Version control system for a small laboratory?

Question

I'm a grad student in Electrical Engineering, and my lab has various projects related to ultrasonics. We have lots of code to perform simulations, but right now our situation is such that any given script has ~5 different versions. In addition, one person might develop code to simulate wave propagation, while another needs that code to perform a different simulation. This results in code being emailed back and forth quite a bit.

I suggested version control to my advisor, and she says that she likes it, but doesn't have time to manage a VCS, so it would have to be set up in such a way as to require as little maintenance as possible. Obviously, we're not releasing software to the public, so it doesn't matter if the internal structure is unconventional.

Most of the lab are not professional coders, but we all need to write MATLAB code as well as some other stuff. So, I don't expect the users to be so good about clean commits and the like, so it would be good for everyone to have their own "workplace" or something like that. But to be honest, I've only ever used version control for 3 people at once, so I'm not sure how to set this up.

So I am asking what is the best way to do this. I have only used Subversion, but I wonder if that is the right choice. We need a system that would (sorted by importance, descending):

• require little maintenance
• be easy to use and learn, since not everyone has used version control
• have shell integration (we all use Windows XP)
• be easy to set permissions and give everyone their own workspace
• be easy to set up and get running

So, (1) What VCS is the best choice, and (2) how should we structure it. Thanks for the help.

Answer 1

I see no reason why you should look further from Subversion. Although, for extra little maintenance you could check GitHub (since it is hosted solution, so no worrying about backup, servers etc) but there are hosted Subversion repos as well.

Especially if you're already familiar with it, so you can bring others up to speed and get extra credit :)

Answer 2

We use subversion and love it, for its simplicity, easy of use, integration into the shell environment and the ability to not just version, code, but also specification documents pdf's and other resources we have.

As for structuring it, try and use your logical structure, as close as possible. Keep it simple :)

Answer 3

Once completely setup subversion should require very little maintenance, it's model is simple to apprehend, it is integrated in the shell, it supports ACLs which work just fine and it's setup is well documented.

you can setup subversion in a webserver, integrate it with a windows domain for auth if needed (otherwise you have to add/remove users, change passwords on the svn server)

You could also go the distributed vcs way, with hosted solutions no server setup, but to get that across your user's mind is gonna be way more difficult than svn. Not to mention getting it across your own head first.

Unless you have complex, fast-paced, parallel development models, I wouldn't recommend dvcs, I would stick to SVN

Answer 4

I agree that subversion is a very good choice. But you can also consider mercurial: it's easier and it also has a tortoise integrated interface.

Answer 5

I would recommend www.assembla.com. They offer paid subscriptions but for academic projects you can apply for a free pro account.

I have used it for my academic projects and was 100% satisfied by the ease of maintenance, up-time and simplicity

Answer 6

The far easiest way is to use Subversion. But to get it to work the most easiest way (under Windows) you should definitely use TortoiseSVN.

After installation it works right within the explorer is just one right click away from usage. Maybe one of your guys should take a deeper look into the whole documentation to give help if needed. All other guys should take a look into the Daily Usage Guide for a first start.

Also you should take care about how you structure your repository!

Answer 7

Subversion has too many limitations related to the "always online + central server" model. I would strongly recommend using a distributed version control system.

From the three main ones Git, Mercurial, Bazaar; in my experience Bazaar is by far the easiest one to use and setup.