Thread: Version Control Systems

I have used Microsoft Visual SourceSafe (VSS) & CVS a long time ago. After the transition to SVN, VSS seemed like a really clunky technology with a lot of limitations.
I have been using SVN for the last 5 years and I am very comfortable with it. However, these days I am hearing more and more people speaking about Git/GitHub as the next generation in the version control systems.



When I read through this article (Goodbye Subversion, Hello Git and GitHub | Depth-First), git seemed similar to svn. In our current SVN process, we create branches whenever we want to try new things or add new functionality and then merge it back to the trunk (central repository) which seemed to be similar to what was explained about git in that article.

Has anyone used Git/GitHub? What are your thought & opinions? Is Git/GitHub really the next generation of version control system?

Hey there.
Git is absolutely the way to go in the future. I've used Git on a user level (commits) and it's the best. It's faster than SVN, and VSS is nothing compared to it. Also it is safer than most of the VCS systems I've ever used, and I've used a lot :)

I have not used Git, only VSS, SVN and TFS.

What I have heard is that Git is a decentralized code repository. Meaning, each developer will have a copy of the entire code repository on their local drive. How checkins and merges are handled, I am not sure.

Also, I think it was written by the guy who wrote Linux.

I'm still stuck with CVS (haha).. dreaming of moving to Git.. damn dont have enough time to do so :(

Originally Posted by zewish

Hey there.
Git is absolutely the way to go in the future. I've used Git on a user level (commits) and it's the best. It's faster than SVN, and VSS is nothing compared to it. Also it is safer than most of the VCS systems I've ever used, and I've used a lot :)

Hi zewish,

Thanks for the information.
Can you elaborate more on what you mean by git being safer that most other VCS systems you have used?

Thanks

------------------------Post auto merged------------------------

Originally Posted by maverick2001

I have not used Git, only VSS, SVN and TFS.

What I have heard is that Git is a decentralized code repository. Meaning, each developer will have a copy of the entire code repository on their local drive. How checkins and merges are handled, I am not sure.

Also, I think it was written by the guy who wrote Linux.

Hi maverick2001,

With the concept of decentralized repository, even I wonder how merges work in cases where several developers might be involved on open source projects where there is a real possibility of multiple people modifying the same files/lines without realizing the others might be working on the same files.

Yes, I remember reading somewhere that Git is created by Linus Torvalds. This is one of the reasons why I wanted to find the opinion of people who have used git instead of relying on articles that state that Git is good because Linus Torvalds created it.

Thanks

Like people have said, git isn't based on a centralized repository like are most version control systems (SVN, CVS, TFS, etc..). Not only is git more powerful (and not to mention faster), but you can collaborate directly with another user rather than pushing/pulling from the repo. This utility turns out to be very useful! One downside to git however is that there is a pretty steep learning curve, with 100+ commands. A GUI will help, but in my opinion the command-line interface is the way to go!

Switch to git and give it a chance and you won't go back!

Originally Posted by Amora9

I'm still stuck with CVS (haha).. dreaming of moving to Git.. damn dont have enough time to do so :(

I highly suggest you give it a try.

The time spent migrating would be won thousands of times back, when doing git merges instead of cvs merges.

This guide doesn't look so hard?

CVS to git Transition Guide

Have fun. :)

Originally Posted by Xiode

Like people have said, git isn't based on a centralized repository like are most version control systems (SVN, CVS, TFS, etc..). Not only is git more powerful (and not to mention faster), but you can collaborate directly with another user rather than pushing/pulling from the repo. This utility turns out to be very useful! One downside to git however is that there is a pretty steep learning curve, with 100+ commands. A GUI will help, but in my opinion the command-line interface is the way to go!

Switch to git and give it a chance and you won't go back!

I figured Git would have a very steep learning curve.

However, I think people should switch for better reasons then "it's the future".

The remarkable thing about Git and Mercurial (another distributed vcs) is the fact that it allows a social network of coders to emerge within a given project. You accept changes from people you know and trust and can ignore the rest. You can merge in changes from anyone elses repo and make any changes to your own repo at any time. Merging becomes a first class citizen and the change you make can be merged, intact, across dozens of people's repos.

Those benefits, however, don't really show up for small projects. Although there are other benefits as well that do apply to smaller projects.