[dba-VB] FYI: a Mercurial tutorial

Shamil Salakhetdinov shamil at smsconsulting.spb.ru
Sat Mar 27 14:22:26 CDT 2010


Hi John --

Yes, I have switched to Mercurial recently.

I'm currently using Mercurial via command line/Windows Explorer shell -
TortoiseHG (http://tortoisehg.org/), and via VS plug-in:
http://visualhg.codeplex.com/ ...

All these tools are free.

As I'm working with a Codeplex project
(http://accesspowertools.codeplex.com/SourceControl/list/changesets) I do
not need currently a Mercurial repository (web) server.

As far as I see there exist free(?) solutions for Mercurial (web) servers
but their setup is a bit(?) tricky:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/818571/how-to-setup-mercurial-and-hgwebdi
r-on-iis

When working with student support team you'd probably not need any Mercurial
servers first time - you can work this way (it looks a bit tricky but with
some training it should go smoothly):

- coordinator/you: - "just" clone your main Mercurial repository for as many
folders as the size of students' support team you have;
- send them cloned folders to work locally on their computers;
- ...
- student1 works locally and commits their changes to a changeset - let's
call it STDSET1;
- student1 sends their whole folder to coordinator (you) (they can send
changeset only I guess but I do not know yet how);
- ...
- coordinator/you - collect back their work (whole folder with STDSET1) and
overwrite cloned source folder for this student;
- pull latest changeset from the main repository (MAINSET1) into student's
cloned repository;
- merge pulled main changeset with student changeset (MAINSET1+STDSET1);
- commit merged changset into student cloned repository to make it default
=> STUDENT1:MAINSET1+STDSET1;
- push merged and committed student changeset (STUDENT1:MAINSET1+STDSET1) to
the main repository;
- update main repository to set default changeset to the one committed from
student's cloned folder => STUDENT1:MAINSET1+STDSET1;
- ...
- do all the above coordination steps for all students who sent you their
changes to get MAINSET_vX;
- ...
- pull MAINSET_vX into student's cloned folder;
- update student cloned folder's Mercurial repository to have MAINSET_vX as
a default one;
- send latest version of cloned folders to the students...

See http://mercurial.selenic.com/quickstart/

The above steps assume that there is no source changes' collisions.
If you'll find how to make the above coordination with less steps - I'm "all
ears"....

Of course, real life cases will be (much) more complicated than sketched
above - and therefore playing manually with Mercurial distributed source
control using simple projects seems to be a 'must have' learning curve step.

There are good docs installed by TortoiseHG setup in .htm, .pdf and .chm
formats having "TORTOISEHG IN DAILY USE" chapter....

Mercurial and SVN are different tools - to switch your SVN repository(-ies)
to Mercurial you'll have first to backup them, then delete all SVN support
files (hidden .svn files), then use hg command line utility or TortoiseHG to
create Mercurial repository.

If you're in doubt of using/switching to Mercurial maybe better stay with
SVN.

Sorry, I'm not available for coaching as I'm only a beginner with subject
tool.
There is a Mercurial discussion list you can post your questions in 

https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/tortoisehg-discuss

If you'll switch to Mercurial and you'll find useful and really concise
tutorials/guides how to setup a free IIS web server for it - I'm "all
ears"...

Thank you.

--
Shamil

-----Original Message-----
From: dba-vb-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:dba-vb-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of jwcolby
Sent: Saturday, March 27, 2010 5:19 PM
To: Discussion concerning Visual Basic and related programming issues.
Subject: Re: [dba-VB] FYI: a Mercurial tutorial

Shamil,

I was really asking if you have made the switch to using Murcurial as your
source control?  If so do 
you find it easy to do?  Is it cheap / free?  Does it integrate easily /
inexpensively with Visual 
studio? What was involved to get the old archived files out of SVN and into
Murcurial?  Are you 
available as a source for coaching us through the change?

John W. Colby
www.ColbyConsulting.com


Shamil Salakhetdinov wrote:
> Hi John --
> 
> I do use it here:
> 
> http://accesspowertools.codeplex.com/SourceControl/list/changesets
> 
> But I'm just a beginner with subject SCC toolset...
> 
> Thank you.
> 
> --Shamil
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: dba-vb-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
> [mailto:dba-vb-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of jwcolby
> Sent: Friday, March 26, 2010 3:30 PM
> To: Discussion concerning Visual Basic and related programming issues.
> Subject: Re: [dba-VB] FYI: a Mercurial tutorial
> 
> So is anyone (of us) actually using this?
> 
> John W. Colby
> www.ColbyConsulting.com
> 
> 
> Shamil Salakhetdinov wrote:
>> Hi Gustav --
>>
>> That seems to be a VS tool for Mercurial:
>>
>> http://visualhg.codeplex.com/
>>
>>
>
http://jat45.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/using-mercurial-visualhg-and-visual-st
>> udio-2008-together/
>>
>> I must note I haven't used it yet.
>>
>> Thank you.
>>
>> --Shamii





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