asked on

Version control reccomendations

Hi Experts,

I have just released a fairly large sized project that took me about a year to develop.

During the development, version control was not a problem because we just had a single development server, and there are only 2 of us working on the project so it was simple.

However now that we are live, I am having trouble with different files of different types, some with 1 or 2 modifications in, others with 10 or 15, but they are the same file, but on the dev & live sites.

I need a nice version control system so that I can keep track of what is going on, and make sure that modifications are not put live in one place and not live in another to keep the file types the same.

Now being the cheap little coder that I am, I have no interest in spending $400 on a system I know nothing about.

Does anyone have any reccomendations on good version control systems?

I have a 3 way model of development.

1.) Master development machine holds all development files.
2.) Development server <-- We put the files manually from the master dev machine to the dev server.
3.) Live server. <-- Again the move from the development server to the live server is manual.

Now this is allot of work for a lowly person like myself. I don't need a system that is overly complicated because I am not doing overly complicated things. I am just needing to be able to keep track of development changes, and make sure that either I or the other developer on this project don't make changes to the live system without first going through the process of Dev machine, to dev server to live server.

I hope I have made myself clear, but It's difficult to understand what I want, without a full grasp of what SVN and version control software actually does.

So what can you guys reccomend as good software? As mentioned earlier I don't want to pay the earth, nor do I want something that's overly complicated, because what I am attempting to achive is not that complicated.

Below is a little project information for your info.

Type: Website
Language: PHP
Developers: 2
Current version control: me.

Thanks!

profya

I use Microsoft's visual source safe, it is easy to use and very function. It does not support PHP by default, however, you can drag php or any file and drop it into the application, when you need to work on, you check it out. I don't know if your IDE supports version control if yes, it may use SS.

I found this topic discussing what you are talking about. http://www.zefhemel.com/archives/2005/02/12/php-version-control

I found other open source version and supversion control, however, it is hard to use because they do use commands on console.
http://www.google.com/search?q=php+version+control+&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

SOLUTION

profya

membership

This solution is only available to members.

To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.

Start Free Trial

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

gr8gonzo

membership

This solution is only available to members.

To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.

Start Free Trial

billy_howard

ASKER

The most fantastic comments, really well thought out and really explained it well. Can't describe how much better that makes me feel!

Thanks!