Fossil SCM

Clarity pass on the definition of "Project" in the glossary, removing redundancies and simplifying the illlustrative examples. Also clarified the purpose of the bullet points after each definition.

wyoung 2023-10-25 12:52 trunk
Commit db6674638ae60a51ff65749b8a9ccbc3793cd9034dbb8080d85a3a44d4ae2230
1 file changed +26 -28
+26 -28
--- www/glossary.md
+++ www/glossary.md
@@ -5,12 +5,13 @@
55
technical associations that can lead someone to either use the terms
66
incorrectly or to get the wrong idea from someone using those terms
77
correctly. We hope to teach users how to properly “speak Fossil” with
88
this glossary.
99
10
-Each definition is followed by a bullet-point list of clarifying
11
-details. These are not part of the definition itself.
10
+The bullet-point lists following each definition are meant to be
11
+clarifying and illustrative. They are not part of the definitions
12
+themselves.
1213
1314
1415
## <a id="project"></a>Project
1516
1617
A collection of one or more computer files that serve some conceptually
@@ -44,41 +45,32 @@
4445
more often the case that when you get to something of a scale
4546
sufficient to be called a “project,” there is more than one
4647
version-tracked file involved, if not at the start, then certainly
4748
by the end of the project.
4849
49
- We used the example of a fiction book above, with one chapter per
50
- file. That implies scripts for combining those chapters into the
51
- finished book and converting that into PDF and ePub outputs, each of
52
- which benefit from being version-tracked.
53
-
54
- You could instead use a Word DOCX file for the entire book project,
55
- with these implicit scripts replaced by Word menu commands. Fossil
56
- will happily track that single file’s evolution for you, though
57
- there are [good reasons](./image-format-vs-repo-size.md) to *not* do
58
- that.
59
-
60
- Let us say you choose to solve the primary problems brought up in
61
- that document by using a format like AsciiDoc instead. You could
62
- still use a single file for the entire book’s prose content, but
63
- even then you’re still likely to want separate files for a style
64
- sheet, a script to convert the HTML to PDF and ePub in a reliably
65
- repeatable fashion, cover artwork files, instructions to the
66
- printing house, and so forth.
50
+ To take the example of a fiction book above, instead of putting each
51
+ chapter in a separate file, you could use a single AsciiDoc file for
52
+ the entire book project rather than make use of its [include
53
+ facility][AIF] to assemble it from chapter files, since that does at
54
+ least solve the [key problems][IFRS] inherent in version-tracking
55
+ something like Word’s DOCX format with Fossil instead.
56
+
57
+ While Fossil will happily track the single file containing the prose
58
+ of your book project for you, you’re still likely to want separate
59
+ files for the cover artwork, a style sheet for use in converting the
60
+ source document to HTML, scripts to convert that intermediate output
61
+ to PDF and ePub in a reliably repeatable fashion, a `README` file
62
+ containing instructions to the printing house, and so forth.
6763
6864
* Fossil requires that all the files for a project be collected into a
6965
single directory hierarchy, owned by a single user with full rights
7066
to modify those files. Fossil is not a good choice for managing a
7167
project that has files scattered hither and yon all over the file
7268
system, nor of collections of files with complicated ownership and
7369
access rights.
7470
75
- A good mental model for a Fossil project is a versioned zip file or
76
- tarball. If you cannot easily conceive of creating or extracting
77
- such an archive for your project, Fossil is probably not a good fit.
78
-
79
- As a counterexample, a project made of an operating system
71
+ A project made of an operating system
8072
installation’s configuration file set is not a good use of Fossil,
8173
because you’ll have all of your OS’s *other* files intermixed.
8274
Worse, Fossil doesn’t track OS permissions, so even if you were to
8375
try to use Fossil as a system deployment tool by archiving versions
8476
of the OS configuration files and then unpacking them on a new
@@ -87,17 +79,23 @@
8779
wanting.
8880
8981
Even with these problems aside, do you really want a `.fslckout`
9082
SQLite database at the root of your filesystem? Are you prepared for
9183
the consequences of saying `fossil clean --verily` on such a system?
84
+ You can constrain that with [the `ignore-glob` setting][IGS], but
85
+ are you prepared to write and maintain all the rules needed to keep
86
+ Fossil from blowing away the untracked portions of the file system?
9287
We believe Fossil is a poor choice for a whole-system configuration
9388
backup utility.
9489
95
- And as a counter-counterexample, a project made of your user’s [Vim]
96
- configuration is a much better use of Fossil, because it’s all held
97
- within `~/.vim`, and your user has full rights to that subdirectory.
90
+ As a counterexample, a project tracking your [Vim] configuration
91
+ history is a much better use of Fossil, because it’s all held within
92
+ `~/.vim`, and your user has full rights to that subdirectory.
9893
94
+[AIF]: https://docs.asciidoctor.org/asciidoc/latest/directives/include/
95
+[IGS]: /help?cmd=ignore-glob
96
+[IFRS]: ./image-format-vs-repo-size.md
9997
[tarball]: /help?cmd=tarball
10098
[tw]: /help?cmd=/tarball
10199
[Vim]: https://www.vim.org/
102100
[zip]: /help?cmd=zip
103101
[zw]: /help?cmd=/zip
104102
--- www/glossary.md
+++ www/glossary.md
@@ -5,12 +5,13 @@
5 technical associations that can lead someone to either use the terms
6 incorrectly or to get the wrong idea from someone using those terms
7 correctly. We hope to teach users how to properly “speak Fossil” with
8 this glossary.
9
10 Each definition is followed by a bullet-point list of clarifying
11 details. These are not part of the definition itself.
 
