Usability of Package Version Control ?

[mikewhit]

I have successfully configured EA with the Jalindi Igloo interface to CVS.

However, as a means of backing up and restoring parts of a model, it doesn't seem to hang togther very well.

I would have liked to use this feature to make package backups of a model that was stored in a database repository, say on a milestone or weekly basis.

However, since only Checked Out files are editable, how do you get a fresh copy from the database to overwrite the copy checked out from CVS - there isn't a way to do this.

If I want to revert to an earlier revision (maybe this is a failing of Igloo) there is no way in EA to select a previous version and pull it out of CVS. I can do this with WinCVS, using the model file, but there is no way to get EA to re-read the file - the Load and Save Package to File options do not exist if the project has Version Control enabled.

Am I missing something completely here ?

What I want to be able to do is load the shared model from the database, enable version control, select a package and check it into CVS.

If the package gets broken, I want to open a 'previous versions' list, click on a version, restore it, tweak it if necessary, and then update both the database and CVS.

This seems to be well-nigh impossible as things stand, without jumping through hoops.

Perhaps EA needs to look at some kind of journalling repository ... or is there a missing chapter in the Help/PDF documentation ?!

Alternatively, if these are all failings of Igloo, maybe a native CVS interface in EA (no, I don't want Subversion) would rectify things.

[mikewhit]

Obviously no-one had any better ideas on this one ... :-(

[TrtnJohn]

Does the File History function work with CVS??  I use SourceSafe and can click any package to get a file history and perform a Get on any previous version.

We use the source control to keep backup of packages and also to lock multiple people out from changing the same diagram at the same time.  It was a hassle to setup because we had to individual set it up for each package we have.  (many!)  But, once it was set up it worked for our purposes.

I don't believe the source control is doing anything except saving new XML extracts everytime you do a checkin and locking out other people from editing the package you have checked out.  The database always contains the latest updates.  So, if you want to revert, you can use the Import feature of a package you have checked using any version of the XML saved in CVS to restore a package.  There also is a CVS import function.  I don't know what that does because I don't have CVS.

Good Luck

[thomaskilian]

Hi Mike,
I posted this http://www.sparxsystems.com.au/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=general;action=display;num=1099064702;start=3#3. Just another approach.

[Martin Terreni]

I work with ClearCase and after alot fo working on this we desided to simply do all versioning tasks outside EA.
We use EA packaging and controll but all the versioning and merging (after entrgin version control through EA) si done outside EA.

[benc]

Hello Mike,

In regard to your original post:

maybe a native CVS interface in EA (no, I don't want Subversion) would rectify things.

Yes a native interface to cvs is currently being tested for EA 4.5. It wraps a limited subset of cvs functionality as an alternative to going through an SCC provider.

If I want to revert to an earlier revision (maybe this is a failing of Igloo) there is no way in EA to select a previous version and pull it out of CVS. I can do this with WinCVS, using the model file, but there is no way to get EA to re-read the file - the Load and Save Package to File options do not exist if the project has Version Control enabled.

Ok at least half of this problem is addressed with the native cvs interface. There is a file history screen that shows revisions for the package and allows you to select and retrieve these. So you can conveniently flick through previous revisions of the package to find what you're after.

However, packages checked out in this manner use a 'sticky tag' and are not intended to be modified and checked back in directly from EA. If you're sure you want to blow away the head revision and replace it with an earlier one you can launch your favourite cvs viewer (or command line) and do so.  (That's not to say we won't wrap this functionality eventually- just not initially)

I hope this proves useful.

Regards,
Ben

[mikewhit]

Thanks - this sounds very interesting. To a point I just want a 'structured backup' of the model that isn't just a dump of the whole repository.
'Usable' package control under CVS would provide that.

[My caveat about Subversion is that it does not use a stepwise-incrementing file version number - essential for me as a documentable file change indicator, i.e. there has been one additional file version between 1.1.1 and 1.1.3.]

[Oscar]

My caveat about Subversion is that it does not record file version numbers - essential for me as a documentable file change indicator.

A bit of topic (or better of site  ) but Subversion does support a file version-number. Well ok, a kind of anyway.

See the keyword LastChangedRevision in the subversion documentation or faq.