Thursday 21 December 2006

Subversive Inferno

Now that Inferno's source code is available via Subversion on Googlecode, with incremental updates there (if it all works), I thought I'd try to keep a related blog. Fortunately it is Christmas, and I am on holiday. Meanwhile, Caerwyn's Inferno Programmer's Notebook (http://www.caerwyn.com/ipn/) sets a sufficiently high standard to satisfy readers (and put me off even trying) until the New Year. Still, why "Subversive" in the title of my initial post?
  1. Sub*vert" (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. /Subverted/; p. pr. & vb. n. /Subverting/.] [L. subvertere, subversum; sub under + vertere to turn: cf. F. subvertir. See /Verse/.]
1. To overturn from the foundation; to overthrow; to ruin utterly.
These are his substance, sinews, arms, and strength,
With which he yoketh your rebellious necks,
Razeth your cities, and subverts your towns. Shak.
This would subvert the principles of all knowledge. Locke.
2. To pervert, as the mind, and turn it from the truth; to corrupt; to confound. 2 Tim. iii. 14. Syn. -- To overturn; overthrow; destroy; invert; reverse; extinguish.

...
It seems to have been a poor choice: ruination, corruption, turning from the truth etc. are certainly not the targets. Changing something at the foundation is probably closer to the real aim, and given the vast amount of existing code and systems, aiming to displace them is not realistic, but turning them all into run-time platforms for Inferno is both practical and sound.

3 comments:

saoret.one said...

great idea, and to keep track of changes/updates to the blogs i did a small tool rsscheck that can be handy now

GringoCroco said...

does inferno have a subversion client application built-in?

forsyth said...

i haven't worked out what to do with inferno's access. webdav and the svn protocol looked somewhat overwhelming.

i was inclined still to put a file system with styx/9p2000 access somewhere else on the network. the primary source is indeed on a Plan 9 file server in York: the googlecode storage is updated from that.