[Python-Dev] PEP: Migrating the Python CVS to Subversion

[Stephen J. Turnbull]

>>>>> "M" == "M.-A. Lemburg" <mal at egenix.com> writes:

    M> Other non-commercial alternatives are Berlios and Savannah, but
    M> I'm not sure whether they'd offer Subversion support.

Savannah doesn't offer great reliability or support, at least to judge
by the frequency with which the GNU Emacs and GNU Arch projects have
been unable to access various services on Savannah, including mailing
lists and CVS.

I also wonder if Savannah poses security risks.  They've been
successfully cracked (ISTR more than once) in the last couple of
years, and took 6-10 weeks to get back to normal.  This makes them
reluctant to make minor variations in their established procedures for
the convenience of projects.  For example, it took a couple of months
for GNU Arch to arrange sftp access so that they could host the Arch
project in an Arch repository (Arch can use sftp but not plain ssh as
a transport).

SunSITE.dk does provide reliable service and timely support.  XEmacs
has been very happy with it.  But Martin v. Loewis apparently hasn't
had the same good experience with negotiating with them, and at least
some negotiation and relationship maintenance is necessary---it's a
closer, more personal relationship than with SF or Savannah.  In
particular for Subversion support (I was told they allow it on a case
by case basis, and once success is demonstrated they plan to offer it
in general).  As I say, we've been happy with SunSITE, but the amount
of effort is basically the same as if we ran our own repository, just
directed more toward "vendor relations" and away from "sys admin"
(which suits us).

FWIW, XEmacs has moved or reorganized CVS repositories five times
since 1999.  Although it's not all in the PEP, if you add the
discussion on this list Martin has covered the important issues we
encountered or worried about.


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