[TxMt] IDE-style version control (was How Long Must We Wait for CVS Support?)

[Chris Thomas]

(Let me prefix this by noting that Allan is surely already aware of  
the requests for native SFTP, version control UI integration, and  
other things mentioned in this thread, because he's said so -- in  
some cases multiple times -- on this very mailing list.)

> Here, access to svn is *very* close at hand.  I don't see the  
> benefit of expending energy to writing a "built-in" svn client when  
> access to an *existing* client

Try this: In TM's project drawer, in a project checked into  
Subversion, rename any file.

Result: you've just broken your Subversion working copy, because  
Subversion was not consulted about the name change. Renaming the file  
back will fix it, of course, but you get the idea. That's the level  
of integration we're missing: the 'oh, TextMate *understands*  
Subversion' experience, as opposed to 'TextMate supports  
Subversion' (or Xcode's wacky 'dude, where's my SCM status?' shell  
game). It requires a level of plugin support TextMate doesn't provide  
yet.

To be clear, I am _not_ criticizing TextMate's development history.  
Quite the opposite: I'm happy with where TM is and where it seems to  
be headed. Well-architected code takes time. If TM already had some  
of the features under discussion here, there'd be other features  
missing that are more central to TM's mission, like, say, snippets.

Bottom line: the SVN bundle is not shabby at all, but there is  
certainly more that could be done to *integrate* Subversion (or CVS,  
or Mercurial,...), given future potential support from the TM core  
app. (There are also more commands to be implemented, but that's  
another thread...)

Chris
(creator/co-author of the Subversion bundle)