The code management system acre

Overview

Do you want...

• to store the source code and associated files of Dyalog APL projects in a database (repository) running somewhere, typically the cloud, supporting multiple developers?
• to store private copies of such a project independently from the main branch in the same repository as an insurance against, say, the loss of your laptop?
• to save all versions of APL objects and files of a project locally until it’s time either to back them up into your private part of the repository or merge them into the main branch?
• to have reports about what you've changed, what was backed up, what’s causing a conflict, who has changed what and when in the main branch, which of your changes, if any, will cause a conflict on upload?
• to upload your changes automatically into the main repository and get support (comparison tools etc.) when there is a conflict?
• to restore effortless any old version from the main repository?
• to go back to any older version since you’ve checked out your copy?
• an insurance against aplcores, “Dyalog has stopped working” and disappearing Dyalog sessions?
• to abandon the need of saving (possibly corrupted) workspaces?

If so then acre is for you. But be warned: once you’ve started working with it you won’t want to go back. Ever.

Watch acre in action

PhilLast and KaiJaeger will show acre in action at the 2014 Dyalog conference held from 2014-09-21 to 2014-09-25 in Eastbourne / South England.

How to get it

Acre is a simple and small namespace that contains all the code. It was written by PhilLast on behalf of Carlisle Group in order to support the international development team of FlipDB.

Acre is free even for commercial usage, although the license under which it is provided has some limitations. See AcreLicense for details.

To take full advantage of its power you also need an AcreServer running somewhere, typically in the cloud. Acre Server is owned by Carlisle Group. Luckily Carlisle have agreed to offer a free version of the Acre Server as well. It is a fully fledged relational database management system written in Dyalog that supports all the functionality required by acre. Acre Server is available for download from its home page.

Acre is available for download from this page.

How to start using acre

1. Create a folder on your machine that will function as your project library. We will assume that the name will be Foo\.
2. Download the file acre.zip from this page.
3. Move the contents of that zip file into Foo\. That will bring acre, Conga, APLTreeUtils and APLTreeHelp as sub folders (=projects) into Foo\.
4. Fire up an instance of Dyalog 14.0 or better.
5. Load the workspace "Foo/acre/acre.dws".

At this stage you can start using acre. Ask for advice with #.acre.Help''.

You can also download any member of the APLTree project with acre. The INI file contains the necessary pieces of information for this:

[Acre]
ipaddress  = acre.aplwiki.com
portnumber = 59753
username   = default
password   = default

For example, try this:

      #.acre.GetProject'WinFile'

History of acre

Acre was originally developed to support the international FlipDB development team. From 2008 it was used to manage the FlipDB project.

In 2014 Carlisle Group, the owner of acre, decided to provide acre as a free tool to the APL community via the APL Wiki. In September 2014 all the APLTree projects were converted into acre projects. That has not changed the way people can download such projects from the wiki, but it has changed the way developers are expected to cooperate while working on an APLTree project.

See TheAPLTreeProjectAndAcre for details.

Project page

Link to the acre project page

-- KaiJaeger 2014-06-05 20:48:23

CategoryAcre