Version Control

Version Control

A version control system (also known as a Revision Control System) is a repository of files, often the files for the source code of computer programs, with monitored access. Every change made to the source is tracked, along with who made the change, why they made it, and references to problems fixed, or enhancements introduced, by the change.

Version control systems are essential for any form of distributed, collaborative development. Whether it is the history of a wiki page or large software development project, the ability to track each change as it was made, and to reverse changes when necessary can make all the difference between a well managed and controlled process and an uncontrolled ‘first come, first served’ system. It can also serve as a mechanism for due diligence for software projects.

Version Tracking

Developers may wish to compare today’s version of some software with yesterday’s version or last year’s version. Since version control systems keep track of every version of the software, this becomes a straightforward task. Knowing the what, who, and when of changes will help with comparing the performance of particular versions, working out when bugs were introduced (or fixed), and so on. Any problems that arose from a change can then be followed up by an examination of who made the change and the reasons they gave for making the change.

Coordinating Teams

Resource development is usually carried out by teams, either co-located or distributed. Version control is central to coordinating teams of contributors. It lets one contributor work on a copy of the resources and then release their changes back to the common core when ready. Other contributors work on their own copies of the same resources at the same time, unaffected by each other’s changes until they choose to merge or commit their changes back to the project. Any conflicts that arise - when two contributors independently change the same part of a resource - are automatically flagged when the changes are merged. Such conflicts can then be managed by the contributors.

Typically in open source projects, version control systems allow anyone to read and copy the project resources, but only authenticated users, known as committers, are allowed to update source code in the repository.

Due Diligence

Many activities in business are accompanied by a responsibility to perform ‘due diligence’ checks. Precisely what these checks entail will depend on the business activity in question, but with regard to intellectual property one important ‘due diligence’ activity is the tracking of the ownership of its constituent parts. So for example, if someone creates a piece of software and wishes her organisation to release it, her organisation will almost certainly want to check the provenance of all the code within the software. This process is facilitated by the ability to track who made which changes to the code, and when they were made. A version control system enables a list of contributors to be compiled and the dates of their contributions to be ascertained. Such a list can be easily cross-checked with a list of IP contracts.