Toss original files after importing CVS/SVN?

November 24, 2007 7:23 AM

After I import a project into a cvs/svn respository, what do I do with the original files? Are they important still in some way, or can I toss them?

Should I back up the original files, and if so, why? After importing them, wouldn't backing up the cvs/svn repositories be just as good. I have found it strange that so many articles about cvs/svn don't actually have any suggestions about what to do with the original files after importing.

posted by steppe to computers & internet (9 comments total)

If you are sure that you've imported them correctly you can just get rid of them.

You may want to sync up on a different computer or directory the files you've placed into the repository and do a diff to confirm that you did in face import everything you expected to.

Everyonce and a while I will do a sync of my repository and burn the snapshot of the project's files to DVD as an extra backup.
posted by bottlebrushtree at 7:31 AM on November 24, 2007

Once they're in the repo, they're in the repo. To be safe (in case you somehow hose your file store), you could gzip the original files and hang onto them for a week.
posted by SemiSophos at 7:32 AM on November 24, 2007

I think it would be smart to archive them, just in case you need to retreat and do it again. Burn them to CD.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 7:36 AM on November 24, 2007

Check out the repository locally and then delete the originals once you are sure the checkin worked.

Good practice is to use a repository right from the beginning so there really shouldn't be significant originals to import.
posted by grouse at 7:37 AM on November 24, 2007

Seconding doing a checkout and then a delete as grouse suggested. You put them in a repo so that you can track the changes. In order to do that, you've got to work from a locally-checked out copy anyway.

Maybe do a backup of the originals, put them on CD, sign and date it, and file it away. It'll be a neat thing to have when your software takes over the world.
posted by eafarris at 8:36 AM on November 24, 2007

@eafarris's idea of acking the original up onto CD is a good one.

I used to move the original directory off to the side, check out the repository version, and then diff the original and the checked-out directories to make sure that nothing got missed. The only issue I ever ran into was with "dot" files (files whose name begins with a period, which by unix convention are hidden).
posted by dws at 9:10 AM on November 24, 2007

Once you verify that you've really checked in everything (by diffing with a new checkout), it's best to delete the original files. That way you don't ever accidentally do some work on the original sources that aren't under version control.
posted by Nelson at 10:03 AM on November 24, 2007

Take a checkout and build it to make sure you didn't forget to check everything in. Once you have a working copy that builds and is not missing anything, that means you can get rid of the pre-svn source code directory.
posted by evariste at 2:58 PM on November 24, 2007

After you have verified that the checked out version matches the original, you can delete the original. It's important though to back up the repository on a regular basis (as you mentioned in your post). This is especially true with svn where the entire repository is a single database. If that database gets corrupted you may lose all versions of all your files in that repository.
posted by metadave at 8:29 AM on November 25, 2007