What would be a good version control system for a small Delphi team?

Question

Possible Duplicates:
Source control system for small database dev team
good version control software for Delphi 2009

We are a small team of 4 developers and need a good version control system for use in-house. 2 of the developers work remotely from home and 2 mostly in the office.

We are Delphi developers so would like something that has a proven track record with Delphi code. It also must be able to keep track of things like database structure and other related files.

I have had a look at SVN and CVS but I'm having trouble finding either an add-in or easy to use client for use with Delphi 7 on WinXP.

Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Subversion is a good choice for a small team.

It is very easy to setup a subversion server.

Answer 2

Have a look at Mercurial or Git, will help with the remote users, and there are client apps that integrate with Windows Explorer, so you shouldn't have language dependent issues. There is a Tortoise client for Mercurial, too.

Answer 3

You can use Tortoise SVN for Windows platforms

Answer 4

If you want an easy to use client for cvs and svn on Windows take a look at Tortoise http://tortoisesvn.tigris.org/ Its really nice and easy with right-click functions.

Answer 5

I swear by TortoiseSVN, which is an svn client that integrates very smoothly into Windows Explorer.

I realise that won't give you IDE integration, but it will keep you off of the command line (if that's the way you prefer to work).

I would definitely advise choosing svn over cvs. svn could have been called "cvs 2" - it's basically cvs but with a whole lot of pain points removed. For example, you can rename files in svn, but you have to delete them and re-add them in cvs.

As a general point, I am not a fan of relying completely on IDE integration for your version control. There are all sorts of activities (merging, branching etc) that are better done outside of the IDE where you have tighter control over what you are doing.

Answer 6

For a central server system, check out Subversion, which is easy to use as well. TortoiseSVN integrates Subversion nicely into Windows Explorer.

If you are looking for a distributed version control system, there is Git (and many others like Mercurial, Bazaar, et cetera). TortoiseGit integrates into Windows Explorer.

Answer 7

I also prefer Subversion, if you are hosting on windows server VisualSVN server is very easy to setup.

Answer 8

To integrate Subversion into Visual Studio (if you're working in that environment) look into AnkhSVN.

Answer 9

JCL has a Delphi IDE version control plugin (CVS + SVN): http://jcl.delphi-jedi.org/

Not free, but a very nice (!) system is "PlasticSCM": http://www.plasticscm.com/demos/plastic28/index.html Works with branches, which works very good for parallel development ("branch per task pattern"). For every task (ticket, bug, issue, whatever) you make a child branch. Plastic will update your "workspace" on disk, so all files have the right version. You can make as much changes and checkins as you want, because you work in your own branch, so nobody else get troubles if you checkin something that does not compile! This works LOVELY!

If you switch to another branch (because you must make a quick bugfix), all changes are "shelved" on the server, current workspace is automatically updated to that other branch, you can make some changes + checkin, switch back to your branch you were working on, and all files are unshelved again, so you can continue where you were before. Very very nice.

It has a very cool GUI client, works also on Linux, and we use a third party Delphi IDE plugin: http://www.epocalipse.com/scx.htm

Answer 10

http://jedivcs.sourceforge.net/

JEDI VCS clients - The IDE expert version, from Delphi 5 ...-->> to RAD 2010 - The Stand-alone version. - The command line version.

JEDI VCS Servers. - Firebird - Oracle - MS-SQl - DBISAM - Informix

Answer 11

Basically go for Subversion if you're looking for a CVS that has loads of tools and support (TortoiseSVN is quite good).

I myself have decided to go with Mercurial for projects with small teams because it's so easy to clone the repository and keep on checking in/submitting code even when you are offline. Also it's in python so it works with minimum hassle in Windows, Mac and Linux (I believe for Windows there's also a TortoiseHg UI application).

Answer 12

If you are willing to spend money, perforce is well worth the money (about $800 a user) it is fast, works well over a network and after a bit of learning is very effective.

There is a good Delphi integration SourceConnexion

Answer 13

I use SVN with TortoiseSVN, and use the Delphi AddIn For Tortoise SVN for IDE integration (Delphi 7 and 2007 - haven't checked it with 2009 and 2010 yet).