I know other version control software exists, but does anyone use it? Why? What are the differences? All I’ve ever actually seen people use is git.
There is pijul.
- Pijul’s defining feature is its innovative algebra of patches model for version control, allowing changes to be applied in any order without creating conflicts, thus simplifying collaborative work.
- It efficiently handles branches and merges, with its patch theory often enabling it to automatically resolve conflicts, eliminating much of the headache typically associated with merge conflicts.
- Pijul is also free and open-source
Check this out: https://stackoverflow.blog/2023/05/23/for-those-who-just-dont-git-it-ep-573/
I am so incredibly intrigued by this! This might sound like a dumb question, but are there any examples of what this looks like hosted on GitHub? My employer mandates GitHub as a standardized location for enterprise code. So I’m curious if there’s a way to live in both worlds at once and not go mad.
Git is definitely dominating the landscape. The fact that it is free software plays a big role. There are alternatives, but they are unlikely to gain much adoption. They may provide slightly better UX or marginally more comfortable flows, but it’s not enough to replace Git. Not to mention, most developers don’t even really care about which SCM they use.
Not to mention, most developers don’t even really care about which SCM they use.
Get them to use CVS for a while. They will care then.
You clearly haven’t used ClearCase. That would seriously reallign your definition of “pain”… :-)
There’s perforce which is primarily used for game development. Often games have a lot of binary files that are hard/impossible to generate diffs of unlike text based files. Perforce requires you to check out individual files and prevents any merge conflicts on an individual file basis.
My experience with Perforce hasn’t been really positive - especially compared to Plastic SCM, which is amazing. The merge tracking in history is such a cool feature, and it’s generally really smooth to work with.
The only issue is the pricing model, which is also a reason why I sadly can’t use it on many projects. Unity way too greedy and their strategy is to just acquire and paywall anything usable.
I actually kind of miss Subversion etc now. Git was perfectly designed for open source projects, but its easy branching model has significantly undermined the practice of Continuous Integration in enterprise environments. I get that maybe devs just prefer working in an isolated branch, but something has been lost.
Couldn’t agree more. We used Crucible as a code reviewing tool, which allowed us to develop directly on main while being able to pick-and-choose commits to add to a review. This closed that CI gap for us in a meaningful way.
However, Crucible seems to be reaching end of life (my company even denied renewal of licenses for it). So now we’re forced back into Gitflow, and it’s sooooo painful.
Domains like CAD use revision control, if you’re looking for a rabbit hole to a parallel world to get lost in on a Sunday. It’s not to be completely confused with RCS that predated VCS.
