Question about Source Control

[Frank Millman]

"Chris Angelico" <rosuav at gmail.com> wrote in message 
news:CAPTjJmqHXh2M3-QGbeLV_AkGAJzMEYmbuDLy8_dkpnhrpSUVMQ at mail.gmail.com...
> On Tue, Mar 18, 2014 at 4:39 PM, Frank Millman <frank at chagford.com> wrote:
>> Two quick questions -
>>
>> 1. At present the source code is kept on one machine (A), but only 
>> accessed
>> from the two other machines (B and C).
>>
>> Does it make sense to create the central repository on A, but *not* 
>> install
>> the SCM on A? Install separate copies of the SCM on B and C, and allow 
>> them
>> both to set up their own clones. I only develop on B, so only B would
>> 'push', but both B and C would 'pull' to get the latest version.
>
> I don't know about Mercurial, but with git, installing the software on
> A lets it work more efficiently (otherwise it has to do all the work
> remotely, ergo unnecessary traffic). Advantage of free software is
> that you don't have to check license agreements - just go ahead,
> install it everywhere. But if for some reason that would be a problem,
> you can look into running it over basic SSH or something.
>

Excuse my ignorance, but how does it actually work?

Do you set up some kind of client/server relationship, and if so, how do the 
clients (machines B and C) access the software on machine A?

I know that Mercurial can run its own web server, and clients can access it 
through http. It that what you are suggesting? That would be quite a change 
for me, as on my linux box I do all my work from the command line on a 
console.

These are the kind of stumbling blocks that prevented me from succeeding in 
my previous attempt. I have a vague recollection that I set it up on machine 
A, but then hit a problem because machines B and C both accessed the same 
directory, but with different names - on Windows, a mapped drive and on 
linux a mounted nfs directory. I had to provide a 'path' name to set up 
Mercurial in the first place, but I could not find one that suited both 
clients.

I feel that I have just not grasped the basics yet, so any assistance that 
puts me on the right path is appreciated.

Frank