Back in the day when software development was more linear and proceeded at a more predictable pace with longer project timelines, version control wasn’t much of an issue. In most cases it wasn’t too hard to keep track of code changes, feature developments, and configuration files. If a developer – or even a team – created several different versions, multiple copies could be kept and, with some careful labeling and archiving, any version could be recreated or referred to later on.
But all that changed with the coming of Agile processes and the evolution of the multiple development teams approach, with different developers and teams branching off the main development trunk line to pursue new features or versions and then merging them back into the main line. If keeping multiple file copies could be prone to error in the old linear approach, you can imagine the danger looming with multiple teams working simultaneously. Suddenly, version control software seemed like a really, really good idea.
Now, of course, there are any number of version control software tools, ranging from very basic products such as open source CVS and Subversion, to some really sophisticated and comprehensive products that provide a variety of helpful software configuration management benefits. Regardless of the sophistication of the particular version control software being used, they all provide one critical benefit — the ability for multiple teams in multiple locations to work off the same source code base with minimal confusion and errors.
If you’re trying to sort out the features-and-benefits of version control software, here’s a short checklist of questions that can help you narrow down your choices:
- Simplicity: Is your software development process modest enough for simple, text-based functionality or are you using a more complex, multiple team approach that would benefit from a graphic, browser-type tool?
- Efficiency: Do you spend a lot of time analyzing and resolving merge conditions? If so, consider version control software with a visual tool that can help facilitate frequent integrating and merging codeline changes.
- Collaboration: Do your developers work on code changes individually, with the need to occasionally share code with other developers or team members? Then consider version control software that includes the ability to both keep files in private workspaces and share them openly with other team members.
- Version Control: Are your products subject to frequent, often substantial revisions that could be prone to errors without the ability to reproduce full version histories of all files and configurations? Then look for version control software that provides time-stamped atomic transactions and an append-only database that prevents information from being lost and makes it easy to roll back code changes to a previous state.
Choosing the right version control software can make a major difference in your software development management, enabling you to get more robust, less error-prone products to market quicker and more efficiently.
