Managing Software Development with Trac and Subversion [Paperback]

By 

J. S. Hardman "Consultant software developer ... (Near London, UK) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

By 

Steven Spiller "Balefire" (Bournemouth, UK) - See all my reviews

I was anxious to get a little literature on the subject of Trac. I read through this book in a couple of hours, mainly because it had no content. Long table of contents, Index and appendix, despite being very little information in the actual book.

Basically the book says there are tools for projects management, Trac, Subversion. a small outline of what they do and boom, the book is finished.

Buying this book was a waste of money

As a big fan of both Trac (http://trac.edgewall.org) and Subversion (http://subversion.tigris.org) I was excited to have the opportunity to read and review Managing Software Development with Trac and Subversion by David J. Murphy (Packt Publishing, 2007), and since I learned both these tools on my own when I initially started using them, I anticipated learning something as well. I can only describe my experience reading this book as one of wishing for more mixed with extreme disappointment. Managing Software Development with Trac and Subversion could have been a good book, and a title such as this certainly fills a void on many bookshelves, but incomplete information mixed with confusing writing and extremely poor editing take away from the tremendous potential of this book.

Managing Software Development with Trac and Subversion is not a complete failure. Developers who are not yet using any version control or project management tools will certainly benefit from the exposure to Trac and Subversion and will likely even find themselves inspired to start using these tools, because Murphy does a decent job of explaining what the tools do at a high level and why developers should seriously consider integrating them into their development practices. The appendices outlining installation on both Windows and Linux systems are quite well done, complete with numerous screen shots and good explanations of how to get up and running. Beyond this very basic level, however, the book simply fails to deliver much additional value to readers.

The stated target audience for the book, to quote the back cover, is "... developers of all calibres, and particularly those that lead teams or projects, especially if they have recently moved into the role or are simply looking for a 'better way.'" This is a nice goal for a book of this nature, but as a developer who has been using Subversion and Trac for a few years I personally found that the book had little to offer, other than the installation appendices which are a rather handy reference. Windows users in particular will find the installation guide for Windows helpful since installing Trac on Windows has been notoriously difficult in the past.

Readers in a position of never having used a version control system or bug tracking/project management system will likely get more out of the book, but at only 105 pages, of which 20% are the installation guides, even these readers will find themselves wanting and needing more. Perhaps the book suffers from an ill-fitting title as well, because given its length Managing Software Development with Trac and Subversion clearly cannot serve as a comprehensive reference for these tools. That being said, a more appropriate title would have included the words "brief," "introduction," or perhaps "overview" in some fashion to more accurately indicate the depth and breadth of the book.

Chapter 1, "Understanding the Problem," does a decent job of explaining that for software projects to be successful the outcome cannot be left to chance, which is a practice followed (inadvertently or otherwise) by far too many development shops. At nine pages in length it's a short chapter that could have been a nice basic introduction to the importance of source control and task management in software development, but problems with the book already begin to crop up in this first chapter. The content lacks clear, logical organization, Murphy seems to meander from point to point, and poor or even incorrect wording throughout give the book the feel of a rough draft that needed far more reorganization and editing before going to press. Unfortunately, this aspect of the book continues throughout and dramatically takes away from the useful information that is in the book.

Concerning the technical aspects of the book, there isn't any information presented that's incorrect, but the lack of organization make even the most basic topics far more confusing than they need to be. For example, with Chapter 2, "Introducing the Solution," I was expecting a clear explanation of what Trac and Subversion are and how they relate to one another. Although these explanations are certainly contained in the chapter, in the second paragraph on the first page of the chapter Murphy is already mentioning WebDAV, which is at most an ancillary piece of the overall puzzle. Even the diagram at the end of the chapter illustrating how the technologies relate is so basic as to not have any real meaning. While there is good information contained in this chapter, and throughout the book for that matter, the lack of organization takes away from the reader's ability to understand and retain the information presented.

The book itself is attractive, the layout and readability from a visual perspective is quite good, and with respect to the paper, binding, and cover it is of high quality. The screenshots in the installation appendices are grayscale and very slightly grainy but completely legible. The content, however, while perhaps helpful at a very high level, unfortunately does not match the physical quality of the book.

I love the idea of Managing Software Development with Subversion and Trac. A book like this needs to exist and would be a useful addition to many developers' bookshelves. This particular implementation of the good idea behind the book, however, falls rather flat. After completing the book I was left with a rather poor impression overall and was left wondering what if any useful information I really gained by reading it.

It likely goes without saying that I can't generally recommend the purchase, or even the reading, of Managing Software Development with Trac and Subversion. If you are a developer or technical manager without any knowledge of either Trac or Subversion, this book might be a useful (albeit very basic) introduction to the products, but anyone with any knowledge of source code and project management in general will likely find very little useful information in Managing Software Development with Trac and Subversion.

I don't really remember why I buy this book, I had some doubts and I can confirm: this book it is a big deception for me!

First, it's really small (less than 130 pages) and when you open the book, you see a large font and a lot of printscreen. One has the impression that the author has nothing to say...

But well, it is not so bad, it is just not what I waiting for. The book explain distinctly how to install (especially on windows but on linux too) trac and subversion and how using trac. It's a good intruction for people who have no idea of what is trac.

If you wish to buy this book to know more about trac (like how write a plugin or something like that's), just be on your way...

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