Questions tagged [dvcs]
Decentralized version control (DVCS) keeps track of software revisions and allows many developers to work on a given project without necessarily being connected to a common network.
69
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GIT: Why use master (or any branch) as to reflect what's in production
We're having a debate here on our server development team, and I'm struggling. I've always used master as source of record for production, with the master branch (or some designated release branch) ...
0
votes
1answer
69 views
Process for archiving binaries from different repos using Git?
Working in the embedded systems space, our products usually require multiple binaries for each of the microcontrollers within a single product. Using SVN previously, we would bundle validation and ...
1
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1answer
77 views
Best approach for managing program customizations inside DVCS
I'm working on a program developed in different variants: a common basic version and various customizations that not only use different logos and images but also add functionalities.
I'm trying to ...
-2
votes
1answer
74 views
What does it mean that DVCSs allow us to set up several types of workflows that aren’t possible in centralized systems, such as hierarchical models?
Can someone please explain the last sentence of this paragraph about Distributed Version Control Systems:
"Furthermore, many of these systems deal pretty well with having several remote repositories ...
1
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1answer
452 views
Best practice to revive and update old branch?
I'm a solo hobbyist developer with some code hosted on Bitbucket. I use TortoiseHg client-side for managing my repo.
Back in 2013 I developed a feature on a branch but abandoned it before completion.
...
3
votes
1answer
211 views
Dividing up the work of a large code merge among multiple people?
This question is related to this one:
Why not commit unresolved changes?
When needing to merge a large code base with many conflicts, I would like to have a way to commit progress to be shared ...
6
votes
4answers
1k views
Is there any downside to commit messages containing the ticket number
I was wondering if it would be good practice for commit messages to contain the ticket number they were apart of. It would be like
2568 Fix heating issue
Summary of the issue with a bunch ...
10
votes
2answers
375 views
Why do DVCSes seem to all have an irrational phobia of uncommitted changes?
Coming from a SVN background, one of the hardest things to get used to when working with DVCS systems is the way they all seem to regard any uncommitted change whatsoever like a ticking time bomb.
In ...
5
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1answer
164 views
Code licensing injection and version control history
Are there licensing ramifications to having GPLed code in a public git history, but not a released version of the distributed software?
Could a repo owner be obliged to changing their licensing ...
6
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1answer
2k views
Should I commit regularly in new projects? [duplicate]
TL:DR; Shall I start comitting regularly small pieces of code in new projects? Even if I'm start from scratch and don't have any experience in what I'm using (framework, programming language, w/e)?
...
6
votes
2answers
216 views
What is the argument for never forcing a push in a DVCS (Mercurial)?
I always preach never to force push anything, because that adds ambiguity to the repository server.
In this specific example, we collaborate with a customer and they "skip a step" and force push ...
7
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1answer
2k views
Why aren't there cherry-pick requests?
One disadvantage to pull requests (aka merge requests) is lots and lots of merge commits.
It's not the worst thing, but it does clutter the commit logs, and make for lots of unnecessary non-...
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2answers
490 views
Sharing only part of code with git
The situation
I have code which has features X and Y.
Bob needs access to the code to help develop feature X further.
Normally I would allow Bob to clone the code, but the problem is that feature Y ...
69
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7answers
14k views
Why do so many projects prefer “git rebase” over “git merge”?
One of the advantages of using a DVCS is the edit-commit-merge workflow (over edit-merge-commit often enforced by a CVCS). Allowing each unique change to be recorded in the repository independent of ...
12
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4answers
1k views
Stopping developers committing to the wrong branch on DVCS
The problem
I am on a software project which has about 10 developers, we share source code via Mercurial. We have a development and production branch per release. Repeatedly during the course of the ...
6
votes
3answers
7k views
Can you close branches in Git?
In Mercurial you can close a branch like this: hg commit --close-branch, this means the the branch will not be listed anymore but will still exist, and can still be listed if you use hg branches --...
