[vdr] VDR git tree (was: Re: VDR Development)

[Dieter Hametner]

Hello

This is an spin off from the VDR Development thread.

On Sunday, 7. September 2008 Clemens Kirchgatterer wrote:
> Georg Acher <acher at in.tum.de> wrote:
> > I also don't think that a vdr-repository would help in the development
> > speed. Either the whole development procedure needs to be changed
> > (more maintainer with KLS's approval) or it has no advantage compared
> > to the .tgz-distribution.
>
> maybe using git, where you can pull into your own repository for privat
> vdr hacking and let other people check it out may be worth a thought.
>

I've had this idea since the beginning of this year. But now I thought I give 
it a try. 

              I present a VDR git at
        http://vdr.gekrumbel.de/git/?p=vdr.git

First of all: This is not meant to be a fork of VDR development.
Please read my explanation why it can't be:

Git is a distributed source code management system. That means every git 
working tree contains the full history of the whole project plus the history 
added by the owner of a tree.

The tree I present here is *read* *only* for the whole world. That means 
Michael Brückner or I will update it some time after Klaus releases a new VDR 
version or patch to the stable sources. Only code from Klaus will be 
committed into this tree. That means it is a exact copy of Klaus sources and 
the history of official VDR development. And it never will be more!

Other developers will benefit from this work by having a base from where they 
can clone their own trees, add their contributions and publish their work as 
git trees too. They are strongly encouraged to make clear what distinguishes 
their trees from the original vanilla VDR. Whenever Klaus releases new code, 
they can merge the changes by pulling from this VDR tree.

When we learn about such clones we will add them into a list of contribution 
work. Please let me (us) know when such a tree comes alive. Eventually 
somebody will take all the distributed contributions and merge them into one 
big "all contributions" tree.

I am convinced that this approach gives Klaus the freedom to add features to 
VDR in the way he thinks is most appropriate for the overall stability and 
quality of his code.

On the other side, using the distributed and collaborative approach, which is 
well supported by using git, gives the community the possibility to add 
enhancements to VDR and have a chance to make these changes trackable (no 
longer the need for everybody interested to go through the patch search 
hell). In essence this is an approach on better manageing the various patch 
sets floating around.

This can only be successful if the most active VDR contributors adopt this 
approach and start working towards this goal. And it will need a lot of 
discipline of everybody involved.

To contact Michael and myself you should use the email address:
        git+vdr at gekrumbel.de

Kind regards
Dieter Hametner

-- 
Dieter Hametner                    dh (plus) vdr (at) gekrumbel (dot) de
live plugin developer              http://live.vdr-developer.org