Version control (VC) is a basic tool of modern programming. It’s time for it to move out of programming and into mainstream use. In Word, you can write lots of pages; cutting and pasting, typing, etc. Press the undo button to get back to something or undo a mistake. But, what if the mistake you want to undo was a few days or weeks ago? Or what if the mistake was saving something else on top of the good file? VC provides you with an undo button for these situations.
The basic process works like this. You open a file and make your changes. When you close it you “checkin†the file and make a little note about what changed. Then something drastic happens like you accidentally copy the wrong file or you delete your file and it seems like there’s no way to get back it. Now, VC becomes very important. Open a VC program that lists all the times you checked in your file with the little notes. Select the one you want and “checkout†the file.
There are many other useful features of VC. For example, you can look at a list of files and see if one has been changed, but not checked in. You can keep several copies of a file up to date with one another. One of my favorite tricks at UE was writing code on any one of 6 different computers and at night they would get the latest version. Using Diff (short for difference) you can compare two files to see what changes there are. Also, it provides a backup in case of disaster. The Repository is where the many versions of a file are kept. Copy this one file or directory onto CD or another computer and you’ll have a cheap backup.
I expect to see some form of VC in the next version of Windows after Vista. Or possibly in a service pack. But, why wait? There are stable free programs available today that work extremely well. My favorite programs are Subversion, which acts like an engine, and Tortoise SVN, which lets you work with the files by clicking on them.
[...] A few months back I was extolling the virtues of version control for any kind of file. Apparently, Microsoft agrees with me. Its part of the next version of Windows, called Restore previous versions. This is the Ars article about it. [...]