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I work alone on various small projects. I work in different places and on different machines (at home, at work), so I have to synchronize source code between them.
Currently I just work on different directories (for versions) and email myself zips (for syncing the work done at home with the work done in other places).
How can I improve my workflow with some version-control or sync tool?
Do you have a server you'd have access to from everywhere? If so, just put subversion on there. Or use github or something similar. Pretty much any version control system which can talk between different machines over the net should be fine, IMO.
I don't think I'd call Subversion "overkill" - it's pretty simple, easy to run, and there are good Windows clients for it.
In terms of hosting, if you're happy for it to be an open source project, then there are any number of places which you could use - Google Code, SourceForge, github, CodePlex etc.
for this purpose I like using mercurial since it requires no time consuming setups (e.g. svn requires a server somewhere).
Git is a fine solution for version control, suitable for scales of project all the way from single user to the Linux kernel (and beyond). I use Git for all my personal projects, and can easily work in multiple places and merge the repositories later.
With the use of a common web-accessible repository like Github, working in multiple places becomes even easier.
I suggest Mercurial. I used to use Subversion, but it is tedious, especially if don't have Internet access at all times.
I agree with others SVN does solve the problem of working in multiple places. However, like dfa I prefer Mercurial (hg) for this, because then I don't have to choose one master location/server (or do server setup).
I personally use Mercurial. I prefer it over subversion because:
I don't need a server per-se
I can have local commits, which is very useful when you're working on several machines
I would recommend you one of the distributed version controls out there, like mercurial, git, bazaar, monotone and so on.
working on different folders for different versions is just what their branching is ideal for - you can merge every branch with every branch if you wish to.
just throw an eye upon them.
I use a system like Assembla to keep my Subversion repositories offsite, and then use TortoiseSVN to keep projects in sync on multiple systems. I also run a full SVN server at home which I keep private paid for projects on. I tend to move between my Mac and my home PC regularly for development and find this the simplest way to keep the files in sync, and at the same time providing and external backup.
SourceGear Vault is a popular windows-based version control system. Pretty easy to set up, but you do need a windows machine acting as a server.
For single users, it's free.
I would say "TortoiseSVN" is a good choice, better than no source control software at all
I'd go for Bazaar personally, I've just started using this at home for personal projects and it's really simple to use.
I would recommend using Bazaar, and if you don't like a fancy console you can use Bazaar Olive.
I don't know how I got it installed but I also have Tortoise Bazaar, which allows me to work with lower end version control servers :)
why not use something like sourceforge.net ?
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I develop a lot of prototypes while I am trying out stuff. I wish I could have a lightweight versioning system which would keep backup of these and make it easy for me to find them next time. It would also help me in keeping track of all the various techiniques I have tried for solving a particular problem.
I would like to know your suggestions on using the right tool for this Job.
Update: A simple google would have given me the names of all the version control apps and git be my preferred choice. But I would like to know which would be the lightest app for the job and why. I dont want a single repo to take GBs of space.
BitBucket + Mercurial is a good combination.
Bitbucket is a web-based hosting service for projects that use the Mercurial revision control system. Bitbucket offers both commercial plans and free accounts. Unusually - and possibly uniquely - for a project hosting service, as of September 2010, it offers free accounts with unlimited numbers of private repositories (which can have up to five users in the case of free accounts).
Git would be the efficient in handling space as thats their claim. Check the link below
https://git.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/GitBenchmarks#Git.2C_Mercurial.2C_Bazaar_repository_size_benchmark
A DVCS such as git or Mercurial will let you create a repo directly in the project directory that you can use to track and manipulate changes.
Go for a DVCS like git or mercurial. I use the Tortoise Hg version of Mercurial, and I have found it very easy to set up and to use for personal use. As #Ignacio says, you can set up the repository in your project directory. You can also set up consolidation repos to manage across projects, and to keep track of multiple different approaches on different projects. Setting up a new repository and populating it takes less than a minute. The learning time for this system was minimal too.
I would recommend Mercurial.
It is quick to setup for each working copy/repository, and doesn't require a separate server.
I do software development mainly on the Windows platform. Thus I use VisualSVN to help me keep my repositories on my home network storage (or on the local computer storage) acting as the server, and I also use TortoiseSVN to access local SVN - acting as the client.
This allow me to work on small local projects which is easy to maintain.
