Hi, annoyingly I've just given up on setting up Subversion on my Centos web server, mainly due to the fact that the server has cPanel, which uses EasyApache, which in turn doesn't support DAV and makes it awkward to install and configure manually. So, I'm now looking at alternatives - Git seems to be the VCS of the moment, but I'm only a solo developer and I don't necessarily need a distributed VCS. I basically only need straightforward version control, with the ability to view repos remotely in a browser and show clients the status of projects in development. Can anyone provide any advice on what could be best suited for me?
Is there any advantage CVS has over SVN? Any? I mean, svn over ssh would be another option for plastik74, about as difficult to set up as cvs and with fewer problems during use.
Christopher Creutzig
2010-02-23 11:10:18
@Christopher - probably no advantage, especially as SVN was originally designed as CVS's successor to overcome the shortfalls of CVS.
Andy Shellam
2010-02-23 11:12:02
My point was that if he needed something simple and easy to set up and get running, CVS might be enough, even if it's technologically surpassed by other options.
fortran
2010-02-23 11:43:22
Sorry...I know your heart's in the right place, but I have to -1 for recommending CVS over SVN. No hard feelings?
Michael Hackner
2010-02-23 21:38:18
Don't worry, I would be a moron if I felt bad about a rating xD
fortran
2010-02-24 13:17:02
+3
A:
Just use git. It won't hurt to learn it, and while it's overkill, it's really fast and versatile overkill.
Andrew McGregor
2010-02-23 10:58:05
It's not overkill at all, in my opinion. Gives lots of versatility and potential.
cookiecaper
2010-02-23 11:02:22
Yeah I'm leaning towards Git - possibly a daft question, but if i'm using Git on a remote server, is it straightforward to have Apache serve the repos via a URL, like DAV does for SVN?
ted776
2010-02-23 11:03:51
I don't know how hard it is to put git repos on the web; I normally use git over ssh, which is easy: install git and ssh on both boxes, use a git-ssh url, it happens. Make ssh keys for convenience, you're done.
Andrew McGregor
2010-02-23 11:20:34
A:
Use git.
Git is great for single developers. Much easier and better than SVN, where you have to install a server and a bunch of other crap. Git, you just type git init in a directory, and you're all done and server is ready to use.
Git is definitely the way to go, man. I'm not sure why you think that DVCSs aren't good for single developers. They're much better and nicer, and you don't have to set up a server or anything.
cookiecaper
2010-02-23 11:02:37
`svnadmin create .` is not any harder than `git init`. Unless you are a really bad typist.
Michael Hackner
2010-02-23 21:35:46
A:
Mercurial might give you a nicer user experience, given your SVN background.
alexandrul
2010-02-23 11:06:12
+4
A:
Just because you can't use DAV doesn't mean you can't use Subversion - it has a built-in server called svnserve which servers repositories using the SVN protocol (svn://...) It's a doddle to set up, WAY easier than setting up Apache and mod_dav_svn.
Or if you're the sole developer, why not install on your (Windows?) PC and use TortoiseSVN to create local repositories - you don't even need to use your server then.
Note: I wouldn't necessarily use SVN as a "project status" system - all it would show clients is the code you're developing. It'd be much better to use some form of project management system.
Andy Shellam
2010-02-23 11:09:22
Thanks Andy, it seems that maybe I've misunderstood what DAV actually allows you to see in the browser - I thought i would be able to view the site in development, but you're saying it would just be the actual code that would be displayed?
ted776
2010-02-23 11:24:32
Yes - DAV simply provides you access to the repository. Think of it as Windows Explorer for an SVN repository over the web - Explorer doesn't show you the contents of the files, only the files/folders themselves. If you meant viewing the site in progress - get SVN on your server, checkout a working copy for the site, point your EasyApache to that working copy directory, and set up a cron job to update the copy every hour/day/whatever's convenient. You can then use svnserve to serve your repository over an svn:// link so you can commit to it off your PC.
Andy Shellam
2010-02-23 11:46:48
Here's an example: http://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/subversion/. This is a repository served over WebDAV.
Andy Shellam
2010-02-23 11:49:03
OK cheers Andy. This is what I think I will do now - install SVN on my web server and local linux machine, set up a subdomain for a site hosted on my web server, e.g http://svn.examplesite.com, create svn repo somewhere like /repos,import the live examplesite.com files into the repo,use svnserve to allow me to checkout files to my local machineThis is just for starters but does this make sense?
ted776
2010-02-23 12:00:49
Yep that looks like a good start, the svnserve documentation is pretty good (Google for the subversion book.) I've been using SVN like this for a few years.
Andy Shellam
2010-02-23 12:07:10