What is the most common version control software for Windows?

Question

Coming from a UNIX background, with some knowledge of CVS and git, I have gotten my Windows development skills up in just about every area. But I still have no idea if there is a single VCS that Windows devs "have" to know.

Is there one used above all others?

Answer 1

Not really specific to Windows I think, but Subversion (SVN) is a must.

Answer 2

In general, the same types of source control that you use on UNIX may also be used on windows. There are certainly ones to avoid on windows - VSS immediately comes to mind.

Answer 3

TortoiseSVN (svn) has tight integration with explorer, and most devs I know that run Windows and use subversion also use Tortoise.

Answer 4

Before DVCS, all the cool kids used SVN; everyone else used VSS or TFS.

DVCS is turning into an interesting competition as Git clearly has the edge in functionality but Mercurial has the edge in Windows integration. Poor Bazaar doesn't seem to be getting a look in.

Answer 5

Yes, Tortiose SVN runs quite well on windows. There's also a Tortoise for git! Though I am not too sure if it's as easy as its SVN cousin.

http://code.google.com/p/tortoisegit/

Answer 6

The makers of FinalBuilder used to do a survey every year of their (mostly Windows-based) customers. I can't find anything more recent than their 2008 survey, but here's what it looked like then.

As you can see, there isn't just one you have to know. However, you'd be a fool not to familiarize yourself with Subverion and Sourcesafe.

If I were to predict how it has changed since then, I'd guess that Subversion has added users, SourceSafe has lost a bit of ground to Team Foundation, and that Git now shows up, but with only minor numbers.

Answer 7

VisualSVN ties into VS as well and uses TortoiseSVN for a backend. It's $50 per license iirc. Works pretty well. If you're looking for a good tie-in with Visual Studio also check out AnkSVN.

Answer 8

We use msys-git quite successfully on windows. The GUI tools are not great. I use the command-line and it works fine. My colleagues use git-extensions which integrate into visual studio. It seems to work ok.

The other option to me would be SVN. It has great windows support.

Answer 9

Short answer, is SVN.

For free:

CVS is pretty much dead.

Subversion has the best integration with windows (explorer, visual studio, eclipse, command line, WebDAV, etc...) it also has GUI's for other platforms.

With Git you're relegated to use the command line exclusively.

Not Free: Perforce is okay, but whatever you do, don't use Visual Sourcesafe and risk your entire repository getting corrupted at some point in time and not realizing it until much later.

Answer 10

I would agree: Subversion. But I an quite sure, it will be succeeded by git some day.