Topic: PunBB & Subversion & Trac == true
As of a few days ago, the PunBB source code can now be accessed via a Subversion repository at http://punbb.org/svn/punbb/. For those of you who don't know what Subversion is, here's a quote from the Subversion documentation:
Subversion is a free/open-source version control system. That is, Subversion manages files and directories over time. A tree of files is placed into a central repository. The repository is much like an ordinary file server, except that it remembers every change ever made to your files and directories. This allows you to recover older versions of your data, or examine the history of how your data changed. In this regard, many people think of a version control system as a sort of "time machine".
Subversion can access its repository across networks, which allows it to be used by people on different computers. At some level, the ability for various people to modify and manage the same set of data from their respective locations fosters collaboration. Progress can occur more quickly without a single conduit through which all modifications must occur. And because the work is versioned, you need not fear that quality is the trade-off for losing that conduit - if some incorrect change is made to the data, just undo that change.
Some version control systems are also software configuration management (SCM) systems. These systems are specifically tailored to manage trees of source code, and have many features that are specific to software development - such as natively understanding programming languages, or supplying tools for building software. Subversion, however, is not one of these systems. It is a general system that can be used to manage any collection of files. For you, those files might be source code - for others, anything from grocery shopping lists to digital video mixdowns and beyond.
Subversion is very similar to CVS, only better. What this means is that you can follow the development of PunBB very closely and download the source code at any time you want. In order to download the source code you need either the Subversion command-line tool or a GUI tool such as TortoiseSVN (recommended for Windows users). Downloading, or rather exporting, the source in TortoiseSVN is as easy as creating a new folder, right-clicking it, selecting "Export" and then entering the URL to the so called trunk of the repository (this is where the latest source resides). In PunBB's case, this URL is http://punbb.org/svn/punbb/trunk. Hit OK. TortoiseSVN will not contact the repository and download the very latest PunBB source to the directory you specified. If you prefer, you can instead choose to checkout the source. The difference between an export and a checkout is that a checkout creates what is called a working copy. This working copy contains a bunch of Subversion related files (in directories called .svn). These files, among other things, contain information that allows TortoiseSVN to keep track of how your local copy differs from the source in the repository. You can read more about this in the Subversion and TotroiseSVN docs.
The fun doesn't stop there. The nice folks at TextDrive.com have setup an installation of Trac at http://dev.punbb.org/. What's Trac then?
Trac is a minimalistic approach to web-based management of software projects. Its goal is to simplify effective tracking and handling of software issues, enhancements and overall progress.
The nice thing about Trac apart from the fact that it is essentially a WiKi is that it installs on top of a Subversion repository. This means that you can browse the source and review all changes that have been made to the source etc. It's great. It also comes with a ticket system. I haven't had time to customize it to any noticable extent (for instance replace the default front page), but I will shortly. At the same time, I will close the bug reports forum and direct you all to use the ticket system in Trac instead. For the time being, we'll stick to the forums for bug reporting.
