@need 3200

@node Preliminary Data Sheet for the Hackerlab arch
@appendix Preliminary Data Sheet for the Hackerlab arch
@example
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Package:
        Hackerlab arch (a revision control system)
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Supplier:
        regexps.com
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Function:        
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        Hackerlab arch performs revision control offering fancy
        features for branching and merging.  It provides distributed
        repositories (repositories spread over multiple hosts) and a
        global (world-wide) namespace for branches and revisions.
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Key Features:
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        arch is simple, small, fast, and featureful.
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        Distributed repositories are especially appropriate for
        projects developed in the "open source" style -- with
        geographically distributed developers and sub-teams, loosely
        and flexibly cooperating.
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        Arch's fancy merging features are ideal for projects
        supporting multiple concurrent releases and/or performing a
        lot of development in separate branches.
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        Postscript and HTML documentation is included.
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Licensing:
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        Hackerlab arch is part of is distributed under the terms of
        the GNU General Public License, Version 2, as published by the
        Free Software Foundation.
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Prerequisites:
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        standard C compiler
        Posix libc.a (standard C library)
        GNU Make
        GNU tar
        GNU patch
        most of the standard Posix shell, text, and file utilities
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Recommended and Disrecommended Applications:
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        arch is brand new.  The recommended application at this stage
        is evaluation, help with porting, and help with testing.
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        Given resources for robust testing, arch could be made ready
        for heavy-duty, mission critical application within months --
        but absent those resources, arch suffers from the risks
        associated with brand-new software.
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        If your projects are characterized by distributed development,
        consider evaluating arch and finding ways to contribute to a 
        polished, commercial-quality release.
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Limitations:
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        The primary limitation is that arch needs porting and testing.
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        A secondary limitation is that arch likes to operate on
        whole-trees, not individual files.  This limitation can be
        overcome with further development, though it remains to be
        seen if user's truly miss such features.
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Size:
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        The core of arch is around 40K lines of code, mostly shell and
        awk scripts.
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        Small parts of arch rely on the Hackerlab C library, which
        adds considerably to the overall code size.  It is possible to
        eliminate this dependency, but not necessarily desirable.
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Performance:
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        Arch has some nice performance characteristics.
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        Repositories are stored in compressed format and tree-deltas
        are efficiently represented.  This both saves disk space and 
        reduces network traffic.
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        On the client side, arch makes heavy use of caching to speed
        up some operations and make detached operation possible.
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Support:
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        To purchase an alternative license, request additional
        features, or for any kind of support assistance, you can
        contact us at "hackerlab@@regexps.com" or via our web site
        "www.regexps.com".  We can also be reached at (412) 401-5204.
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@end example



