[cvsnt] Re: cvsnt status

Glen Starrett grstarrett at cox.net
Tue Jul 15 19:02:29 BST 2003


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> Unfortunately, subversion are going strongly down a non-Microsoft path
> (Apache, BerkeleyDB, etc).  

I don't see why that is a bad thing.  Highly capable free software should be
an issue--and keeping free software free of licensing requirement keeps it
free.

HOWEVER:  If CVSNT uses a SQL Server backend, it will no longer be free.
You cannot install the MSDE on the backend with CVS and say done, because
you are violating Microsoft's licensing on that product.  They will insist
you purchase the full SQL Server license with CAL's or a SQL Server
"internet pack" for every CVSNT installation.  That means thousands of
dollars of licenses to use an otherwise free product.

I thought MSDE has a limit of 10 client connections, but it seems that has
either changed or was just plain wrong.  It says it is "tuned" for 5
connections or fewer--I think that is marketing-speak for "purposefully
stalls user 6+".  It also does have the limit of 2G per table.  MSDE may
indeed be a viable alternative for CVSNT backend database for small
installations, <cynical>BUT Microsoft may also change it's licensing terms
if it sees too many people using MSDE without enough of them being forced to
upgrade to SQL Server</cynical>.

Here's a comparison of the various MS database options:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnmsde/html
/msdeforvs.asp

Personally, I don't want to see CVSNT get within 10 miles of SQL Server,
even though I use both products every day at work.  I strongly recommend
MySQL or PostgreSQL as the database backend if a database backend is desired
for CVSNT.  Beyond the licensing reasons it just feels wrong to make a free
product tied to such a non-free one as SQL Server.


Glen Starrett



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