4 ms·

Version control for solo Mac developers

21 points by pietrofmaggi 16y ago

warren_s 16y ago
Not trolling, but seriously, is there really a significant number of developers out there who aren't using any form of version control?
- cstuder 16y ago
  Try thinking back: What did you read first, a tutorial on a programming language or a tutorial on a version control system?
  - warren_s 16y ago
    There was no version control available to me when I started programming BASIC on a BBC Model B in 1987. :) It's a bit of a different story in 2010. I would sincerely hope that anyone who aspires to be a professional developer would be aware that there is a thing called a version control system, and that using one is a Very Good Idea for all but the most trivial of programming tasks.
    - dagw 16y ago
      Many people who write code never aspired to be professional developers. Lots of people started by just trying pick up enough to quickly solve a small problem they where having while doing the thing they where actually interested in, then someone noticed that they knew how to program a bit, one thing leads to another and next thing they know they're spending most of their time programming.
- storborg 16y ago
  There may not be experienced developers who aren't using version control, but there are new developers all the time, especially on sexy platforms like Cocoa.
- thibaut_barrere 16y ago
  Seriously, yes, a lot... I setup SVN two months ago at a client, at my request. Once you're used to something so fundamental, it's hard to imagine people won't use it as well :)
  - loewenskind 16y ago
    If it was two months ago, why did you start them out with obsolete technology? The only reason I can think of to have SVN today is legacy situations which you obviously weren't in.
    - warren_s 16y ago
      Hey, at least they're using something. There's no need to waste time on a religious war within the church of version control, when there are non-believers who must be shown the light.
      - loewenskind 16y ago
        >Hey, at least they're using something. Bad attitude in my opinion. At some point they will have to do a costly and complicated migration to a modern system, and that could have been completely avoided by simply using a modern system to begin with. >There's no need to waste time on a religious war within the church of version control, when there are non-believers who must be shown the light. The only religious behavior I see here is claiming that a two systems are equivalent when they clearly are not.
    - thibaut_barrere 16y ago
      It's obsolete only for a small part of IT (us!), it's definitely not obsolete for them (and a lot of other shops). Three main reasons: - windows support is still far from brilliant for git - even a non-technical user can understand and use tortoisesvn in 2 hours - SVN revisions are really easy to understand Don't get me wrong, I'm using git in a lot of places (including my own projects), but most of my non-technical clients are on svn. EDIT: just so you know, I still know one company (a startup, mind you!) that uses CVS.
nuxi 16y ago
Too much hassle for simple projects IMHO. Fossil for version control (and bug tracking, wiki etc.) combined with dropbox does the trick for me.
- thibaut_barrere 16y ago
  The hassle is just a "dip" you have to overcome once. After that it's really painless to start using git or svn on a given project. FWIW, I'm using svn or git, together with acunote, for my projects, either solo or with a team.
- scrrr 16y ago
  It doesn't get much easier than git once you have set it up and learned a few basic commands. Free, cross-plattform, fast and sexy.
  - nuxi 16y ago
    It does get easier, it's called fossil. =) Just for the record, I've used RCS, CVS, clearcase, SVN, git and mercurial, but for doing solo work fossil beats all of them in simplicity and ease of use (single executable, no setup needed).
    - blub 16y ago
      Does it also have a UI like TortoiseHg?
      - nuxi 16y ago
        It's got a simplified web UI, see http://www.fossil-scm.org/fossil/finfo?name=src/checkout.c http://www.fossil-scm.org/fossil/finfo?name=src/checkout.c for an example. The diff has a diff(1)-like output, but you can configure a graphical diff of your choice and use it with the 'fossil gdiff' command.
    - __david__ 16y ago
      You don't mention darcs. I've found darcs is extremely simple to use. Simple but remarkably powerful (in a different way than git, which I also love).
loewenskind 16y ago
>I prefer to use GitX instead of git on the command-line where possible. Absolutely. For me, the main reason I stayed away from Git as long as I did was the communities stance that the command line is how it should be used. When I downloaded GitX and saw how nice it was I switched immediately.
- aaronblohowiak 16y ago
  Which fork?
  - loewenskind 16y ago
    Which GitX fork or which Git fork? I didn't realize either of them had forked.
    - aaronblohowiak 16y ago
      Gitx has a panoply of forks on github, some add LOTS of features.

