I'm seeing a lot of mention of Subversion ([url]http://subversion.tigris.org/[/url]) as an alternative to CVS. Before I commit down one path or the other, I wonder if anyone has any comments about either.
Subversion
Fri, 11/05/2004 - 08:43
#1
Subversion
I've seen nothing but good comparisons made. But I haven't actually used it.
My dilema is that I'd like to use the latest and greatest and not have to change horses for a long time, but I'm afraid of creating a higher barrier of entry for would-be open source developers who in numbers are more familiar with CVS.
I've been reading the subversion docs and thinking about using it myself.
Pros: They've gone to great pains to make it the same as CVS only better. If you know CVS then you know Subversion, plus it handles archiving things such as folder renames, file moves and a bunch of other things that CVS just can't handle.
Cons: Using the "loca" server is straightforward, but if you want the web based interface it requires Apache 2.x, WebDAV and some tricky configuration.
I've used both. svn makes some things easy that cvs makes hard, like branching. Easy branching means you branch more often and have fewer situations where you realize you've gone for 2 weeks without committing and you don't know which of your changes just broke everything. Also, you get to use svk (http://svk.elixus.org), which is the bee's knees.
We use ssh+svn, but I do not get the impression that the DAV interface is terribly difficult to set up.
I've decided to make the move to subversion. I've been running smoothly using ssh+svn for a month or so now, but the conversion from SourceSafe to CVS to Subversion was interesting. At this point I'm trying to bring it up under WebDAV so that I can bring most of the source online.
If you are using Subversion, you might also want to check out TortoiseSVN. It is a handy little utility/program that interacts with Subversion. I use Subversion and TortoiseSVN at work for all of the source code and test data we have at work for our software testing. There is also an eclipse plugin I believe for SVN if you weren't already aware of that.
Lost In Dubuque
"What do you mean we ran out of plays!!??"
Thanks, and yes, I have moved on to subversion. You can check out the latest source at http://svn.playmaker.com. I use subclipse plugin, but prefer the command line tools on Windows and Mac for daily work, though I do use svnX occasionally. TortoiseSVN worked well, but I didn't like how it seemed to slow down Windows Explorer when I had several large projects.