7
votes
2answers
1k views
Feature branches, beta branches, and scrapped features
I've been thinking a lot about best practices regarding branching in distributed version control systems such as git an mercurial (the two dvcs's I have experience with and use on a daily basis).
The ...
3
votes
3answers
594 views
Release Management Tools with DVCS (Mercurial)
My development team is migrating from SVN to Mercurial. Having researched DVCS best practices, it has been suggested that we develop against feature branches of the repo mainline, test them separately,...
16
votes
4answers
4k views
Workflow: Using binary document formats in Git without locks (moving from subversion)
We're a software consultancy with a multitude of projects for different customers. We traditionally use Subversion, but are currently considering moving to Git.
A significant portion of the documents ...
8
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4answers
332 views
Shorter release cycle with DVCS
Does the choice of using a DVCS over a CVCS actually make for shorter release cycles? If so, what makes software release cycles shorter and what are the arguments for this?
Related to pull request? ...
18
votes
3answers
3k views
Branching breaks continous integration?
I think this article, A Successful Git Branching Model, is very well known among experienced DVCS users.
I use hg mostly, but I would argue this discussion is fine for any DVCS.
Our current ...
28
votes
6answers
21k views
What's so difficult about SVN merges?
Possible Duplicate:
I’m a Subversion geek, why should I consider or not consider Mercurial or Git or any other DVCS?
Every once in a while, you hear someone saying that distributed version ...
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1answer
695 views
Why can Perforce be a better version control system? [closed]
I've seen some people love and some loathe Perforce. As users or administrators with experience with other version control systems (free cookie to the ones with DVCS experience [git, Mercurial]), what ...
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2answers
1k views
Is Perforce as good at merging as DVCSs?
I've heard that Perforce is very good at merging, I'm guessing this has to do with that it tracks changes in the form of changelists where you can add differences across several files in a single blow....
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7answers
3k views
Why not commit unresolved changes?
In a traditional VCS, I can understand why you would not commit unresolved files because you could break the build. However, I don't understand why you shouldn't commit unresolved files in a DVCS (...
5
votes
3answers
285 views
Is a “model” branch a common practice?
I just thought it could be a good thing to have a dedicated version control branch for all database schema changes and I wanted to know if anyone else is doing the same and what have the results been.
...
16
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3answers
1k views
Is a code review which uses only code comments a good idea?
Preconditions
Team uses DVCS
IDE supports comments parsing (like TODO and etc.)
Tools like CodeCollaborator are expensive for budget
Tools like gerrit are too complex for install or not usable
...
2
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1answer
211 views
Can DVCSs enforce a specific workflow?
So, I have this little debate at work where some of my colleagues (which are actually in charge of administrating our Perforce instance) say that workflows are strictly a process thing, and that the ...
32
votes
5answers
9k views
I am a git user confused by mercurial's branching. How am I supposed to track small changes?
I've always used git before, but I want to contribute to python so now I have to learn mercurial and I find it very frustrating.
So, I've made a couple of small patches and I wanted to track them as ...
9
votes
1answer
279 views
DVCS blessed repo replication among geographically distributed teams
My company is exploring the move from Perforce to a DVCS and we currently use lots of Perforce proxies because the software development teams are spread over Germany, China, USA and Mexico and ...
13
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11answers
2k views
How do you explain the importance of using a [distributed] version control system to someone who's not in the CS field? [closed]
A good example of someone who fits that description might be a project manager.
I was asked by my boss the other day, "what this Github thing is and why it's important?" He has some proprietary ...
15
votes
4answers
10k views
Working with Git on multiple machines
This may sound a bit strange, but I'm wondering about a good way to work in Git from multiple machines networked together in some way. It looks to me like I have two options, and I can see benefits on ...
7
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5answers
4k views
Handling (many) multiple projects in Git in an enterprise environment
One of the advantages of older version control systems such as CVS and SVN in enterprise development is that anyone can connect to source control and see all the projects that the company has. This ...
8
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1answer
518 views
Integrating different branches from external sources into a single Mercurial repository
Edit: Making this even clearer as the bounty is about to expire: is there a way of importing history (pulling from different SCM) directly into a specific branch with Mercurial?
