~bzr-pqm/bzr/bzr.dev

Bazaar-NG

*********

..   These documents are formatted as ReStructuredText.  You can    ..

..   convert them to HTML, PDF, etc using the ``python-docutils``   ..

..   package.                                                       ..

*Bazaar-NG* (``bzr``) is a project of `Canonical Ltd`__ to develop an

open source distributed version control system that is powerful,

friendly, and scalable.  The project is at an early stage of

development.

__ http://canonical.com/

**Note:** These documents are in a very preliminary state, and so may

be internally or externally inconsistent or redundant.  Comments are

still very welcome.  Please send them to <mbp@sourcefrog.net>.

Summary status

--------------

(as of 2005-02-23)

* Bazaar-NG can track the history of a single local branch, similar to

  RCS.  The storage format should be reasonably close to what will be

  used for 1.0.

* The following commands work: ``add``, ``remove``, ``commit``,

  ``log``, ``diff`` (whole tree against basis revision), ``status``, ``help``,

  ``export`` (any revision).

* Subdirectories and files within them are now supported.

User documentation

------------------

* `Project overview/introduction <intro.html>`__

* `Command reference <cmdref.html>`__ -- intended to be user

  documentation, and gives the best overview at the moment of what the

  system will feel like to use.  Fairly complete.

* `Quick reference <quickref.html>`__ -- single page description of

  how to use, intended to check it's adequately simple.  Incomplete.

* `FAQ <faq.html>`__ -- mostly user-oriented FAQ.

* `Demonstration/tutorial <short-demo.html>`__

Requirements and general design

-------------------------------

* `Various purposes of a VCS <purpose.html>`__ -- taking snapshots and

  helping with merges is not the whole story.

* `Requirements <requirements.html>`__

* `Costs <costs.html>`__ of various factors: time, disk, network, etc.

* `Deadly sins <deadly-sins.html>`__ that gcc maintainers suggest we avoid.

* `Overview of the whole design <design.html>`__ and miscellaneous

  small design points.

* `File formats <formats.html>`__

* `Random observations <random.html>`__ that don't fit anywhere else yet.

Design of particular features

-----------------------------

* `Automatic generation of ChangeLogs <changelogs.html>`__

* `Cherry picking <cherry-picking.html>`__ -- merge just selected non-contiguous changes  from a branch.

* `Common changeset format <common-format.html>`__ for  interchange

  format between VCS.

* `Compression <compression.html>`__ of file text for more efficient storage.

* `Config specs <config-specs.html>`__ assemble a tree from several places.

* `Conflicts <conflicts.html>`_ that can occur during merge-like operations.

* `Recovering from interrupted operations <interrupted.html>`__

* `Inventory command <inventory.html>`__

* `Branch joins <join-branches.html>`__ represent that all the changes

  from one branch are integrated into another.

* `Kill a version <kill-version.html>`__ to fix a broken commit or

  wrong message, or to

  remove confidential information from the history.

* `Hash collisions <hashes.html>`__ and weaknesses, and the security

  implications thereof.

* `Layers <layers.html>`__ within the design

* `Library interface <library-interface.html>`__ for Python.

* `Merge <merge.html>`__

* `Mirroring <mirroring.html>`__

* `Optional edit command <optional-edit.html>`__: sometimes people

  want to make the  working copy read-only, or not present at all.

* `Partial commits <partial-commit.html>`__

* `Patch pools <pool.html>`__ to efficiently store related branches.

* `Revision syntax <revision-syntax.html>`__ -- ``hello.c@12``, etc.

* `Roll-up commits <rollup.html>`__ -- a single revision incorporates

  the changes from several others.

* `Scalability <scalability.html>`__

* `Security <security.html>`__

* `Shared branches <shared-branches.html>`__ maintained by more than

  one person

* `Supportability <supportability.html>`__ -- how to handle any bugs

  or problems in the field.

* `Place tags on revisions for easy reference <tagging.html>`__

* `Detecting unchanged files <unchanged.html>`__

* `Merging previously-unrelated branches <unrelated-merge.html>`__

* `Usability principles <usability.html>`__ (very small at the moment)

* `<use-cases.html>`__

* `<web-interface.html>`__

* `<workflow.html>`__ Modelling/controlling flow of patches.

* `<yaml.html>`__ --  Discussion of using YAML_ as a storage or transmission format.

.. _YAML: http://www.yaml.org/

Comparisons to other systems

----------------------------

* `Taxonomy <taxonomy.html>`__: basic questions a VCS must answer.

* `Bitkeeper <bitkeeper.html>`__, the proprietary system used by some

  kernel developers.

* `Aegis <compared-aegis.html>`__, a tool focussed on enforcing

  process and workflow.

* `Codeville <compared-codeville.html>`__ has an intruiging but

  scarcely-documented merge algorithm.

* `CVSNT <compared-cvsnt.html>`__, with more Windows support and some

  merge enhancements.

* `OpenCM <compared-opencm.html>`__, another hash-based tool with a

  good whitepaper.

* `PRCS <compared-prcs.html>`__, a non-distributed inventory-based tool.

* `GNU Arch <todo-from-arch.html>`__, with many pros and cons.

* `Darcs <darcs.html>`__, a merge-focussed tool with good usability.

* `Quilt <quilt.html>`__ -- Andrew Morton's patch scripts, popular with kernel maintainers.

* `Monotone <monotone.html>`__, Graydon Hoare's hash-based distributed system.

* `SVK <svk.html>`__ --     distributed operation stacked on Subversion.

* `Sun Teamware <compared-teamware.html>`__

Project management and organization

-----------------------------------

* `Development news <news.html>`__

* `Notes on how to get a VCS adopted <adoption.html>`__

* `Testing plan <testing.html>`__ -- very sketchy.

* `Thanks <thanks.html>`__ to various people

* `Roadmap <roadmap.html>`__: High-level order for implementing features.

* `<work-order.html>`__: current tasks.

* `Extra commands <extra-commands.html>`__ for

  internal/developer/debugger use.

* `Choice of Python as a development language <python.html>`__

Download

--------

There are no releases yet.

The Bazaar-NG development code may be downloaded using GNU Arch by the

following steps::

   tla register-archive http://sourcefrog.net/arch/mbp@sourcefrog.net--2004

   tla get mbp@sourcefrog.net--2004/bazaar-ng--0  bazaar-ng

(By contrast, when Bazaar-NG network operations are complete, a single

much shorter command will do.)

Note that the current code is under heavy development and so is not

guaranteed to do anything useful whatsoever.