Source Code Managerment

[tsdragon]

My boss is looking for an alternative to Visual Source Safe (which he hates) to manage our source code. I've been asked to find one. He would prefer one which does not store the code in compressed files or db files, so if there is a problem with the program the code is still accessible (which is why he doesn't like VSS). Any suggestions?

Tracy Dryden

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard.

 

[chiph]

He's probably out of luck, then.

Since a source code control system has to store a history of each file, using a file system folder structure to do it is pretty near impossible.

If he's willing to consider other source code control systems that don't have that requirement, and don't stink as bad as VSS does, here's my short list in order from free & easy to use, to expensive & "enterprise"

1. Subversion (there's a forum here, and I run this at home)
2. CVS (like Subversion, but older and has some limitations, but it's very common in the Unix world)
3. Vault (Looks/works just like VSS, but uses a SQL Server database as the back end, and runs over web services so remote access is easy)
4. Microsoft Team System (new and unproven, but I've heard good things about it. Expensive)
5. StarTeam (you need a consultant to set it up, but works well for teams of up to 100+ developers)
6. ClearCase (you need a consultant to set it up, but works for large teams, possibly on different continents)
7. Perforce (fast, powerful, expensive. Microsoft uses a custom version to store the Windows source code)

Chip H.


____________________________________________________________________
If you want to get the best response to a question, please read FAQ222-2244 first

 

[tsdragon]

I was kind of hoping there was something that stored the latest version in a standard file system way, with perhaps the history information only being stored elsewhere. At least that way if things got mucked up (as they did with VSS) the current version would be readily available. Oh well.

Since we're a very small company, and only he and I are currently sharing code, the larger, more expensive programs seem like overkill. I used CVS years ago and wasn't thrilled with it. I'll take a look at subversion and vault and see how they look. Thanks.

Tracy Dryden

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard.

 

[chiph]

The nice thing about Subversion, is that unlike VSS, it actually works.

It's primarily a command-line tool, although there are source-code-provider shims available to let it work with Visual Studio/Visual Basic. But I don't use them, as I prefer to do my source control outside the IDE.

Chip H.


____________________________________________________________________
If you want to get the best response to a question, please read FAQ222-2244 first