[Numpy-discussion] [IPython-dev] mercurial now has free hosting too

[David Cournapeau]

Gael Varoquaux wrote:
> I have watch developpers switch to DVCS lately, and I must say it
> requires a certain change in working habits. Let us wait for people to
> get used to these new tools before discussing which one to you.

I personally think that the supposed difficulty of DVCS is greatly 
exaggerated. Basic things are as easy with bzr/hg as they are with 
svn/svn: cheking out, committing, blame and log are exactly the same.

Branching/merging is different, but I don't think anybody would argue 
that it is easier/more natural with svn that it is with DVCS.

Advanced concepts are maybe a bit difficult to grasp, but nobody need 
them if they do not need them. In particular, if you do not use 
branches, the only difference between hg/bzr and svn is that commit in 
svn is equivalent to commit + push in bzr/hg. All the basic commands 
even have the same name and the same abbreviation (ci for commit, up for 
update).

Compare that to the immediate benefits (such as tracking patches, for 
example, which at least for me is a PITA right now with trac+svn), I 
think it worths 5 minutes spent on getting used to the new tool. The 
problem really is the change of infrastructure (I don't think anybody 
would be in favor of losing numpy/scipy history, for example, or losing 
trac tickets for launchpad if we use launchpad), and for windows users 
who want GUI (which do not exist today in any usable form).

cheers,

David