Delta debugging framework bonsai direction
Objective
To write some PERL code that can query Bonsai and use the information available in the place of CVS (as CVS lacks changesets).
Description
The project itself needs, for the most part, three features from the repository: checkin details over a certain period of time, history of files (through revisions), and the ability to extract diffs to see what changed between two versions of a source file.
This code would use a two-step approach: queries would be pulled using Bonsai, code would be checked out using a pure-CVS wrapper (akin to the style Richard used for SVN).
Why Bonsai?
Lots of functionality is pre-baked, only needing to be extracted somehow.
History/What We Tried
This was also published on the main Delta debugging framework project page.
- Initially was going for a straight wrapper around CVS ala the style Richard used for SVN.
- Tried to find some functionality within Bonsai that could make it easier.
- Talked to Reed Loden, he set up a repository for us to try with. Thanks Reed!
- Thought that there may be some additional (read: unpublished) tools that could be worked with. Got in contact with some of the "Project Participants" listed on [1]. Was told the person in particular wasn't a contributor (just submitted a bug report). They in turn pointed me to #mozwebtools.
- Lurked on #mozwebtools for a few weeks. Talked to 'justdave' about Bonsai. Reed Loden chimed up and informed me that Bonsai can output to XML using ?xml=1 on the query (score! thanks again).
- Researched some PERL parsing utilities. Tried out XML::LibXML for DOM-style parsing.
- Explored a live installation of Bonsai using The Mozilla Project's Bonsai Installation. Tried to map the various pages and parameters (of the querystrings) to the functionality behind.
- Downloaded The Bonsai Project source code. See this page for details on getting the Bonsai source. Unfortunately there wasn't as much documentation as we had hoped for.
- Poked and prodded around, finding the CGIs of interest (and their respective params).
Exploring Bonsai
The particular CGIs in the Bonsai project are of interest to this project.
| CGI File | Description | Possible Benefit |
|---|---|---|
| cvsblame.cgi | Can see who did changed what in the repository. | May be useful to find out who introduced problem code. |
| cvslog.cgi | A web interface for "cvs log" | Good for extracting commentary on the what/why a change was made. |
| cvsquery.cgi | Displays the results of querying a module with certain critera (who, dates, files, etc.). | Good for querying high-level results; can see all checkins. |
| Main screen of Bonsai that you use to query with. | Not necessary as the PERL script simulates this action. | |
| cvsview2.cgi | View CVS diffs. | To extract the changes between two versions of a file. |
| moduleanalyse.cgi | Show directories in a module. | Good to map out the module if not known ahead. |
| multidiff.cgi | Show ALL of the diffs. | Don't have to circumvent pesky pagination with the query results! |
| rview.cgi | Lets you browse the contents of a directory. | Perhaps useful in the discovery of the project contents in question. |
| showcheckins.cgi | Show some set of checkins in a bonsai hook. | Of questionable benefit at the current time. |
Of Interest to the Delta Debugging Framework
What was Discovered/How it can be done/particulars
Roadblocks
No previous exposure to Bonsai, CVS or source repository concepts in addition to a total absence of PERL skills.