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Dropbox is not a tool for developers

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Re: Dropbox is not a tool for developers

#31

Post by eclipxe »

UnoriginalGuy wrote: post #28
dfc wrote: post #13

I am surprised to see so many people mentioning dropbox and git. What does dropbox add that you don't get from git?[1] And/or with git and a decent backup system(tarsnap/duplicity/rsync)? It seems like a lot of extra overhead and data privacy concerns for little gain. What am I missing? [1] I'm not saying this because git is the magic fairy dust. Replace git with hg, darcs etc.

Is that a real question? Git is local only. It is not centralised. Are you confusing Git with Github (service)?

There are plenty of remote Git hosts (Bitbucket, RepositoryHosting, etc)...

Re: Dropbox is not a tool for developers

#32

Post by pidge »

duck wrote: post #4

It is a tool, but you just have to use it the right way: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1960799/using-gitdropbox-...

For those who don't click through, the linked SO answer recommends using Dropbox to sync a "remote" repo between your computers, and push/pulling that from your working repo outside of Dropbox.

Re: Dropbox is not a tool for developers

#33

Post by msoad »

Forget about code and Git, Dropbox is not even good for photo sharing.

I went to vacation with a group of people. Everyone had his/her own camera. We decided to make a folder in Dropbox and share it with everyone so we can share our photos and get other people photos.

After a week my photos started to disappear. Why? Because my lady friend didn't like the photo I took from her and deleted it from "her own computer". But it was actually in a shared folder.

I don't know if this "shared folder" concept thing is too complicated or Dropbox can not handle it. Anyway in my experience it did not work.

Re: Dropbox is not a tool for developers

#34

Post by UnoriginalGuy »

eclipxe wrote: post #31
UnoriginalGuy wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that a real question? Git is local only. It is not centralised. Are you confusing Git with Github (service)?

There are plenty of remote Git hosts (Bitbucket, RepositoryHosting, etc)...

Indeed there are. People are using Dropbox as one of them.

But saying "why use Git with Dropbox it makes no sense?!" is actually wrong. It makes perfect sense. Git is not centralised. You cannot access your repository from a remote host.

Dropbox as well as Github and a number of alternative service allow that.

Re: Dropbox is not a tool for developers

#35

Post by pfortuny »

As a writer more than a developer (LaTeX stuff for my papers and students), I have found this constant syncing more of a hassle than I expected (I have turned Dropbox down and sync by myself, use git etc...).

It is a pity because I very seldom need git for the things I write (they tend to be quite lienar and versions are not that important, what I really need is syncing, not version control)...

I also want the .tex sources tracked but not the pdfs and certainly not the logs, aux, bbl, and "synctex" files and directories.

Re: Dropbox is not a tool for developers

#36

Post by mythealias »

it is not just problem for developers. users like me who edit simple text file in vim or write a document in latex usually get a notification of syncing the temporary files. yes i can turn of the notifications, but that is like saying don't look at the issue and it is not there.

the problem is not just that dropbox has not addressed the issue, it is also that they have turned a blind eye to it. there is not indication whether they plan to work on it or not. what's the use of votebox if they do not plan to use it.

btw those are not 22k people, rather 22k votes. there are many people like me who have voted 10-100 times.

Re: Dropbox is not a tool for developers

#37

Post by tristan_juricek »

Using syncing as a developer makes sense to me because syncing or backup is not versioning.

Versioning (using git) is about marking state at a period of time. Such that, in the future, you can go back to that important state, and that state means something.

Backup, syncing, they just solve different problems. They might have backups, but those backups rarely mean something. Other than, "well I thought it worked tuesday".

I see this is as "different by design". I want Dropbox to make the same shit show up everywhere. I want git to manage versions and streams of work, often coordinating with other people. Using the dropbox workflow with other people sucks if people make changes (I have to often ask, "hey wait, what did you do".) Using the git workflow to sync with other devices sucks because I have to remember to tell it what to do.

Re: Dropbox is not a tool for developers

#38

Post by npsimons »

georgemcbay wrote: post #19

Lots of posts in here talking about how Dropbox isn't for version control and "just use git" and such, but the systems aren't mutually exclusive and so these comments aren't helpful, IMO. Just because Dropbox isn't a proper version control system doesn't mean it isn't (or couldn't be) useful for developers. I use git daily but I also use a syncing program (first Live Mesh, then Dropbox, now Google Drive) to sync my s…

The only thing Dropbox has over git is the auto-syncing, which will soon no longer be the case (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/joeyh/git-annex-assistan...).

Does Dropbox do merging? Does it track history? Can you run it on server(s) of your choice? Can you setup Dropbox for centralized or distributed operation? Can you inspect the source for security holes? Can you write third party clients, servers, plugins, etc for it?

For once, the headline is perfect: true in every respect and descriptive of the article.

Re: Dropbox is not a tool for developers

#39

Post by davis_m »

msoad wrote: post #33

Forget about code and Git, Dropbox is not even good for photo sharing. I went to vacation with a group of people. Everyone had his/her own camera. We decided to make a folder in Dropbox and share it with everyone so we can share our photos and get other people photos. After a week my photos started to disappear. Why? Because my lady friend didn't like the photo I took from her and deleted it from "her own computer".…

I don't understand what the problem is?

It is a shared folder. If someone deletes something, it is deleted everywhere. That isn't a bug, that is the purpose of Dropbox.

Re: Dropbox is not a tool for developers

#40

Post by npsimons »

UnoriginalGuy wrote: post #34
eclipxe wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are plenty of remote Git hosts (Bitbucket, RepositoryHosting, etc)...

Indeed there are. People are using Dropbox as one of them. But saying "why use Git with Dropbox it makes no sense?!" is actually wrong. It makes perfect sense. Git is not centralised. You cannot access your repository from a remote host. Dropbox as well as Github and a number of alternative service allow that.

Git is as centralized as you want it to be; look up "bare repos" sometime.
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