Subversion and other systems

Hello Author,

Does subversion compare favourably with other verion control systems available in the market (commercial / open source)

From what you say,

looks like sv is the best open source version control system ( i guess it is replacing cvs which was widely used?)

How about commercial ones?

CVS is basically getting out of the way of Subversion, so as far as opensource, it will be the standard soon.

As far as commercial tools, it depends. If you compare it to something like clearcase on it's own, there is not a lot subversion can't do (maybe dynamic views). But if you add in the integration with an entire suite, like Rational testmanager, clearquest, reqpro, etc...the commercial tools have an advantage.

So I would say if you have a very formal process, large pocket book and are willing to spend time setting up and admining complex tools, the commercial tools are the way to go. But if you are only comparing version control tools, Subversion cab hold it's own with other tools out there

Author:

Can u think of big corporations that are getting into using 'Subversion'.

I know a major financial institution and a major airline are using it for internal apps (scripts, utilities, configurations, etc). Apache is converting all of it's CVS and other opensource communities are on the way also. Also some well know computer science schools like Rochester Institute of Technology are moving in this dircetion.

You can always checkout this link for updated users

http://subversion.tigris.org/propaganda.html

You metion formal processes wrt ClearCase. ClearCase's best practices are very invasive. They essentially goad you to go down the path of Dynamic Repository, which means that when someone checks in, _everyone_ gets their update whether they want it or not. The stick they use is the fact that there is no built-in way to recursively checkout a directory of resources: you have to write programs to do that for you. And did I mention ClearCase is very sloooowwwwww?

I wish I could advocate for Subversion, but I'm being cut off at every turn.

We are in the process of being forced to upgrade from CVS to ClearCase because of a management decision made 3 years ago. The ClearCase system which has been forced down other groups' throats is constantly going down (like every other day lately, but usually at least once a week).

Nick - sorry to hear that, but it is all to common. I have actaully gone through the same thing (with the same tool) a number of times. I am not sure if this help (or be possible), but what I have done in the past is setup "utility" repositories with Subversion. For example, if Unix admins want a place to store some scripts, you don't want them (and this is what you have to sell) taking up an expensive CC license for a simple task. If you can build a simple migration system around this, other areas will start to migrate and if you are luckly, someone may see less can be more.

For all the ClearCase user out there, don't get me wrong...I am not bashing the tool (totally) - I have done presentations at the Rational User Conference so I am playing both sides. But as Nick say, it is relativly invasive, but this is intentional. Some oragnizations - mostly large, remote development groups - need to have this kind of structure. For example, if you are outsourcing your development or testing. The key to success there is having a very formal process of moving requirements to code to test, etc. I am probably preaching to the choir, but the probably most organizations hit with these large toolsets, like rational, is they are portrayed as a fix all your development woes. Like any tool, it is how you use it and most organizations end up having a $3,000 a seat checkin/checkout tool and no more.

OK - off the soapbox and back to the technical stuff!