When push can't create a working tree, some basic info should be made available

I agree; especially on HTTP trees, the "seemingly blank folder, what the hell do I do now" look is very deceiving and confusing especially to new bzr users. A simple README in the working tree would be great, something that states:

* This is a Bazaar-NG branch, stored in a bazaar repository format
* The contents of this repository cannot be viewed with a web browser
* To retrieve a copy of this branch, use "bzr branch <url>"
* See http://bazaar-vcs.org/ for more information

"where the working tree cannot be created"

Why can't you create and update working tree using push (I mean with an option like --force-tree)? It would allow you to use bzr e.g. on webhosting services.

On Wed, Jul 19, 2006 at 01:45:27PM -0000, Pavel Šimerda wrote:
> "where the working tree cannot be created"
>
> Why can't you create and update working tree using push (I mean with an
> option like --force-tree)? It would allow you to use bzr e.g. on
> webhosting services.

The arguments I recall (please speak up if there are more) are
basically:

 - it's hard to detect changes in the remote workingtree and do the
   right merging magic.
 - pushing the workingtree is a lot of duplicate data.

For the webhosting use case, having an option to just throw away the
workingtree and push everything again might be satisfactory. Shouldn't
be too hard to write a plugin for.

Wouter van Heyst

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Wouter van Heyst wrote:
> On Wed, Jul 19, 2006 at 01:45:27PM -0000, Pavel Šimerda wrote:
>> "where the working tree cannot be created"
>>
>> Why can't you create and update working tree using push (I mean with an
>> option like --force-tree)? It would allow you to use bzr e.g. on
>> webhosting services.
>
> The arguments I recall (please speak up if there are more) are
> basically:
>
> - it's hard to detect changes in the remote workingtree and do the
> right merging magic.
> - pushing the workingtree is a lot of duplicate data.
>
> For the webhosting use case, having an option to just throw away the
> workingtree and push everything again might be satisfactory. Shouldn't
> be too hard to write a plugin for.
>
> Wouter van Heyst
>

If they allow sftp, we already have rsync plugins that can do this.

If they only allow ftp... I think we can do it. list_dir() over ftp is a
little bit iffy, since 'ls' can return filenames in all sorts of ways.

Because if you want to overwrite the working tree, you have to wipe out
what is already there, before you upload new stuff.

But yes, it should be possible, probably not in core, though.

John
=:->

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