[cvsnt] "reserved edit"

Rick Silton rick_silton at yahoo.com
Tue May 27 20:29:56 BST 2003


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This is sort of a cross-posting as I posted virtually the same message to
the cvsgui group, but I think this is the right forum for the discussion...

At issue (for me anyway) is whether edit -c is sufficient for controlling
access to non-mergable files (Word, gifs, etc).  Anyway here's most of
what I posted to the cvsgui group.  Please let me know if I'm missing
something!

----------

Suppose the case where one person (say Bob) does the right thing and uses
edit -c (of course assuming the file is a binary), then someone else (Sue)
comes along and forgets that they are supposed to do the -c and just does
edit.  Then they both are happily editing the file and whoever commits
first "wins" (really they both lose).  In the olden days when people had
to lock with admin -l then if Bob does the admin -l and Sue forgets then
she can still edit, but can't commit.  She wasted her time, but Bob
doesn't have to pay which seems more fair than "first in wins".

That all being said... there's another case where Bob (the first person)
forgets and just does a edit instead of edit -c, but Sue comes along later
and remembers.  In this case everything is fine as Sue will not be able to
complete the edit -c since Bob is listed as an editor.  This is better
than the old admin -l result because in that case both Bob & Sue could
edit the file even though only Sue could commit.

Net result - in my mind both schemes are error prone, but with the old way
I could institute procedures to improve the odds (i.e. tell people to use
edit and check for editors AND use admin -l).  Now I can't do that anymore
(with CVSNT and WinCVS 1.3).  To fix it I believe the server has to be
involved to prevent any edit (and commit) no matter what, whenever someone
has indicated they want a reserved edit.

So... can someone provide insight into why edit -c was done the way it was
and why admin -l was deprecated?  That might at least help me understand
when it is applicable.  Also - is there any thoughts toward bringing admin
-l back (or something similar that preferably didn't require admin group
priveledges)?

Thanks,
- Rick





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