards Hg being faster than Bzr for
most operations, and Hg is (again, subjectively) easier to learn for
SVN users than Bzr.

-- 
--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)


-- 
Ramakrishna Reddy                                               GPG
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