6 ms·

As someone who's never heard of a metarepo before, I'm still not sure exactly what it is or why I should use it after reading their landing page. I think a meta

by fuddle 3y ago

As someone who's never heard of a metarepo before, I'm still not sure exactly what it is or why I should use it after reading their landing page. I think a metarepo explainer video would helpful.

umvi 3y ago
"metadata" is data that describes other data. I would guess a "metarepo" is a repo that contains other repos. Why would you want this? It's an alternative to monorepos or hacky homegrown solutions for managing related repos.
vlad_ivanov 3y ago
Vlad from metahead here. We answer this in the FAQ – metarepo is just a git repo that you can slice and dice any way you want while preserving history and having the ability to work on your part of the code. We went with "meta" because it's not exactly mono- or poly- – it's flexible enough so that you can make anything out of it. It also stores information about how your repos / projections relate – in that sense it's "meta" as well.
- layer8 3y ago
  “Meta” would normally mean that a metarepo relates to a repo like a repo relates to a file. That would imply an orthogonal versioning axis, similar to a bitemporal database. I find the term confusing here because that’s not really what it is (if my understanding is correct).
  - vlad_ivanov 3y ago
    It does, in fact, relate to a repo like a repo relates to a file! Because every projection only contains related history and subtrees – much like if you were looking at a history of a file in a git repository
    - layer8 3y ago
      So I can “commit” a repo containing some history as the new version of a previous repo containing a different history?
      - vlad_ivanov 3y ago
        You can, if histories are related. They usually are - you add commits on top. Your history will be reverse-transformed in such a way so that its impact on the whole metarepo can be assessed. So if you modified a file in a library that ten other applications depend on, those applications would get this modification applied and would trigger a CI run to verify your change.
- remram 3y ago
  Where is your FAQ? I couldn't find it in the first few pages of your websites. No link in the footer either. The only button in your navbar is "about" which is not it.
  - vlad_ivanov 3y ago
    It's a bit down on the front page https://metahead.webflow.io/#faq:~:text=Frequently%20Asked%20Questions https://metahead.webflow.io/#faq:~:text=Frequently%20Asked%2... But we got this feedback - we will make it more visible
- japanman185 3y ago
  [dead]
- flir 3y ago
  It's... a materialized view? There's a great big ur-repo back there somewhere, and your tool provides multiple views into it? Hoenstly, that's a neat idea. No use to me, but a neat idea.
  - vlad_ivanov 3y ago
    Yes it's exactly how you describe it
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
- fuddle 3y ago
  Thanks for the explanation, that helps a bit. I still think a video explainer would be helpful. :)

by fuddle 3y ago

As someone who's never heard of a metarepo before, I'm still not sure exactly what it is or why I should use it after reading their landing page. I think a metarepo explainer video would helpful.

umvi 3y ago

"metadata" is data that describes other data. I would guess a "metarepo" is a repo that contains other repos. Why would you want this? It's an alternative to monorepos or hacky homegrown solutions for managing related repos.

vlad_ivanov 3y ago

Vlad from metahead here. We answer this in the FAQ – metarepo is just a git repo that you can slice and dice any way you want while preserving history and having the ability to work on your part of the code. We went with "meta" because it's not exactly mono- or poly- – it's flexible enough so that you can make anything out of it. It also stores information about how your repos / projections relate – in that sense it's "meta" as well.

layer8 3y ago
“Meta” would normally mean that a metarepo relates to a repo like a repo relates to a file. That would imply an orthogonal versioning axis, similar to a bitemporal database. I find the term confusing here because that’s not really what it is (if my understanding is correct).
- vlad_ivanov 3y ago
  It does, in fact, relate to a repo like a repo relates to a file! Because every projection only contains related history and subtrees – much like if you were looking at a history of a file in a git repository
  - layer8 3y ago
    So I can “commit” a repo containing some history as the new version of a previous repo containing a different history?
    - vlad_ivanov 3y ago
      You can, if histories are related. They usually are - you add commits on top. Your history will be reverse-transformed in such a way so that its impact on the whole metarepo can be assessed. So if you modified a file in a library that ten other applications depend on, those applications would get this modification applied and would trigger a CI run to verify your change.
remram 3y ago
Where is your FAQ? I couldn't find it in the first few pages of your websites. No link in the footer either. The only button in your navbar is "about" which is not it.
- vlad_ivanov 3y ago
  It's a bit down on the front page https://metahead.webflow.io/#faq:~:text=Frequently%20Asked%20Questions https://metahead.webflow.io/#faq:~:text=Frequently%20Asked%2... But we got this feedback - we will make it more visible
japanman185 3y ago
[dead]
flir 3y ago
It's... a materialized view? There's a great big ur-repo back there somewhere, and your tool provides multiple views into it? Hoenstly, that's a neat idea. No use to me, but a neat idea.
- vlad_ivanov 3y ago
  Yes it's exactly how you describe it
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
fuddle 3y ago
Thanks for the explanation, that helps a bit. I still think a video explainer would be helpful. :)