Comment 0 for bug 500483

I am using bzr-builder to package GnuCash unstable for my own use. Initially I used a branch I had created with only one revision—the 72 MB source from the 12.3 MB tarball. I discovered that there was an automatic bzr import of the GnuCash svn trunk and wanted to take advantage of the fresher code for my builds. I am now using the following recipe:

# bzr-builder format 0.2 deb-version 2.3.8+r{revno}~ppa{revno:packaging}
lp:gnucash
nest packaging lp:~khaeru/+junk/gnucash-2.3-packaging debian

"bzr dailydeb" is now pulling more than 200 MB of data each time it runs—over 16 times the size of the source tarball!

On the other hand, the following command involved about a fifth (<40 MB) as much network traffic and runs much, much more quickly:

bzr checkout --lightweight lp:gnucash

Since it seems that the revision history is unnecessary baggage, especially when a recipe involves no merging, I would like to add a wishlist item for a way to specify lightweight checkouts in bzr-builder recipe files.