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I work for a small web development company (6 people) and we've been in the market for a new code editor/development environment for quite some time.
Currently, we're using Dreamweaver's (CS3) coding side for our site development. Each site's files is hosted on a Dreamhost ftp server. All 6 of us work on the same set of live files on the remote ftp server. Dreamweaver has a handy file locking functionality that prevents us from overwriting each others changes by keeping us out of the same files.
Now, we've found that this form of development allows for very rapid development and love how easy it is to get things done. However there are many things we don't like. One of which is Dreamweaver's code editor. We also don't like our lack of code history for each site.
Does anyone know of a good alternative to Dreamweaver that has similar file locking/ftp functionality?
If not, could you explain to me the best configuration of a source control system for our team? We're willing to look at GIT, Mercurial, and Subversion. The new system would ideally:
1). Support multiple different code editors on different operating systems. (Windows 1st choice.)
2). Be almost as easy and quick to push out code as currently.
3). Allow for working on the files outside of the office network.
4). Be inexpensive.
I'm probably just showing my ignorance of how to use a version control system, but it doesn't seem logical for each of us to have a testing server on our computers with every single site setup with our own test database... That's very time consuming
What's your solution to our problem? I think we'll either have to upgrade to the latest version of Dreamweaver and stick with it forever, or we'll have to find some sort of ftp collaborative editor, or we'll have to implement version control.
Do the benefits of version control outweigh the extra amount of time it entails to push out code?
it doesn't seem logical for each of us
to have a testing server on our
computers with every single site setup
with our own test database... That's
very time consuming
That's generally the way to do it. Most modern frameworks will let you set up your development server in minutes, if not seconds -- using an embedded http server and database, for example. If you are stuck on an ancient platform, there are solutions like wamp that are only a little more difficult. Remember, that it's time that you spend once, but it lets you be faster. If the project is going to take any longer than a few hours, it should be beneficial. You don't waste time on debugging things your fellow developer just changed, or recovering production data from that silly database manipulation mistake you just made.
(Oh, and if your websites are just HTML+JavaScript, then you don't need any server locally, obviously.)
As for version control systems, the ones you mentioned are fine, with SVN requiring a little more setup and network access to the central server for commits. Git and Mercurial let you work and commit offline, and then push your changes to the central server or even just exchange them between developers. I think Mercurial works better on Windows at the moment.
Michael I hear your pain.
I can't claim to have fully researched all avenues, but I have really begun to love Git recently.
My first hurdle was learning about how Revision Control Systems (RCS) work. Before I would pick SVN vs Git vs HG vs Bazzar vs etc I evaluated what I wanted to do. And that was to work locally then share my work, and push to a webserver.
I found this great comparison website: http://whygitisbetterthanx.com
From that I could clearly see that Git was worth the time to learn. As the backwards learner I am I dove into a project and learned how quickly things could become messy, then I began reading: http://gitready.com/ and http://book.git-scm.com/ and http://progit.org/book/
Then I realized I needed an organizational strategy. I went searching and found something I (and a lot of others) liked: http://nvie.com/posts/a-successful-git-branching-model/
This is also a great resource:
http://danielmiessler.com/study/git/
There's a bit of a primer. Let me try to answer your questions more directly.
1.) Git is a command-line tool. For windows there's cygwin.
I found the documentation at github to be the best. Even if you don't plan on using them for code hosting. Have a look at http://help.github.com/ Use the setup git link to get started.
2.) Since you ask for versioning there is a bit more work. Its a different model, a different way of thinking. Rather than not be able to edit the file which is currently what happens, your commits might collide, and in that case git provides great diff tools to help resolve the conflict.
3.) Git is whats called a DCVS or distributed version control system. Here's an example:
lets say you need to do some work over the weekend. You do a git pull from the server before you leave work. At home you can continue to work, create new branches etc. Then when you have an internet connection you can push your changes back to the server.
4.) Git is free!
As for pushing your work to the webserver you'll need to setup something like this:
http://toroid.org/ams/git-website-howto
Looks pretty easy, I'm gonna try it out next weekend.
I hope you find some of what I wrote helpful, if not maybe the links are.
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I am interested in implementing version control for the first time. I am starting to amass custom libraries and would like to know what methods you would recommend for implementing version control on a Windows Vista OS. I also have an Ubuntu server setup. I'm not sure if OS is relevant.