I'm currently working ...
9
votes
3answers
464 views
dvcs - is “clone to branch” a common workflow?
I was recently discussing dvcs with a coworker, because our office is beginning to consider switching from TFS (we're a MS shop). In the process, I got very confused because he said that although he ...
26
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6answers
3k views
Is version history really sacred or is it better to rebase?
I've always agreed with Mercurial's mantra 1, however, now that Mercurial comes bundled with the rebase extension and it is a popular practice in git, I'm wondering if it could really be regarded as a ...
12
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4answers
1k views
Where could Distributed Version Control Systems currently be in Gartner's hype cycle? [closed]
Edit: Given the recent downvoting (+8/-6 at this point) it was made clear to me that Gartner's lifecycle is a biased metric from a programmer's perspective. This is something that is part of a paper I'...
34
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12answers
2k views
Do DVCSes discourage continuous integration?
Say there is a team of ten agile developers. Every day they each pick a task from the board, commits several changes against it, until (by the end of the day) they have completed the task. All ...
15
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1answer
5k views
Why do Git/Mercurial repositories use less space?
I've read on several discussions here and on SO that DVCS repositories use about the same or less space than their centralised counter-parts. I may have missed it, but I haven't found a good ...
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2answers
256 views
Will the customer benefit from a DVCS in any way?
Some of us can say a Distributed Version Control System (e.g. Mercurial, git) will have a positive impact on developers only out of the experience of using one (under the right conditions: higher ...
2
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2answers
283 views
Is it an absolute must that we ignore/delete all compiled files before committing?
I am working on a Drupal theme. I am going to be using "intermediary" languages to develop it, ie Stylus for styles, and CoffeeScript for some of the front-end scripts.
I am going to be using a git ...
3
votes
4answers
351 views
Will adopting a DVCS mean there will be a positive impact on development speed?
I was wondering how safe is to say that —because developers are free to version and have better and more organic workflows— code will be delivered faster.
A big factor here is team size of course, ...
3
votes
2answers
532 views
Are any companies moving from DVCSs to CVCSs? [closed]
Are there any actual business cases that have made any company move from a DVCS to a CVCS (regardless of whether they were on a CVCS originally)?.
Other than having a closed mind and rejecting the ...
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3answers
3k views
Does Git have a “safe mode” to prevent rewriting history?
When you're kind of fresh with Git (and DVCS in general), and you start exploring history-rewriting changes, you're safe if the repository is only local, but you might run into problems if you work ...
7
votes
3answers
436 views
Training a company to use a DVCS coming from a CVCS mindset, is it as hard as one would think?
So, I'm preparing to consider the outcome of training a lot of people (>25) to use Mercurial coming from a centralized mindset. I've done it with individuals and had success with it, although the time ...
5
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2answers
587 views
Is switching from a CVCS to a DVCS a considerable bandwidth save?
So, I'm in a big geographically-distributed company, we use perforce and I'm starting to make the case for a DVCS with a whitepaper I was requested to write.
I was thinking that one of the arguments ...
4
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2answers
422 views
Is security a real argument for centralized version control?
I'm trying to understand if security is a real concern, or if distribution actually does a better job with security. See, the access to the main source repository could be layered and inherently ...
5
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3answers
808 views
Moving from a CVCS to a DVCS in a big company, what is the right way to do it?
I just started a new job and I'm currently at the process of trying to introduce a DVCS (mercurial, but the actual DVCS is not really a matter of discussion at this point, it could also be git) to the ...
12
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2answers
9k views
Is there a difference between merges in svn compared to git or mercurial?
From my understanding SVN is 'Easy to branch. Difficult to merge'. Why is that? Is there a difference how they merge?
68
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7answers
75k views
Are there open source alternatives to Bitbucket, Github, Kiln, and similar DVCS browsing and management tools? [closed]
I am aware of several tools/services that provide DVCS browsing and management such as Bitbucket, Github, Kiln, SCM-Manager and Rhodecode.
However, the use case I am considering is one such that:
...
