[Labs-l] Hello, and the short term plans

[Tim Landscheidt]

"Marc A. Pelletier" <marc at uberbox.org> wrote:

>> Will there be a way to share code between tools, or should
>> we use git for that?

> I can see two approaches:

> a) use git for communally maintained code shared between tools
> b) have a shared location where such code can be shared
> between tools (the project-wide storage there can be used to
> good effect)

> I would think that storing common code under source control
> provides maintainability advantages in addition to the
> easier sharing, but (b) is also a good transitory measure
> that should be closer to the model currently in use to the
> toolserver.

> The partition between tools is at the level of unix
> permissions and under control of the maintainers; it is
> perfectly allowable to share assets between the tools.

One thing I'd consider superplusgood in this regard is, when
code is shared by different tools, it's not by sharing one
common directory, but with properly packaged modules so that
a) there is some logging of what was when installed/updated,
and b) it's not possible for someone to accidentally bring
all tools using the library to a standstill by some unre-
viewed modification to the shared directory.

This may be overkill for some libraries, and you can emulate
the package management provided by the OS with a bunch of
ad-hoc scripts and very strict SOPs, but in a environment
where all boxes will run Ubuntu and knowledge about Debian
packaging is relatively widespread, I think going the extra
mile (well, rather yard) is definitely worth it.

Tim