Mercurial at Almacha.org

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Contents 1 Where is it? 2 What is better in Mercurial (= Hg) 2.1 Decentralized 2.2 Web interface 3 What is better in Subversion (= SVN) 3.1 Unicode 3.2 Simpler to use 3.3 Subdirectory checkout 4 About misc2 4.1 The problem 4.2 The solution : Ask as many repositories as you want 4.3 Should I use misc2? 5 What will happen to SVN on dauphin?

Where is it?

There: http://www.almacha.org/hg

What is better in Mercurial (= Hg)

Decentralized

You are not dependant on dauphin. If you want to put your repository somewhere else, your local copy can simply be used as a server root. You can do something magic with your working copies of Hg repositories. Simply cd into the repository and type "hg serve". Then go to http://localhost:8000/ and you'll see that you have a Hg server running.

Web interface

A good web interface is provided out of the box.

What is better in Subversion (= SVN)

Unicode

Subversion supports Unicode out of the box. For example, if you create a file with a UTF-8 name under Linux, and then checkout under Windows, the file name will be correct. In Mercurial such a thing does not work as the file names are handled as a sequence of bytes (and not of unicode chars). There is an extension but it is buggy (at least in my own experience) and it will not be used automatically by TurtoiseHg which makes it impossible to use both TurtoiseHg and command-line alternately.

Simpler to use

Because of its linear model, SVN is straightforward to use, with only 2 actions for the basic user (update and commit) instead of 4 (pull, update, commit, push).

Subdirectory checkout

See misc2 problem below.

About misc2

The problem

On Mercurial it is not possible to checkout (clone in Hg) a directory from a repository that is not the root. Therefore, it is a bad idea with Hg (Hg = Mercurial) to have a big repository for many projects.

The solution : Ask as many repositories as you want

Creating a new repository is a very simple process for Almacha. It consists of running one command and then to write in a text file the name of users which will be allower to push into the repository.

Don't hesitate to ask Almacha for a new repository when you need it, as it takes less than 5 minutes to create a new one. You can ask for 10, 20 or more repositories for you. Each one with its list of users that can push (write) in it.

Should I use misc2?

It is mainly provided for users to be able to create versioned data without needing to ask Almacha. You can also use it for tests. If your project in misc2 grows, you can move it to a dedicated repository later.

What will happen to SVN on dauphin?

It will remain supported. You are not forced to switch to Hg, both will be provided so you can choose the one you prefer.