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Date: Sun, 07 Aug 2011 14:24:09 -0700
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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] [RFC] Choosing a distributed version control system
 for PHP (or not). Call for Participation.
From: smalyshev@sugarcrm.com (Stas Malyshev)

Hi!

As somebody that have seen reasonably big project switch from SVN to git 
and worked quite actively with git since then, I think describing my 
experience might be useful for those that never tried it.

1. git is much better than svn especially as applied to complex projects 
with multiple participants which need to accept outside patches, 
maintain multiple branches and port fixes between branches. You never 
know how much you needed cheap branching/merging until you worked with 
it some.

2. Switching from svn to git requires one to undergo some mental shift, 
and for the first couple of weeks you may be confused and somewhat 
frustrated by too many things that look like but not exactly like the 
old system. It would appear too complex and unnecessarily complicating 
workflows. However, as you develop new routines, you'll find out how it 
makes sense and will become more effective than with svn. Note that git 
IS much more complex conceptually than SVN and allows to do much more 
crazy things - including rewriting history in all kinds of weird ways - 
so while I don't think I had to ask SVN question in forums for years - I 
still have to google "how to do this in git" and ask around for some of 
the more complex things. I think it's still worth it. Don't know if it 
makes me a fanboy :)

3. Having system like github around it adds a lot - maintaining multiple 
repositories, forks and pull requests is a real boon. I'm not sure if it 
would make sense for php, all things considered, but there are very 
significant benefits of using such a system where many workflows are 
already built-in.


Please note that it's not "hg vs git" argument as I know very little 
about hg and have no experience working with it, but I've read what 
people write about it and I'm sure many of git's strengths are present 
in hg too. I hope somebody with experience in hg (or both, even better) 
will voice in.
-- 
Stanislav Malyshev, Software Architect
SugarCRM: http://www.sugarcrm.com/
(408)454-6900 ext. 227