version control 1

[derwent]

Does anyone use any version control software? We need to keep a record of all updates to a site.

In a previous agency I used vsiual sourcesafe but we do not have a copy of visual studio here. I looked into subversion but it seems to be command line, we need something whereby all our developers have to do is open the file and make updates.

Thanks for any suggestions

 

[PGoRule]

At present we are using WinCVS. Good one and it's under GNU General Public License (GPL).

Sharing the best from my side...

--Prashant--

 

[DotNetGnat]

sourcesafe

-DNG

 

[DotNetGnat]

sorry...dint read your post completely...i came across this website

http://www.dynamsoft.com/Products/SourceHero_Overview.aspx

-DNG

 

[damber]

subversion has several graphical user interfaces, including a web based ui (using apache), a windows client (smartSVN amongst others) and a client that integrates directly with windows explorer e.g. you right click and select update etc (tortoiseSVN)...

oh and you can use the command line too! (but you already knew that..!)

A smile is worth a thousand kind words. So smile, it's easy!

 

[xwb]

Just be aware of the text substitutions that take place when you use any type of version control software, especially where % and $ signs are concerned.

I've had version controlled scripts that didn't work and it took a while to figure out that the version control was substituting %W with something else and it just blew the script.

 

[derwent]

THanks guys, the tortoise seems perfect for what I am after, I will download a copy now.

I noticed quite a few resources slagging off sourcesafe, I wondered if you guys agreed with them saying it is insecure and unrelieble?

 

[damber]

I noticed quite a few resources slagging off sourcesafe, I wondered if you guys agreed with them saying it is insecure and unrelieble?

Yes.. It's dreadful.. especially over a WAN. It's security is not something I would ever rely on to prevent a serious attacker.. it just prevents the casual passer by. And the amount of corruption in VSS is second only to the politicians of this world. However... my experience is with the older versions, I've not tried the new incarnations. VSS 2005 may be a little better, but you should consider that MS positions it as a developers version control tool... and not really a development teams version control platform (Team Foundation Server is positioned for that, but I'm not hopeful of its ability)

We have used VSS in the past, but opted for Subversion as it runs MUCH faster over a WAN, not to mention the many other benefits of SVN over VSS.

For example, SVN is much more sophisticated in its merging capabilities - approach is copy-modify-merge rather than lock-modify-unlock (which it can do aswell) and only updates increments of the changes - not copies of the same file in different versions, which means it is much more efficient.

Another benefit over VSS is that Subversion (server) runs on linux, unix or windows and can be accessed from clients for each of these Operating Systems too. You can also use a multitude of protocols, such as svn, http, https and svn+ssh.

Don't forget to check out the manuals for TortoiseSVN and Subversion, they're pretty comprehensive.

And there's even a forum here at TT: forum1556

And if that wasn't enough, it's free.

A smile is worth a thousand kind words. So smile, it's easy!