Making Sense of Revision-control Systems

Modern software is tremendously complicated, and the methods that teams use to manage its development reflect this complexity. Though many organizations use revision-control software to track and manage the complexity of a project as it evolves, the topic of how to make an informed choice of revision-control tools has received scant attention. Until fairly recently, the world of revision control was moribund, so there was simply not much to say on this subject. Each revision-control tool emphasizes a distinct approach to working and collaboration. This in turn influences how a team works. As a result, no revision-control tool will suit every team: each tool comes with a complicated set of trade-offs that can be hard even to see, much less to evaluate. Choosing a revision-control system is a question with a surprisingly small number of absolute answers. The fundamental issues to consider are what kind of data your team works with, and how you want your team members to interact.