12
13
14 ## <a id="project"></a>Project
15
16 A collection of one or more computer files that serve some conceptually
@@ -44,41 +45,32 @@
44 more often the case that when you get to something of a scale
45 sufficient to be called a “project,” there is more than one
46 version-tracked file involved, if not at the start, then certainly
47 by the end of the project.
48
49 We used the example of a fiction book above, with one chapter per
50 file. That implies scripts for combining those chapters into the
51 finished book and converting that into PDF and ePub outputs, each of
52 which benefit from being version-tracked.
53
54 You could instead use a Word DOCX file for the entire book project,
55 with these implicit scripts replaced by Word menu commands. Fossil
56 will happily track that single file’s evolution for you, though
57 there are [good reasons](./image-format-vs-repo-size.md) to *not* do
58 that.
59
60 Let us say you choose to solve the primary problems brought up in
61 that document by using a format like AsciiDoc instead. You could
62 still use a single file for the entire book’s prose content, but
63 even then you’re still likely to want separate files for a style
64 sheet, a script to convert the HTML to PDF and ePub in a reliably
65 repeatable fashion, cover artwork files, instructions to the
66 printing house, and so forth.
67
68 * Fossil requires that all the files for a project be collected into a
69 single directory hierarchy, owned by a single user with full rights
70 to modify those files. Fossil is not a good choice for managing a
71 project that has files scattered hither and yon all over the file
72 system, nor of collections of files with complicated ownership and
73 access rights.
74
75 A good mental model for a Fossil project is a versioned zip file or
76 tarball. If you cannot easily conceive of creating or extracting
77 such an archive for your project, Fossil is probably not a good fit.
78
79 As a counterexample, a project made of an operating system
80 installation’s configuration file set is not a good use of Fossil,
81 because you’ll have all of your OS’s *other* files intermixed.
82 Worse, Fossil doesn’t track OS permissions, so even if you were to
83 try to use Fossil as a system deployment tool by archiving versions
84 of the OS configuration files and then unpacking them on a new
@@ -87,17 +79,23 @@
87 wanting.
88
89 Even with these problems aside, do you really want a `.fslckout`
90 SQLite database at the root of your filesystem? Are you prepared for
91 the consequences of saying `fossil clean --verily` on such a system?
 
