5 Version Control Software (Source Code Management Tools)

1) Git

Git is one of the best version control tools that is available in the present market.

Features

• Provides strong support for non-linear development.
• Distributed repository model.
• Compatible with existing systems and protocols like HTTP, FTP, ssh.
• Capable of efficiently handling small to large sized projects.
• Cryptographic authentication of history.
• Pluggable merge strategies.
• Toolkit-based design.
• Periodic explicit object packing.
• Garbage accumulates until collected.

Pros

• Super-fast and efficient performance.
• Cross-platform
• Code changes can be very easily and clearly tracked.
• Easily maintainable and robust.
• Offers an amazing command line utility known as git bash.
• Also offers GIT GUI where you can very quickly re-scan, state change, sign off, commit & push the code quickly with just a few clicks.

Cons

• Complex and bigger history log become difficult to understand.
• Does not support keyword expansion and timestamp preservation.

Open Source: Yes

Cost: Free

Click here for official Website.

2) CVS

It is yet another most popular revision control system. CVS has been the tool of choice for a long time.

Features

• Client-server repository model.
• Multiple developers might work on the same project parallelly.
• CVS client will keep the working copy of the file up-to-date and requires manual intervention only when an edit conflict occurs
• Keeps a historical snapshot of the project.
• Anonymous read access.
• ‘Update’ command to keep local copies up to date.
• Can uphold different branches of a project.
• Excludes symbolic links to avoid a security risk.
• Uses delta compression technique for efficient storage.

Pros

• Excellent cross-platform support.
• Robust and fully-featured command-line client permits powerful scripting
• Helpful support from vast CVS community
• allows good web browsing of the source code repository
• It’s a very old, well known & understood tool.
• Suits the collaborative nature of the open-source world splendidly.

Cons

• No integrity checking for source code repository.
• Does not support atomic check-outs and commits.
• Poor support for distributed source control.
• Does not support signed revisions and merge tracking.

Open Source: Yes

Cost: Free

Click here for official Website.

3) SVN

Apache Subversion, abbreviated as SVN aims at to be a best-matched successor to the widely used CVS tool that we just discussed above.

Features

• Client-server repository model. However, SVK permits SVN to have distributed branches.
• Directories are versioned.
• Copying, deleting, moving and renaming operations are also versioned.
• Supports atomic commits.
• Versioned symbolic links.
• Free-form versioned metadata.
• Space efficient binary diff storage.
• Branching is not dependent upon the file size and this is a cheap operation.
• Other features – merge tracking, full MIME support, path-based authorization, file locking, standalone server operation.

Pros

• Has a benefit of good GUI tools like TortoiseSVN.
• Supports empty directories.
• Have better windows support as compared to Git.
• Easy to set up and administer.
• Integrates well with Windows, leading IDE and Agile tools.

Cons

• Does not store the modification time of files.
• Does not deal well with filename normalization.
• Does not support signed revisions.

Open Source – Yes

Cost: Free

Click here for official Website.

4) Mercurial

Mercurial is a distributed revision-control tool which is written in python and intended for software developers. The operating systems that it supports are Unix-like, Windows and macOS.

Features

• High performance and scalability.
• Advanced branching and merging capabilities.
• Fully distributed collaborative development.
• Decentralized
• Handles both plain text and binary files robustly.
• Possesses an integrated web interface.

Pros

• Fast and powerful
• Easy to learn
• Lightweight and portable.
• Conceptually simple

Cons

• All the add-ons must be written in Python.
• Partial checkouts are not allowed.
• Quite problematic when used with additional extensions..

Open Source: Yes

Cost: Free

Click here for official Website.

5) Monotone

Monotone, written in C++, is a tool for distributed revision control. The OS that it supports includes Unix, Linux, BSD, Mac OS X, and Windows.

Features

• Provides good support for internationalization and localization.
• Focuses on integrity over performance.
• Intended for distributed operations.
• Employs cryptographic primitives to track file revisions and authentications.
• Can import CVS projects.
• Uses a very efficient and robust custom protocol called netsync.

Pros

• Requires very low maintenance
• Good documentation
• Easy to learn
• Portable design
• Works great with branching and merging
• Stable GUI

Cons

• Performance issues observed for some operations, most visible was an initial pull.
• Can’t commit or checkout from behind the proxy (this is because of a non-HTTP protocol).

Open Source: Yes

Cost: Free

Click here for official Website