Does anyone know of a software or system for automatically tracking and logging exact line code changes into a log file?
For example, lets say I edit 7 files on Jan 16th, and I add and modify several lines of code in each file.
Is there a software or tool of any kind that would automagically know what edits I made, what was changed, and log the details in date order line-item file?
I am guessing something exists like this, but I cannot find out what I should be searching for. I looked at SVN and some other similar, but didn't get these capabilities from the descriptions I read.
There's nothing that would automagically know this. This sort of information is easy to come by as a side-effect of using virtually any version control system though. It sounds like you're not using any VCS, you should start doing so now. SVN is a good option to start with.
Related
We have a file share on a debian server which people will be putting mostly small plain text, word, excel, pdf, misc, files into. We want to keep file level versioning of everything placed in that file share. We'd like all of the versioning to happen automatically in the background every time a change is made to a file.
What's the easiest open source way to do this? What's the best versioning system to do this with? Is there an automated versioning system like this out there somewhere?
I'm not asking for complete instructions. I'm just looking for recommendations or keywords to search with (other than "automatic versioning files" which didn't find me much).
We're already backing up the volume many times a day. We don't want to do volume snapshots etc. We're looking for some kind of automated file level versioning.
Update:
Using incron to autocommit changes in a folder:
http://andrew.mcmillan.net.nz/blog/using_incron_to_autoversion_a_directory
Thanks to using the new keyword "autoversioning" I found the above which I'm interested in. It's a script which is triggered from incron every time a file changes. One problem is incron isn't recursive.
I would try a versioned filesystem, such as ext3cow or nilfs.
I have no experience with them, but they have always looked like a very interesting idea to me.
The SVNAutoVersioning directive to mod_dav_svn is one solution.
Just something that will save changes automatically, while i'm editing say in gedit, or notepad plus plus, or even windows text editor, etc.
I can't seem to find exactly what I'm looking for and svn, bzr, and Git are too complicated. One should be able to start a new project, start writing code, and that's it!
So... I'm going to create a whole new version control system that will be more amazing and simple than all the rest! Unless something already exists? Whether it be online, or a local install, whatevs.
EDIT: Ok, the above paragraph was a bit absurd now that I read it much later. I use Git now, and Git is awesome.
Many text editors will create a backup copy of the prior version when you do a save.
Of course, this is pitiful compared to an actual version control system. You should know that many VCS integrate with editors so commits are very simple quick commands.
The minor time it takes to create a repository is insignificant compared to the time it will save you during the project.
Frankly, this sounds like an argument from ignorance.
I found this nice little Gedit plugin: http://nerdblog.pl/2009/06/01/save-and-commit-to-git-plugin-for-gedit-2-26ave/
I am not sure if anybody has experienced this.
I am working with a very large file having 7000 lines of code.
I made a lot of changes and when i compared the file with the repository version, it showed me incorrect differences.
I guess the diff algorithm buffers only limited number of lines ahead/behind for searching the current line, and on failing to find that, it simply shows diff with current line in new file.
One such snapshot > http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/ENwZ4gqXxiCF3SWqVnVAqA?feat=directlink
If anybody knows any workaround, please let me know.
Thanks
Easy workaround - use another diff tool. I'm serious. I wouldn't waste time splitting up my files, or wondering how to get it to work with Eclipse's diff tool if there's some known issue with really big files.
I recommend Beyond Compare 3. I say this having used many different diff tools. It's not free, but it's worth it. In the rare chance that it gets confused, it allows you to with a couple of clicks realign any areas that it got confused on. I have used it with some pretty large files, and it rocks.
If you're concerned about Eclipse integration, there's even a plugin, BeyondCVS, that allows you to launch your Beyond Compare diffing from the Eclipse right click 'Compare' menus. Its name is kind of misleading though, as it doesn't appear to be related to CVS.
If you need something free, try one of these diff tools instead:
WinMerge
SourceGear DiffMerge
What version of eclipse are you using? And what edition? (Java? CDT? ...)
