- Subversion: A Great Product
- Repository and Working Copy
- Creating the Repository
- Creating a Share and Mapping a Network Drive
- Structure of the Working Copy
- Checking Files In and Out of the Repository
- Getting Other Peoples Changes
- Adding New Files
- Getting Change Differences for a File
- Getting Information About a File
- Backing up Subversion Repositories
- Conclusion
Conclusion
It’s pretty rare for me to describe a software product as being beautiful, but Subversion comes close! Aside from my initial difficulties in getting up and running on Windows, I found the product very usable and feature-rich. It supports any type of file, from source code to binary. Some version control system products don’t allow binary files.
What I really like about Subversion is the fact that you don’t need a PhD in Astrophysics to get started on it. It supports a really useful low-entry cost model. You just need to get over a few steps, such as creating the repository and working copies, and you’re then ready to run with the product. The other features can then be learned as you need them.
There’s no need to allocate a week to getting underway with Subversion. It does its job well and provides you the freedom to get on with your job. That’s good value, and it’s open source. If you think your organization is too small to use a version control system such as Subversion, my advice is to think again. The overwhelming advantages of version control with Subversion far outweigh the cost of adoption.