[cvsnt] Re: offline folder can't be updated when offline, even though server online

[Tony Hoyle]

David Holmes wrote:
>>Not really.  In lots of cases it doesn't work - plus all the network
>>bandwidth and security issues as mentioned in the FAQ,
> 
> 
> In what cases does what I describe "not work"?

Things like caching latency bite you, so you get file locking errors.

If you have a Unix machine and a Windows machine using the same sandbox 
you stand a quite good chance of corrupting the repository completely 
because if the line ending issues.

AV problems are doubled using network shares (because Norton for example 
scans network shares by default - so if you have Norton on the server 
and on the client every single file is being scanned twice).

> Most of the issues in the FAQ are the user's problem, not a concern of the
> application developers.

Users problems *are* the concern of the application developers...  If I 
didn't have to worry about users problems I'd be a happy man.

If someone is stupid with a network share and corrupts their project, 
cvsnt (and by extension the developers) get blamed.  Starting with a 
strict 'not supported' policy makes sure that nobody on this list has to 
deal with that.

The rules are different for commercial customers, but that's what 
they're paying for.  In those cases we try our hardest to get something 
working for the customer.

> But this really isn't about the pros and cons of network shares, it is a
> specific issue related to a windows share in offline mode. It seems apparent
> from other bug reports (eg. Visio in MS knowledgebase) that performing file
> I/O on a network share in offline mode, behaves differently to online mode.

I seriously doubt offline mode can handle the amount of manipulation 
that a CVS client will do to a directory - creating and deleting files, 
renaming them, resetting the datestamps, etc.  It'd have to store a 
*lot* of metadata to make that work.

I had the instructions to create offline folders somewhere, but lost 
them (it's extremely non-obvious, although maybe this version of XP 
doesn't have them which is why I can't find the option)... maybe I'll 
have a look to see if I can detect them to at least fail gracefully.

Tony