Using a CVS repository for open-source development

Okay, I'm wondering:

(Hypothetically)

If someone were to want to create an Open Source (GPL/LGPL/WHATEVER) application in SL and be able to work offline on it, also allowing for other people to work on their system as well (e.g. sourceforge.net style) would it be possible to set up a CVS repository that understood LSL as it's core language?

This would allow users to work on one large project from anywhere in the world.

If anyone knows how one might set this up, I would be happy to hear about it.

What exactly do you mean by "understood LSL as its core language"? CVS doesn't care what language your code is in, it just stores and retreives text files. There's no technical reason you couldn't put an open-source LSL project up on Sourceforge itself.

Neat. I've never really messed with CVS or anything of the sort, so I was unsure. I've only used it for PHP code, and I wasn't administrating the repository.

Now I'm compelled to start a sourceforge project for people to post/edit/create scripts with.

Do you know of a good CVS client/server? What should I use?

I want to be sure to use something reliable that can automatically check/update/revert/etc. based on the repository.

Thanks!

CVS client/server? Well, how about CVS at cvshome.org?

That would seem like the obvious choice wouldn't it...

I asked because we used a special client for CVS back when I worked for this local software firm.

I'll check it out.

WinCVS is OK if you want a GUI and don't want to bother with learning the CVS commands. I'm not sure if the cvshome.org client is GUI or command-line based.

It's command line, like all good programmer's software is.

If you want a GUI client, wrap it in a Tcl/Tk script. Tcl/Tk runs on all major operating systems, uses native look-and-feel, and is just made for this kind of thing.

Please... Please... Please... Consider Subversion instead of CVS. It's just so much better.

Btw, LSL development is not really file-based; it reminds more of image-based development with active objects (e.g. Smalltalk environments). So - altough Subversion or CVS are the easiest choices - these tools may not fit LSL development perfectly; they are better than nothing however.

I am quite happy myself, working with Scite-ez (Scite + LSL support) and SVN.

Unless you're going to build the source code control system inside SL, the only thing you can do is maintain files outside SL and copy and paste entire scripts.

I'm not sure what you're getting at in any case. It's certainly nothing like Smalltalk or APL or any other image-based environment I've ever used. There's no workspace, there's no shared environment, every script is an isolated animal that communicates with other scripts only through the simulation.

I don't much care which language / type the script most resembles.. All I care is that multiple users can use/update/modify files all at the same time without losing any functionality of the script, much in the way SourceForge enables people to work.

Thanks for all the tips! I'll check this all out.