[brimstedt]

Hello!

We have a team of developers working on some java application, which consists of many java projects with dependencies.
If some developer adds a new project, all other developers have to manually import this project into their workspaces after they get an update from svn.
Is there a better way to do this?
I would like for newly added projects to automatically appear in all other developers workspaces.
Also, when new new developers join the project it would be beneficial if they didnt have to manually import all projects...

So, is there a way to share workspaces or in some other way achieve this?

thanks

/B

[jsugrue]

I'd recommend taking a look at Buckminster - it allows sharing of workspaces, which is very cool : Buckminster Quick Tech Reference - Eclipsepedia

For completeness, you could add in real time shared editing with ECF so that you can pair program across multiple machines.

James

[pjupson]

Hello,

I'm having a sort of similar issue. I've been working with my group for nearly 4 years, but I still feel like "the new guy". The developers I work with don't normally work in groups. We use folders on one of our servers as our official "version control", but we're starting to move to SVN. I've set it up on one of our test servers and if things go well we'll deploy it on a production server. I'm also pushing to have us work in teams of at least two on a project, but everyone here has their own way of managing their personal projects. My manager likes the direction I'm moving in and is willing to enforce the use of SVN, but I've got to figure out how to set things up.

I'm looking for advice on what other people, out in the great beyond, who do work in groups for development are doing.

What are some good ways to manage workspaces so they can easily be shared between developers?
--> I use one workspace for all my projects and am using working sets to group and mange them, others around here have one project per workspace.

How should global libraries be managed?
--> For example Log4j is a common library. I keep one copy in \_JBuilder2008\libs and reference it from my projects using a user library. Others have a lib folder in each project folder so every project has it's own reference to Log4j.

I believe the Buckminster suggestion is going to be helpful, I'm trying to get it now to test it out.

Thanks and thanks in advance.

[jsugrue]

Well, I would always suggest "the Eclipse Way". Think about using CVS (easier to set up than SVN) and ProjectSets. This would be a great help to you

Also, in Eclipse 3.4 (Ganymede) you can use a shared dropin's folder to provide all the plugins that you use across the group in a single network folder.

On the workspaces, Working Sets within a workspace are a good idea. If you are developing a lot of plugins/project I would setup a single workspace for each main project.

Hope that helps - feel free to ask further questions!
James

[pjupson]

I guess at some point CVS was attempted, but it was lacking in some way. The specifics weren't explained to me, but the other developers are "sensitive" about the topic, which I guess is why I'm having such a hard time getting them on board and our manager has to enforce the use of SVN. We're actually using JBuilder 2008, which might as well be eclipse 3.3 with another name slapped on it, and most of our development is for Database and standalone applications.

Change happens very slow here and people seem to be afraid of it, or maybe they're afraid they have to change.

I appreciate all the info and suggestions I can get. I'll start prodding around to see what I do.

[jsugrue]

Best of luck with it - enforcing change is always a difficult thing to do

[brimstedt]

Thanks for the tip on Buckminister, Ill check it out and see if it helps (although a quick look at their website does not give the visitor a good idea of what it is for, imo..)

Regarding CVS/SVN - I dont see why anyone would suggest CVS over SVN these days? Not that I want to start a religious war here, but isnt SVN pretty much exactly the same as CVS , just that it got more features, is safer, handles moves, mergetracking, etc, etc?

Regarding pjupson's other questions:
I think libs should be in each project using them and be in source control (SVN, CVS, what you chose)
Because this makes each project standalone - you need only sources from server and you get everything you need. If you upgrade one lib to use a newer one in one project, its no problems, neither to get an old version of the source together with the versions of libs used at that time.

Projects vs working sets: For me, i cannot use working sets, because you can only have one project with the same name in one working space. So, for example, i could not have different branches of the same program in different working sets. Because of this, i tend to use workspaces rather than sets. (But i wish eclipse would improve workspace management..)



cheers

/B

[jsugrue]

I see your point on SVN vs CVS - I suggested CVS because it's supported in Eclipse out of the box, so would be faster/easier to get going with that.

With working sets, in 3.4 you should be able to assign a project to multiple working sets.

Thanks
James

[pjupson]

Yes, you can assign a single project to multiple working sets, but I see brimstedt's point. I've had problems in the past where I was working in a branch of using SVN and my manager just strolled into my office for a status update and asked to see the working version of my code. I've found a work around since, but I had to commit my branch code and switch to the trunk even though I wasn't quite ready for a commit. Now I just check the trunk out and give the project a different name.

I didn't find it too hard to setup SVN for JBuilder 2008, but It would be nice to have it as a default feature. I guess it really is a matter of preference for which one (CVS or SVN) a person wants to use.

[pjupson]

Sorry, I got an error when I made the post and ended up making the same post twice