Downloading our apps from the cloud

[Will Hankinson]

The Google App Engine SDK currently only has functionality for sending
your app up to Google's servers... it would be nice if we could also
run this process in reverse.

I work on several different machines (and even operating systems)
depending on where I am, so it would be nice to be able to pull the
latest build down from Google instead of lugging it around on a Flash
drive.

[Ryan Mulligan]

Take a look at this:
http://groups.google.com/group/google-appengine/browse_thread/thread/a80edf35d16897bb/a870d52a91c6430f?hl=en&lnk=gst&q=%2Fsrc#a870d52a91c6430f

Code hosting might be a better fit for this:
http://code.google.com/hosting/

But you could put your source code behind an admin-only handler, so
you could download it at any time if you wanted to:

-url: /src/.*
 login: admin
 static_files: /src/\1

Or something like that.

[Mahmoud]

Can't you just check-in your app into a source control repository (or
use Google Code if it's an open source app) and then just check it out
onto your different development boxes?
Carrying source code on a Flash drive is not a good idea.

[Will Hankinson]

@Ryan
Missed that one. I'm not a big fan of the proposal, though it might
work. It would essentially mean zipping your entire directory and
placing it on there as a static file every time you update, which
seems a bit cumbersome.

@Mahmoud
That's one solution, but again--seems cumbersome. You'd have to both
check your code in to Google Apps and then check your code in to
source control every time. (I'm not actually using a flash drive--I
just uploaded it to another server of mine.)

Both solutions require an unnecessary step IMHO--especially
considering that Google appears to be doing some sort of version
control on their backend already.

Honestly, I'd prefer to skip the local setup entirely--these python
scripts are just text-files, so I don't see why we couldn't just edit
them online. That would allow me to work on it with any connected
computer/OS.

[Filip]

I agree with SimianLogic.
Collaborating on code with a distributed team would be a lot easier if
you could just open the files online and edit them, Google Docs
style.
I'd certainly love to edit my apps from anywhere.
Since you can't write to the disk from your own app, it appears this
would be hard to build ourselves.

Thanks to Ryan and Brett for the tip on storing the source code.

Filip.

On Apr 9, 10:11 pm, SimianLogic <learnyoura...@gmail.com> wrote:
> @Ryan
> Missed that one.  I'm not a big fan of the proposal, though it might
> work.  It would essentially mean zipping your entire directory and
> placing it on there as a static file every time you update, which
> seems a bit cumbersome.
>
> @Mahmoud
> That's one solution, but again--seems cumbersome.  You'd have to both
> check your code in to Google Apps and then check your code in to

> sourcecontrolevery time. (I'm not actually using a flash drive--I

> just uploaded it to another server of mine.)
>
> Both solutions require an unnecessary step IMHO--especially

> considering that Google appears to be doing some sort ofversioncontrolon their backend already.

>
> Honestly, I'd prefer to skip the local setup entirely--these python
> scripts are just text-files, so I don't see why we couldn't just edit
> them online.  That would allow me to work on it with any connected
> computer/OS.
>
> On Apr 9, 1:02 pm, Mahmoud <mahmoud.ar...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>

> > Can't you just check-in your app into a sourcecontrolrepository (or

> > use Google Code if it's an open source app) and then just check it out
> > onto your different development boxes?
> > Carrying source code on a Flash drive is not a good idea.
>
> > On Apr 9, 3:42 pm, SimianLogic <learnyoura...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > The Google App Engine SDK currently only has functionality for sending
> > > your app up to Google's servers... it would be nice if we could also
> > > run this process in reverse.
>
> > > I work on several different machines (and even operating systems)
> > > depending on where I am, so it would be nice to be able to pull the
> > > latest build down from Google instead of lugging it around on a Flash

> > > drive.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[JoelPM]

I agree with Mahmoud - use subversion/cvs/git/etc for managing your
source. While GAE may do some version control of your deployed
application, you can only rely on that if you conclude every
development session with a deployable, stable code base. What happens
when you want to save some changes you made on machine 1 so you can go
to machine 2 but you're not in a state at which you can (or want) to
deploy? What if more than one person is working on the code base? It
quickly breaks down, but source code repositories meet these needs
well. Also, if Google is the only place you have your source all your
eggs are in one basket - that might be acceptable for email, but I'd
rather have my source backed up to another location as well (and my
email too, for that matter).

Joel

[Jorge Vargas]

On Tue, Apr 22, 2008 at 5:01 PM, Filip <filip.v...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I agree with SimianLogic.
> Collaborating on code with a distributed team would be a lot easier if
> you could just open the files online and edit them, Google Docs
> style.
> I'd certainly love to edit my apps from anywhere.
> Since you can't write to the disk from your own app, it appears this
> would be hard to build ourselves.

so let me see if I got this right, you want to edit an application
while it's running? what happens if you make a mistake, you will bring
the system down?