 
 
92 We believe Fossil is a poor choice for a whole-system configuration
93 backup utility.
94
95 And as a counter-counterexample, a project made of your user’s [Vim]
96 configuration is a much better use of Fossil, because it’s all held
97 within `~/.vim`, and your user has full rights to that subdirectory.
98
 
 
 
99 [tarball]: /help?cmd=tarball
100 [tw]: /help?cmd=/tarball
101 [Vim]: https://www.vim.org/
102 [zip]: /help?cmd=zip
103 [zw]: /help?cmd=/zip
104
--- www/glossary.md
+++ www/glossary.md
@@ -5,12 +5,13 @@
5 technical associations that can lead someone to either use the terms
6 incorrectly or to get the wrong idea from someone using those terms
7 correctly. We hope to teach users how to properly “speak Fossil” with
8 this glossary.
9
10 The bullet-point lists following each definition are meant to be
11 clarifying and illustrative. They are not part of the definitions
12 themselves.
13
14
15 ## <a id="project"></a>Project
16
17 A collection of one or more computer files that serve some conceptually
@@ -44,41 +45,32 @@
45 more often the case that when you get to something of a scale
46 sufficient to be called a “project,” there is more than one
47 version-tracked file involved, if not at the start, then certainly
48 by the end of the project.
49
50 To take the example of a fiction book above, instead of putting each
51 chapter in a separate file, you could use a single AsciiDoc file for
52 the entire book project rather than make use of its [include
53 facility][AIF] to assemble it from chapter files, since that does at
54 least solve the [key problems][IFRS] inherent in version-tracking
55 something like Word’s DOCX format with Fossil instead.
56
57 While Fossil will happily track the single file containing the prose
58 of your book project for you, you’re still likely to want separate
59 files for the cover artwork, a style sheet for use in converting the
60 source document to HTML, scripts to convert that intermediate output
61 to PDF and ePub in a reliably repeatable fashion, a `README` file
62 containing instructions to the printing house, and so forth.
 
 
 
 
 
63
64 * Fossil requires that all the files for a project be collected into a
65 single directory hierarchy, owned by a single user with full rights
66 to modify those files. Fossil is not a good choice for managing a
67 project that has files scattered hither and yon all over the file
68 system, nor of collections of files with complicated ownership and
69 access rights.
70
71 A project made of an operating system
 
 
 
 
72 installation’s configuration file set is not a good use of Fossil,
73 because you’ll have all of your OS’s *other* files intermixed.
74 Worse, Fossil doesn’t track OS permissions, so even if you were to
75 try to use Fossil as a system deployment tool by archiving versions
76 of the OS configuration files and then unpacking them on a new
@@ -87,17 +79,23 @@
79 wanting.
80
81 Even with these problems aside, do you really want a `.fslckout`
82 SQLite database at the root of your filesystem? Are you prepared for
83 the consequences of saying `fossil clean --verily` on such a system?
84 You can constrain that with [the `ignore-glob` setting][IGS], but
85 are you prepared to write and maintain all the rules needed to keep
86 Fossil from blowing away the untracked portions of the file system?
87 We believe Fossil is a poor choice for a whole-system configuration
88 backup utility.
89
90 As a counterexample, a project tracking your [Vim] configuration
91 history is a much better use of Fossil, because it’s all held within
92 `~/.vim`, and your user has full rights to that subdirectory.
93
94 [AIF]: https://docs.asciidoctor.org/asciidoc/latest/directives/include/
95 [IGS]: /help?cmd=ignore-glob
96 [IFRS]: ./image-format-vs-repo-size.md
97 [tarball]: /help?cmd=tarball
98 [tw]: /help?cmd=/tarball
99 [Vim]: https://www.vim.org/
100 [zip]: /help?cmd=zip
101 [zw]: /help?cmd=/zip
102

Keyboard Shortcuts

Open search /
Next entry (timeline) j
Previous entry (timeline) k
Open focused entry Enter
Show this help ?
Toggle theme Top nav button