Chapter 10 - Installing and Using a Version Control System

Abstract

This chapter focuses on installing and using a version control (VC) system in software configuration management (CM). VC tool is the core component of the CM. VC captures and preserves the history of changes as the software (source code) evolves. VC empowers the user to recreate any past revision of any file or project with ease, 100% reliability, and consistency. Many VC systems are easy to set up and use, and the VC learning curve is significantly smaller than any single side effect of not using a VC system. One of the simplest, oldest, and most successful VC systems is the Revision Control System (RCS). RCS is included with most Unix distributions and is available for many, if not all, other operating systems. Many modern and full-featured VC systems are based on RCS ideas and its archive files. Advanced VC systems offer wide variety of options and features. They fulfill the needs of large teams with many (thousands of) projects and files. The team members may be geographically distributed. Advanced VC systems support a choice of connectivity options for remote users. Most VC systems are true client/server applications and the VC system vendor often provides a VC client that provides a user interface to exchange source code between the personal computer (PC) workstation and the repository on the central file server.