21 points by pietrofmaggi 16y ago

Not trolling, but seriously, is there really a significant number of developers out there who aren't using any form of version control?

cstuder 16y ago
Try thinking back: What did you read first, a tutorial on a programming language or a tutorial on a version control system?
- warren_s 16y ago
  There was no version control available to me when I started programming BASIC on a BBC Model B in 1987. :) It's a bit of a different story in 2010. I would sincerely hope that anyone who aspires to be a professional developer would be aware that there is a thing called a version control system, and that using one is a Very Good Idea for all but the most trivial of programming tasks.
  - dagw 16y ago
    Many people who write code never aspired to be professional developers. Lots of people started by just trying pick up enough to quickly solve a small problem they where having while doing the thing they where actually interested in, then someone noticed that they knew how to program a bit, one thing leads to another and next thing they know they're spending most of their time programming.
storborg 16y ago
There may not be experienced developers who aren't using version control, but there are new developers all the time, especially on sexy platforms like Cocoa.
thibaut_barrere 16y ago
Seriously, yes, a lot... I setup SVN two months ago at a client, at my request. Once you're used to something so fundamental, it's hard to imagine people won't use it as well :)
- loewenskind 16y ago
  If it was two months ago, why did you start them out with obsolete technology? The only reason I can think of to have SVN today is legacy situations which you obviously weren't in.
  - warren_s 16y ago
    Hey, at least they're using something. There's no need to waste time on a religious war within the church of version control, when there are non-believers who must be shown the light.
    - loewenskind 16y ago
      >Hey, at least they're using something. Bad attitude in my opinion. At some point they will have to do a costly and complicated migration to a modern system, and that could have been completely avoided by simply using a modern system to begin with. >There's no need to waste time on a religious war within the church of version control, when there are non-believers who must be shown the light. The only religious behavior I see here is claiming that a two systems are equivalent when they clearly are not.
  - thibaut_barrere 16y ago
    It's obsolete only for a small part of IT (us!), it's definitely not obsolete for them (and a lot of other shops). Three main reasons: - windows support is still far from brilliant for git - even a non-technical user can understand and use tortoisesvn in 2 hours - SVN revisions are really easy to understand Don't get me wrong, I'm using git in a lot of places (including my own projects), but most of my non-technical clients are on svn. EDIT: just so you know, I still know one company (a startup, mind you!) that uses CVS.

nuxi 16y ago

Too much hassle for simple projects IMHO. Fossil for version control (and bug tracking, wiki etc.) combined with dropbox does the trick for me.

thibaut_barrere 16y ago
The hassle is just a "dip" you have to overcome once. After that it's really painless to start using git or svn on a given project. FWIW, I'm using svn or git, together with acunote, for my projects, either solo or with a team.
scrrr 16y ago
It doesn't get much easier than git once you have set it up and learned a few basic commands. Free, cross-plattform, fast and sexy.
- nuxi 16y ago
  It does get easier, it's called fossil. =) Just for the record, I've used RCS, CVS, clearcase, SVN, git and mercurial, but for doing solo work fossil beats all of them in simplicity and ease of use (single executable, no setup needed).
  - blub 16y ago
    Does it also have a UI like TortoiseHg?
    - nuxi 16y ago
      It's got a simplified web UI, see http://www.fossil-scm.org/fossil/finfo?name=src/checkout.c http://www.fossil-scm.org/fossil/finfo?name=src/checkout.c for an example. The diff has a diff(1)-like output, but you can configure a graphical diff of your choice and use it with the 'fossil gdiff' command.
  - __david__ 16y ago
    You don't mention darcs. I've found darcs is extremely simple to use. Simple but remarkably powerful (in a different way than git, which I also love).

loewenskind 16y ago

>I prefer to use GitX instead of git on the command-line where possible. Absolutely. For me, the main reason I stayed away from Git as long as I did was the communities stance that the command line is how it should be used. When I downloaded GitX and saw how nice it was I switched immediately.

aaronblohowiak 16y ago
Which fork?
- loewenskind 16y ago
  Which GitX fork or which Git fork? I didn't realize either of them had forked.
  - aaronblohowiak 16y ago
    Gitx has a panoply of forks on github, some add LOTS of features.