On Mon, Jan 19, 2009 at 10:08:47AM -0600, Jeremy wrote:
> The only problem (with both mercurial and git) is authentication. With svn, I 
> have passwords set up for each person.  But with distributed systems, there is 
> no central server, and code exchanges can happen ad-hoc, so there is no way to 
> identify who is submitting code.  User identity is set via a text field in the 
> local config file.  
> 
> Even if you identify who is logging into your servers, their push might 
> include code they picked up from other people along the way (one of the main 
> features of DVCS).
> 
> I'm thinking they need (as an optional mode) gpg signatures on all commits, 
> and the option to reject incoming patches that lack signatures.  

With both git and mercurial you can sign tags.

> They do have an extesnion for hg to let you sign a repo, but it makes a commit 
> just for the sig (so you would have 2x the number of commits), and you would 
> have to implement a lot of the above using pre/post commit hooks wired up to 
> gpg.  I might try to do that.

I'm not privy with the design decisions of either DVCS, but I presume that
they encourage a large number of small commits, followed by a tag
(like a release;  the release can be of your feature into the main
code stream, not something end-user visible).

Cheers,
florin

-- 
Bruce Schneier expects the Spanish Inquisition.
      http://geekz.co.uk/schneierfacts/fact/163
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