Also, if it is relevant, I primarily use PHP and AS3.
Thanks!
Usually I recommend either GIT or SVN. If you use Windows, SVN may be a better option (I believe the GIT binaries are still in beta for Windows, and the SVN clients are better). I'd also recommend registering for a hosted version system (such as github or beanstalk). Most services offer a free option, and will provide far better data replication than an any individual could create. Lastly, check out a GUI client (such as Tortise SVN) or check for integrations with the IDE you use for editing code.
The tutorial at http://hginit.com/ covers a lot of ground regarding the concepts behind version control, specifically distributed version control. Mercurial is the focus of the tutorial, but the concepts extend to git as well, and to other SCMs to a small degree.
My biggest recommendation is just to start using some version control, right now. It'll change the way you work--honestly.
(full disclosure: I work for Fog Creek, the sponsor of the hginit tutorial)
Last question first: what language you're using doesn't really matter. Even for text documents, Word documents, etc., a source control system will keep track of your versions.
As for which one to use, there are a number of free ones available, that require different levels of administration and expertise. If you're mostly comfortable with Windows programs, SourceGear licenses their Vault product free for single users.
Open source repositories are also not uncommon. Subversion is widely used, but does require a fair amount of server administration expertise.
For an individual, Bazaar in Solo mode is very easy to use. Later if you want a multi-user configuration, other "workflows" are possible.
Go with something like http://beanstalkapp.com
SVN is probably more conceptually easy to understand than Git, and it has more users - hence more tools and easier to find help.
I'd recommend Subversion (SVN) using the Red Bean Subversion book as a guide. Start with Appendix A, then go through chapters 1, 2 at least.
This is my recommendation primarily because it is how I started with version control, not because I think SVN is better than other version control systems.
I agree with Kevin Gessner just start using something and feel the change wash over you!
We use Mercurial. It is fast.
Git, Mercurial, or Bazaar
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Which version control system would you recommend for:
single user
looking for simple, easy to use
generally small simple projects
working on windows
usually coding python
no server
Use would be more finding old code than complicated branching situations.
From other similar posts, Bazaar and Mercurial seem the best distributed version control systems for my needs. I'm somewhat leaning towards Bazaar as it seems simpler.
The main complaint I read about Baazar was that it was slow, but speed was to be improved in version 2, to be released this summer. The new version has not yet been released, but there is a 2.0.0rc2.
I'm wondering if anything has changed recently or if anyone has any strong feelings on the subject.
EDIT: After reading the responses and browsing some alternatives, I'm going with Bazaar, at least for the moment. For my needs, the products mentioned seemed rather similar. Bazaar has documentation specifically aimed at a solo developer and seems rather easy to use. Others seem more aimed at groups or those with central servers. Other systems may be as good, but I thought starting to use something was more important than spending time trying to find the perfect program.
Thanks, everyone!
(Should I have written this as an edit, an answer or a comment?)
If you're just single developer working on small projects, any version control system should be fast enough.
I'm a Mercurial developer myself and will of course recommend that :-) I like how Mercurial has one central concept: the changeset graph. The graph resides inside a repository (a clone). You can have several lines of development in the same clone. This can be in the form of multiple heads, perhaps marked with the bookmarks extension or as named branches. You can also use several clones to keep things separated, or you can go back and forth: it is easy to separate a combined clone (use hg clone -r REV to obtain part of the revision graph). See this blog post for pretty pictures.
For Windows (and other platforms too) you have TortoiseHg, which gives you a very nice graphical interface. TortoiseHg also integrates with many excellent plugins for Mercurial, in particular the record extension, which lets you pick out individual changes from a file when you commit. Using that, you can edit several files, and then commit those changes as several independent changesets.
Finally, you should also know about Mercurial: The Definitive Guide, the free online book about Mercurial.
Bazaar is very good for your needs, and I'm doubt you found speed issues with your projects. Bazaar has very nice GUI front-end called Bazaar Explorer which I'd recommend over TortoiseBzr. (Bazaar Explorer bundled into standard 2.0 installer now.)
Of course if you choose Mercurial you don't lose much.
So you'd better test one and another and make your choice. Every zealot will recommend you his favorite.
If you're a Windows user, nothing IMO can beat TortoiseSVN in terms of usability and ease-of-use.
Definitely Subversion....