Depending on those data, it could make a difference, since files with several thousand lines are known to be a problem for the diff algorithm.
See this thread for illustration.
And do check, as mentioned in the same thread, your error log to check if any particular message could help you to pinpoint the cause of the failed diff.
I'm looking for a diff/compare tool that shows differing lines from two text files, and gives me a space to comment on those files. Ideally this application would have three panes, pane one would be file A, pane two would file B and pane three would be a comment I can enter to on why the files are different.
We're going to be using this diff tool to compare test and production environments. Sometimes it'll be justifiable that the two files are different but we need to have a space to explain why. I'd rather not write those comments in the files themselves.
I've used TortosieMerge, WinDiff and Beyond Compare. I like beyond compare the most because it lets me see the whole file, just the differing lines or the differing lines in context.
Tools that sit inside Visual Studio or eclipse are fine too.
It sounds to me like you might want to use a code review tool for this (even if you're not really performing code reviews). They record diffs in a database and allow comments on those diffs.
A couple free ones are:
CodeStriker - I've used this and it works pretty well, but required more tweaking and mucking around in Perl that I'd have liked (that was a while ago, though)
Review Board - never used this, but it sure looks nice. I'm trying to get it installed at my current place of work.
I would like to suggest a high-efficiency software CodeGen to you. It's not only include TextCompare tools, but another Codec/Database tools is supported as well.
For more detail, please kindly access the Github repository.
https://github.com/work7z/CodeGen
I have been supporting a web application at work for our Call Center unit for about 2 years now. The app is written in ASP.NET 3.5 with SQL server 2005 database. I’ve been asked to expand the call detail section to allow agents to edit the current call note with the ability to revert back to its previous version. Now, that’s all cool but now the manager wants to be able to click on any particular note and see all edits with changes highlighted in yellow (and if something was deleted, he wants to SEE the deleted text crossed out). Actually, what I need is very similar to how Stackoverflow handles edits on their questions. I’ve been thinking about how to go about this and after doing research and Google-ing of course, I am still unsure which route to take. I am fairly new to .NET development. Any ideas on the best technique for highlighting the changes in UI? I am afraid I am going to have to store a copy of the entire note each time they make a change because the manager wants to be able to easily review notes and revert back to ANY version (not just the most recent one) before sending the monthly call report off to our VIP customers. Since this department OFTEN changes their mind on things, I want to make sure the new functionality is scalable and easy to maintain. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. I am really just looking for someone to point me in the right direction; maybe there are some tools out there that can be useful, recommended keywords in Google lookup, etc.
This will be difficult do to.
You'll need a "text editor" control that can not only edit the text, but which can also tell you what changes were made.
You then need to store not only the final text string, but also the list of changes
You'll then need to be able to display the text plus changes, using strike-outs, and different colors for inserts vs. changes
You'll need to do this not only for the changes of a single user, but you'll need to store each users' changes in the database, and will need to be able to display all the changes, all at once.
Your manager should be really sure he needs this.
Some tools for doing the diff for you can be found at Any decent text diff/merge engine for .NET?.
This would entail storing every version like you say. This should allow you to implement it similarly to SO. I seem to recall reading or hearing Jeff mention it, but wasn't able to find it, likely in one of the SO podcasts.
Easiest would be to store the text for each revision, then when the user wants to see the diff use a diff tool to generate the highlighted text.
Here is some Javascript diff code:
http://ejohn.org/projects/javascript-diff-algorithm/
If all the computers have Word installed you may be able to use a Word control to accomplish this. TortoiseSVN has scripts in its program directory which can take two word documents and produce a document with changes highlighted. To see this create c:\aaa.doc and bbb.doc, then install TortoiseSVN and run:
wscript.exe "C:\program files\tortoisesvn\Diff-Scripts\diff-doc.js" c:\aaa.doc c:\bbb.doc //E:javascript
I think you should see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revision_control