Updates
Latest Tweet
What's New?
Check out for latest innovation, a computer based training video collection
Like this Page
Version Control with Subversion Review by wiredweird
The manual to own
Most often, you'll walk into a development environment that already has source control in place. You'll have a few standards procedures for day to day operations, and someone to answer questions about the tricky parts. Not always, though. You could get thrown into the role of repositry administrator, or might even have to put source control in place yourself. That's when you'll need more than the routine procedures, and when you'll need a book like this.
The early sections of this book go over basics like versioning, tags, branches, and change sets, with plenty of motivation for using each one. The authors are expecially friendly towards users transitioning from CVS, an earlier network-based source control system. Next, the authors go over the command set that users will need on a day to day basis. The pace slows down at this point because, as with any powerful system, large numbers of command options, configuration issues, and organization-specific policies come into play, all of which affect how the basic features are used and how they work. And, since Subversion follows an optimistic (normally lock-free) policy, uncommon but crucial issues around change resolution need careful attention. Most readers can stop here.
Repository administrators and creators continue reading, however. Later chapters address management and setup, including Subversion's relationship to the server that makes it into a web presence. Even the most advanced users, the ones who write their own code around the Subversion core or contribute to the core itself find their starting point here.
Don't expect an easy read - source control isn't an easy problem, or one with any single solution. And don't expect every part of this book to be of interest, especially if you just use Subversion as a tool for getting other work done. But, if you need a thorough reference and the online form of the book isn't enough, you'll be glad to have this.
-- wiredweird