CSC/ECE 517 Fall 2010/ch3 3e br

Introduction

Version Control Systems are typically used in a software facility(s), and employed for the primary purposes of collaborative work. While working on a project with common resources (files, folders, information etc.), it becomes essential to put a definite order on the sanctity of the data if the resources are editable.

For example, if there are 10 people working on a project, and 3 people are working on the same file. It becomes important on how they can add/modify data such that all are neither locked out waiting for a lock put by anyone, nor there is any inconsistency in the data. Also, at any point in the life-cycle of the software, the developers might feel the need to go back to an earlier state of the file. Version Control Systems allow to go back to any previous version of a file, as each version is stored in the central repository and is given a label.

Version control systems typically let us create versions of the resources, where each developer can work on a different version, therefore providing the flexibility. There are a whole bunch of features provided by the new Version Control Systems. We shall look at the evolution and history of the same in the subsequent sections.