overview of version control

Posted under » Version Control on 14 December 2024

There are many types of version control systems (VCS). Below are some of my opinions on the different types.

The need for for tracking changes in computer files and coordinating work on those files among multiple people existed very early and the first to come out is CVS. Then in 2000, SVN came out which was the defacto for 5 years until distributed VCS idea came about.

Then there was mercurial and bazaar which I played around but GIT clearly dominated the market until now.

Click this to see the difference between SVN and GIT.

• The charm of distributed VC is that you don't need a centralised server.
• Git is better than Subversion or SVN if you prefer to work distributed/offline and does not require a central repo server.
• Most people just want to code and find it a hassle to think about security or how to set up a centralised server
• SVN has more granular control of the repo but GIT makes making forks or branches much easier.
• Git works best when you are using cloud based hosting like AWS where you use code pipeline for devops. I think many workplaces use AWS or Azure in conjunction with Github.
• SVN is better if you need Apache DAV which enables it to be accessible from HTTP or port 80. GIT native TCP port is 9418, although you GIT push using SSH (22).
• With GIT there is a steeper learning curve than SVN when it comes to working with command lines.
• There is a GIT desktop but it cannot beat the more polished SVN GUI or client called Tortoise. Tortoise works only under Windows. This is evident when you compare Tortoise with Gnomegit or KDE SVN

So there are many people out there using GIT and SVN seem to lose its shine. I still prefer SVN because the code belongs to you and you have more control. Distributed VCS still rely heavily on a server like github which lead us back to square one, ie the need to have a centralised server.

Lastly, about the concept of democracy in GIT is that unless you have good leadership in your organisation, you often face merging issues because you don't update or check with the central server as often as when you use SVN. Talking about democracy, github is owned by Microsoft. It may be free now but they can decide to ban or restrict you or charge you in future, maybe... :)

However you cannot avoid the widespread use of GIT which is the defacto standard for VCS.