From: Bob Aman <vacindak@...>
Date: 2005-04-13T12:58:33+09:00
Subject: Re: Accessing SVN through Ruby

> I don't know how much reading of the svn manual you have done
> <http://svnbook.red-bean.com/> because it explains very clearly how to
> edit metadeta with the svn client and the svnadmin tools.  It also
> explains (IIRC) about the client libraries (but I could be wrong on
> that).  See <http://svnbook.red-bean.com/en/1.1/ch08.html>, especially
> the section about "Using the API."

I did read that section on using the API.  It's not overwhelmingly
helpful unless you were writing everything in Python.  I also know how
to edit metadata under normal circumstances.  IE, when you have a
working copy checked out.  That's a simple propset command.  I need to
edit that metadata without having a working copy.  I need to be
editing the metadata from within a multi-user web app, and writing
anything to disk would be a bad idea, especially if the sole purpose
of writing to disk was to make svn know which repository we're
interested in.  Compounded on top of all that, a very likely
requirement will be having the same web app connect to more than one
repository.
 
> You can specify where you check out, but checking out to memory might
> require some interesting proramming.  If it is via a web client,
> though, checking out to memory wouldn't work as the memory would go
> away when the script ended.

And why is that a problem?  Any "checkouts to memory" would only be
occurring for the purposes of enabling in-place metadata changes.  If
that's even required.  See, the problem is that I'm writing a wrapper
of sorts around Subversion.  For example, things like workflow states
will be saved in the svn metadata.  I don't particularly want users
editing metadata manually, though I don't see any really, really big
problems with them being able to do it since the metadata is
versioned.  Workflow states will probably have some sort of encrypted
authorization token that will be next to impossible for an end user to
fake, and if they change those, someone walks over to their cube and
tells them to cut it out and then restores the workflow state to what
it should be.  Not a big deal.  (Certainly better than the system that
currently exists.  The app will just have to make allowance for
possibly erroneous data.  No biggy, I would be remise in my coding
anyhow if I made the assumption that everything was clean.)  But for
that to work, the program needs to be able to "promote" or "demote"
files from within the web interface.  That's not something you want to
make people do via TortoiseSVN.  Especially if you have complex
group/role logic going on to determine who can promote or demote what.
--
Bob Aman