[revml] Conversion of Perl Perforce repository to Subversion - Part 1

[John Peacock]

I have [stupidly] agreed to test the feasibility of converting the main Perl 
repository from Perforce to Subversion.  Initially, this would be to provide a 
readonly public repository; eventually, it might lead to development being moved 
permanently from P4 to SVN.  I have two questions, the first more of a possible 
design issue with VCP and the second more of a practical question based on my 
incomplete understanding of VCP, so I'll leave the second question for another 
message.

I am using CLKao's svk to mirror the Perforce repository, which ultimately uses 
VCP to do the heavy lifting.  I've attempted the conversion twice and both 
times, the server eventually swapped itself almost to death due to the huge RAM 
requirements (first 512MB then 2GB actual memory installed).  Based on my 
readings of the LIMITATIONS in VCP::Dest::revml, the odds are good that the 
basic design is flawed for such a large conversion (64k revisions).

I don't know where to start looking; I assume if I could find out what hash is 
being used to store the metadata, I could convert that to a tied hash and trade 
performance for being able to actually finish the conversion.  I'm not even sure 
if this is a flaw in VCP::Dest::svk or if it is in one of the other modules that 
makes up VCP.

Any hints and directions to start my hunt would be appreciated.

John

-- 
John Peacock
Director of Information Research and Technology
Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group
4501 Forbes Boulevard
Suite H
Lanham, MD  20706
301-459-3366 x.5010
fax 301-429-5748