I see many CS students who use Dropbox as an alternative to real SC systems due to its ease of use.
Do you use Dropbox as a quick-and-dirty source control solution? Is this a valid use for it?
+11
A:
Not really, but Dropbox in concert with GIT, maybe. For a single developer scenario where you want to work on more than one development machine, I think this would work just fine.
Mike
2010-02-14 18:23:49
+1 Dropbox and git sounds like a very good combination actually. Saves having to open source your project, and you don't even have to remember to push!
Skilldrick
2010-02-14 18:40:06
Or any other DVCS ;) Only thing to watch out for is possible file locks by Dropbox that cause issues with your VCS.I tend to keep a repository in Dropbox, do work in a clone elsewhere, and push to dropbox to distribute. Of course you have to remember to push!!
Mikezx6r
2010-04-01 02:45:45
+2
A:
I think as a quick and dirty approach, yes, it's fine. What everybody seems to not realise is that Dropbox does save the history of your files.
You wouldn't be able to easily go back to a previous project state though, just a previous state of individual files.
So yes, if you want VERY quick and VEEERRRRY dirty, then go for it.
Skilldrick
2010-02-14 18:26:40
+2
A:
The Linux kernel was developed via patch files for a long time and it worked.
I'd say any solution that works is "valid" - whether it is recommended, good practice etc is another matter entirely. I'd point them to github, set up a git server (very easy to do) or an SVN server, personally. I'd also ask for their commit log.
Ninefingers
2010-02-14 18:40:45
A:
I store my svn repository in a DropBox folder, which is a quick and dirty way to work on multiple computers without setting up a proper SVN server.
This only works if two people don't use it on different computers at the same time (it will get corrupted)
AndrewR
2010-04-01 02:50:38