>
> Thanks to Ryan and Brett for the tip on storing the source code.
>

yes please do so

[Peter Svensson]

I'm editing my GAE apps while they're running all the time. It just works.

Cheers,
PS

[Jorge Vargas]

On Wed, Apr 23, 2008 at 12:04 AM, Peter Svensson <psve...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm editing my GAE apps while they're running all the time. It just works.
>

no you are running your next version of the app while the old version
is running.

[Peter Svensson]

Hmm. I'm not quite sure I'm following you. DO you mean that there are two version of the same app being run on port 8080 when I save the file I'm editin and the new behavior just shows?

Cheers,
PS

[Jorge Vargas]

On Wed, Apr 23, 2008 at 1:29 AM, Peter Svensson <psve...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hmm. I'm not quite sure I'm following you. DO you mean that there are two
> version of the same app being run on port 8080 when I save the file I'm
> editin and the new behavior just shows?
>

no that is what the original poster suggested, I totally disagree with it.

[manatlan]

this could help :
http://manatlan.com/blog/zipme___download_sources_of_your_gae_website__as_a_zip_file

On Apr 23, 7:42 am, "Jorge Vargas" <jorge.var...@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Wed, Apr 23, 2008 at 1:29 AM, Peter Svensson <psvens...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hmm. I'm not quite sure I'm following you. DO you mean that there are two
> > version of the same app being run on port 8080 when I save the file I'm
> > editin and the new behavior just shows?
>
> no that is what the original poster suggested, I totally disagree with it.
>
> > Cheers,
> > PS
>

> > On Wed, Apr 23, 2008 at 7:23 AM, Jorge Vargas <jorge.var...@gmail.com>
> > wrote:
>
> > > On Wed, Apr 23, 2008 at 12:04 AM, Peter Svensson <psvens...@gmail.com>

> > wrote:
> > > > I'm editing my GAE apps while they're running all the time. It just
> > works.
>
> > > no you are running your next version of the app while the old version
> > > is running.
>
> > > > Cheers,
> > > > PS
>

> > > > On Wed, Apr 23, 2008 at 1:22 AM, Jorge Vargas <jorge.var...@gmail.com>
> > > > wrote:
>
> > > > > On Tue, Apr 22, 2008 at 5:01 PM, Filip <filip.verhae...@gmail.com>

[Filip Verhaeghe]

To JoelPM and related remarks:

 

Off course you need to take the best parts of source code repositories. You seem to be under the impression that source code repositories are incompatible with a Google integration. I believe the contrary is true.

 

Google App Engine appears to have version control built-in natively. I don't think it is fully activated yet, since you can't seem to set older versions as the default version in the Admin panel. But the presence of the "default" button shows that this is precisely what they intend to do (any advise on activating this feature is welcome!).

 

Obviously, the idea is that you work on the version that comes after the default version, which is not live to the users but which is live for development and testing. Only after things are thoroughly tested through, the users are upgraded.

 

When you talk about things breaking down when more than one person works on a piece of code, I'd like to offer you an analogy. Everyone knows that you "can't" edit the same Word/Excel document with more than one person. "Things break down pretty quickly" certainly applies. Certainly, for documents it would be a good idea to put them into a source repository. And that is exactly what many companies working with teams on documents do.

 

But then Google Docs did things differently (to be sure, they weren't the first or only ones - but that is not relevant here). Google Docs shows that you CAN work on the same piece of document (it could be the same piece of source code) with multiple people, see each others changes in real time, and still make sense of it all. In fact, you can build better documents faster this way. I've used Google Docs for many multi-location collaboration documents, and it is really great for that.

 

My point is that you appear to think that traditional source code repositories are the only and best way to do things. I disagree. A different way, and in my view better - but this is perhaps just my preference, would be to simply have version control on everything you do. Create a new python file on the server, edit it, press "test" (or "publish" or "save"). Test early, often and incremental. Never do anything without source control. If you open a file already being edited by someone else, you wouldn't need to check out unreserved copies that you need to merge later, simply see the edits of the other person as he is typing along. Web development would actually be easier than desktop development. That was hard to even consider before GAE came along. Today, I can see it happen.

 

The nice thing is that Google has already implemented most pieces to do this. So that's my take on the ideal evolution for the GAE development environment (I hope Google is reading). But you are obviously free to use SVN or other tools you feel are more suited. There's more than one way to do things here.

 

Filip.