2 - Raspberry PI Community Projects

Each specific service has its own system administration team, generally composed of volunteers
who have installed it (and also frequently programmed the corresponding tools themselves).
This is the case of the bug tracking system (BTS), the package tracking system (PTS), alioth.
debian.org (FusionForge server, see sidebar), the services available on qa.debian.org, lintian.
debian.org, buildd.debian.org, cdimage.debian.org, etc.
1.3.3.3. Development Teams, Transversal Teams
Unlike administrative teams, the development teams are rather widely open, even to outside
contributors. Even if Debian does not have a vocation to create software, the project needs some
specific programs to meet its goals. Of course, developed under a free software license, these
tools make use of methods proven elsewhere in the free software world.
CULTURE
CVS
CVS (Concurrent Versions System) is a tool for collaborative work on multiple
files, while maintaining a history of modifications. The files in question are
generally text files, such as a program's source code. If several people work
together on the same file, cvs can only merge the alterations made if they were
made to different portions of the file. Otherwise, these “conflicts” must be
resolved by hand. This system manages modifications, line by line, by storing
diff patches from one version to another.
CVS uses a central archive (called a CVS repository) to store files and the
history of their modifications (each revision is recorded in the form of a diff
patch file, intended to be used on the prior version). Everyone checks out
a particular version (working copy) to work on. The tool allows one to view
the modifications made to the working copy (cvs diff), to record them in the
central repository by creating a new entry in the versions history (cvs commit),
to update the working copy to include modifications made in parallel by other
uses (cvs update), and to record a particular configuration in the history in
order to be able to easily extract it later on (cvs tag).
CVS experts will know how to handle multiple concurrent versions of a project
in development without them interfering with each other. These versions are
called branches. This metaphor of a tree is fairly accurate, since a program is
initially developed on a common trunk. When a milestone has been reached
(such as version 1.0), development continues on two branches: the development
branch prepares the next major release, and the maintenance branch
manages updates and fixes for version 1.0.
cvs, however, does have some limitations. It is unable to manage symbolic
links, changes in file or directory names, the deletion of directories, etc. It has
contributed to the appearance of more modern, and free alternatives which
have filled in most of these gaps. These include, especially, subversion (svn),
git, bazaar (bzr), and mercurial (hg).
➨ http://subversion.tigris.org/
➨ http://git-scm.com/
➨ http://bazaar-vcs.org/
➨ http://mercurial.selenic.com/
Debian has developed little software of its own, but certain programs have assumed a starring
20 The Debian Administrator's Handbook