It's free, very very easy to set up and use, doesn't require a server because it can just access the local filesystem, and you can find loads and loads of documentation and help if you get stuck because I think there are far more people who use SVN than bazaar or git for example....
You can just download TortoiseSVN (http://tortoisesvn.tigris.org/) en start using it....Nothing else is required for getting started because tortoisesvn has subversion built-in I believe....
I've done some playing with all of them.
The key thing that has attracted me to Bazaar is its flexibility.
Want to operate in centralized mode (ala SVN)? You can do that. Want to operate in distributed mode (ala Mercurial or git)? You can do that.
And here's where it gets better: you can do both. Say you're working with a guy that came over from SVN and he just doesn't like the distributed concept one little bit. Fine. Let him work in centralized mode while the rest of the team works in distributed mode. If he's away from the central repository, he can even take his checkout offline and do offline commits while he's gone. Then he can commit them all when he gets back.
While some of the other systems have ways to approximate different models, none seem as committed to flexibility as bazaar.
I have used SVN, Git and Bzr quite extensively on various different projects. I am currently using Bzr on a single user project and it is very easy to set up and use. No need to set up a server and comes with TortoiseBzr which works well, it may not be as feature complete as TortoiseSVN is but for a one-man project you should have everything you need. There are a few things missing such as the ability to Tag revision in which case you need to resort to using the command line interface. I considered Mercurial about a year ago, but I haven't used it in a real-world situation yet so I wouldn't be able to compare. I decided against it because TortoiseHG didn't seem very mature at the time, I expect it will have improved since then.
I quite like darcs, it uses something called patch theory which is, as far is I know, unique in version control software.
I have been using Bazaar for a while and was pretty happy with it. With all the hype going on about git, I gave it a try. And even though it has pretty complex concepts, I can only say that it was worth the switch. I now use it for all my projects. No matter how small. And I think TortoiseGit has become good enough to be usable.
I can see the following good points about it:
It's fast
Branching and merging is so simple you could even say it's fun
It's got funky commands I haven't seen anywhere else (f.ex.: stash and rebase)
It's hyped. Consequently the community is quite active and you can find a lot of material on it
You can grab a copy of gitorious to manage your projects privately
Some things I don't like as much:
branch display in gitk "feels" strange to me
I use git and it works great for me. I use msysgit on Windows.
I will recommend Git always. It is fast, doesn't need server, branching and merging is excellent. For Windows you need to get MsysGit.
Mercurial is also very good with a bit easier interface for user.
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I am a student and I always develop projects on my own, mainly with Ruby On Rails.
I noticed that even a simple project may become complex if you can't easily rescue deleted code and pass from a version to another. Time Machine backups are not enough.
I would like to use a version control system, but they seem not to be intended for single-user projects. Am I wrong? If so, what policy and software do you use for managing your code?
There is nothing that says you can't use a standard version control system if you are a single user. Doing so would definitely keep you from experiencing some of the more painful problems such as merging files changed at the same time and other conflicts that arise from multiple developers.
Based on this, you could look into any of the version control systems (I believe Subversion is far and away the most popular right now) and pick out the one that will most closely match your needs, or has the interfaces you are most comfortable with.
Distributed version control systems are just for you: look for Bazaar, Git or Mercurial. They are lightweight, local commits are easy and you can always revert to a previous version. With a hosting provider such as GitHub, you can publish your projects, you get backup for free and you can easily share the projects with other potential contributors. Collaboration is easy because merging your changes is also a lightweight operation.
It is definitely a good idea to use version control software, and other project software on your own projects. These tools are not just for team working, although they allow team working. Beyond the obvious reasons for keeping track of your changes to the project it is a good idea to use SCM tools so you are familar with what the industry is using.
Subversion is widespread, and is quite a good bet as it's successfully replaced the earlier and older CVS tool. It relies on a central repository where the code is stored and can be backed up: where I have used SVN for personal projects and small team projects I have backed up to CD. If your project is opensource there are sites like sourceforge that support svn which you can use for hosting.
However as some of the other posters have indicated, a personal project might benefit more from a distributed system: git is increasing in popularity since git-hub has come online and porting efforts to are succeeding. http://git-scm.com/ It is likely that tools like these will grow in popularity over the coming years as they allow a greater number of people to participate on the same code. The idea of one central repository is relaxed giving each developer the ability to version track different designs and only give back to the community the versions they complete.
