Re: Common CVS mistakes

[Jim Hyslop]

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address@hidden wrote:
> Hi,
>  Thanks for your reply Dr David.
> Can we write a script tied with cron job in unix to check if user has
> moved the wrong tag.
> Or user has done something wrong in branches. My exact question is how
> we can check through scripts that user has done something wrong in the
> above situations.
> 
> I have written a java program to check what are all the merges and
> checkins done in the CVS repository. Now I also want to check if user
> has performed some illegal operations on daily basis and generate
> report.

If you can define "something wrong" then you should be able to write a
script to catch it. But, I don't think you're going to be able to come
up with a suitably comprehensive definition of "something wrong" to make
your script worth the effort you're going to expend writing it.

I really think you're taking the wrong approach. You won't be able to
anticipate every possible blunder that users will make, and if you write
a script to catch the ones you anticipate it will have large holes in
it, holes which the users *will* drive through sooner or later.

Your script will constantly be playing catch-up. Basically, what's going
to happen is this:
- - User will goof up in a manner not covered by your scripts.
- - Someone will discover the goof-up (and not by reading your daily
reports), discuss it with the user and educate them and the team on how
not to do it again
- - you will spend (waste) time updating your script to catch this error -
an error which will likely not happen again because the users now know
how to avoid it.

I really think your most cost-effective approach is to ensure your users
are well-trained on CVS, rather than spending time trying to write a
script that detects their errors.

- --
Jim Hyslop
Dreampossible: Better software. Simply.     http://www.dreampossible.ca
                 Consulting * Mentoring * Training in
    C/C++ * OOD * SW Development & Practices * Version Management
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