CSC/ECE 517 Fall 2009/wiki1a 5 a2

History of Version Control

Version Control (also called Revision Control, Source Code Control) is a category of software whose purpose is to manage changes to digital information in an automated way. Digital information, in this context could be source code of computer programs, design database or any other piece of work which is stored electronically. Before the advent of electronic storage, a hard copy (such as those on paper) was automatically granted as preserved. With storage getting shifted on to electronic media, it became both possible and necessary to have software which could keep track of changes to the information stored.

Today, with development project typically spanning multiple geographical sites and people with different time schedules, Version Control program have become a necessity.

One of the earliest revision control software was developed at Bell Labs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_Labs) in 1972 by Marc Rochkind. Though initially written for IBM System/370 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System/370) computer, it was later re-written for UNIX and subsequently included in several UNIX distribution. SCCS remained the domintant version cotrol until Revision Control System (RCS) was released. Though considered obsolete, the file format of SCCS is still used by some other revision control programs.