One of the benefits with using SCM for all projects personal or not, is that a separate server can be set up testing a version of the code. Automated testing on the latest version of the code (using a Continuous Integration Server or similar) can improve the quality of the software you are writing.
Some highly experienced software developers talk about a rhythm where they make incremental changes checking in frequently. Getting into the habit of making small changes which are complete and checking them in: is a good practice to get into for group working.
I would recommend Subversion. It's free and relatively simple, and learning a little about it may well beneficial in the future. It's cross platform and also available on a variety of hosted systems.
See also: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/250984/do-i-really-need-version-control
and: Using Version Control for Home Development?
Subversion!
You can install locally or use a hosted service. The services are nice if you want to switch between computers or use it as an offline backup. http://www.beanstalkapp.com/ has a free plan for personal use.
GitHub (git, not subversion) is also popular but I believe there is a small fee for personal projects.
Use git. It allows you to work without ever needing a server.
There are utilities for the command line and a GUI (older screenshots) too (for linux, windows and OS X).
If you later want to share or publish your project you can easily push it to a site like github.
Even for personal projects, if they become bigger than something you write a few hours, a version control system will be very beneficial.
Here are a few good points:
Many version control systems have good integration with IDEs.
Branching will allow you to experiment without the fear of having to take a long time to revert the changes. The branch can later be merged to the main trunk if needed.
Having a history of changes can be helpful, and tagging will allow setting milestones.
More efficient storage than full backups using regular copying of files.
Extra metadata (such as commit comments) can be attached.
Many version control systems are free!
I personally use a Subversion server running on my system which I access via the Subclipse plug-in in Eclipse, which I find to be very helpful in keeping track of my personal projects.
If you're interested in Subversion, Version Control with Subversion is a very helpful source in learning about the concepts, and how to set up and get started with Subversion.
Version control systems may be a little difficult at first, but it's definitely worth the effort to set up!
I'm very wary of using "always" in any answer I give on SO...
ALWAYS use version control. These days it's free AND easy to do. There's simply no reason ever not to use it. If it's an hour long project...good...it's an hour long project that's in version control now.
My solution has been slicehost(ok...not free), redmine(free RoR bug tracker)git and gitosis. Starting up a new project adds about five minutes on to the front of any coding, but its five minutes well worth it.
Use SVN or Mercurial.
Both very appropriate for "home" usage, I think Mercurial is better for you because by default you'll be creating one repository per project ( oposed to SVN's one "big" repository that stores everything ), so it will be easier to backup individual projects or exchange sources with others if needed.
Both work in command line mode or using explorer-like interfaces ( Tortoise ) or plugins available for the most usual IDE.
I use subversion to manage all my projects. xp-dev.com is a free subversion hosting solution. Also, I think, if you install tortisesvn it installs a subversion server to use locally.
A complete different version control system is dropbox (www.getdrobox.com). It's not (only) intended for source code. It available (with smart OS integration) for Mac, Win and Linux plus private Web Interface.
It may be interesting for you.
One item you will like about git such as using github hosting is that you have a history of changes that you can go to and get the actual code source and thus 'rescue' previous code changes.
You could also use the dropbox approach in just backing up raw code to a folder on the cloud..
I have used both methods for personal projects.
Hosted version control such as beanstalkapp.com is very convenient, but do consider whether you want to hand your source to a third party. You could consider a local repository, backed up online with a solution which encrypts the contents locally before uploading. I do this with subversion, Amazon S3 and JungleDisk.
Bitbucket is an absolute must consideration for personal projects based on:
Free, unlimited, private repositories
Up to 5 users on their free account
Git and Mercurial support
This allows one to quickly spin up a repository without having to pay attention to how many repos are available under a paid source code hosting account.
It also allows projects that will enter the public domain to be simply forked to GitHub, etc.
Version control is always important.
Try a free online SVN like http://beanstalkapp.com/
Do a search and you can find lots of suggestions
I would highly recommend downloading VisualSVN Server. It's a very simple setup and will do exactly what you need.
you can use any version control system that exists just for single user development. as you said, even simple project can become a nightmare if you change something you think is better and it fails. download tortoise snv - it's free and pretty simple to use - and keep your working versions in repository. commit code that works, keep possible small changes (for example refactor one class), build it, test it if it works -> commit, if it doesn't and you don't know why you can allways revert changes and try again.