I currently manage a group of about 20 developers for a +
I currently manage a group of about 20 developers for a Fortune 500 company. We used CVS from January of 2001 until May of 2004 when we converted all of our repositories over - to Subversion.
+ to Subversion. -The advantages we received from Subversion are immense. +
The advantages we received from Subversion are immense. Before our conversion to CVS from VSS, we had two full time employees managing our production builds. Upon conversion to CVS we cut that resource count down to one. This resource @@ -223,24 +225,24 @@ We had two CVS "experts" in house which included me and one of my direct reports. We were constantly called in to resolve issues. I myself spent a ton of time managing the support of - the CVS repositories.
+ the CVS repositories. -After running across Subversion by chance in May of 2003, I +
After running across Subversion by chance in May of 2003, I started piloting it at home. As I used it more, I became convinced that this was a tool that my team needed in order to increase our productivity. After using it for a while, I was able to come up with some specific areas that justified our conversion to Subversion in order to maximize our productivity - and code quality:
+ and code quality:As a manager, converting to Subversion was one of the best +
As a manager, converting to Subversion was one of the best decisions I have made thus far that had a such a direct and - highly visible impact on the productivity of my team.
+ highly visible impact on the productivity of my team. -I hope this helps you make your case for Subversion. My +
I hope this helps you make your case for Subversion. My personal opinion is that no one should even consider CVS at this point in time. Subversion is a great product and the support you get just on the mailing lists alone (from the development - team no less!) is second to none.
+ team no less!) is second to none.For my own company Controlling Edge and at one of my +
For my own company Controlling Edge and at one of my customers S4 Technology (www.s4-technology.com) I have been running subversion since 0.17 and have never looked back. While there were a few issues initially we have never @@ -319,22 +321,22 @@ rsync. We don't have the memory for a full svn client nor the disk space for the working copy but one day we will write our own svn client that can just do the checkout without the need - for the wc support files or the memory overhead.
+ for the wc support files or the memory overhead. -For the past 9 years I had been installing CVS at customer +
For the past 9 years I had been installing CVS at customer sites that required version control and wouldn't hesitate now to - recommend SVN instead.
+ recommend SVN instead.I work for a government contracting facility. We develop +
I work for a government contracting facility. We develop everything from hardware, to full-fledged software applications, all of which supports mission-critical activities. We're currently using it on one of our most @@ -344,9 +346,9 @@ features and upgrades. Our small test projects would turn into fully-funded applications, and as such, we had to restructure them. It was just too painful with CVS, and we - decided to look for something better.
+ decided to look for something better. -We found Subversion when it was at version 0.17. We started +
We found Subversion when it was at version 0.17. We started with just a few developers using it, and then migrated our other developers over time. I can say without question that it has been one of the best decisions that we've made. Subversion works @@ -360,64 +362,65 @@ data, and our developers have found it to be a very intuitive tool. Subversion has been rock-solid in our environment, and very much complements our software engineering practices. I can't - speak highly enough of it.
+ speak highly enough of it.I introduced SVN to Absolute Systems Inc. +
I introduced SVN to Absolute Systems Inc. (www.absolutesys.com) where I work about a year ago, and for about 8 months we ran internal SVN pilots, played around to gain - experience and trust, etc.
+ experience and trust, etc. -In the last 4 months we have migrated all of our internal +
In the last 4 months we have migrated all of our internal product source repositories from Visual Source-Safe to SVN using - an internally-written VSS-to-SVN migration tool.
+ an internally-written VSS-to-SVN migration tool. -Our largest SVN repository is now 3.7GB and currently has +
Our largest SVN repository is now 3.7GB and currently has 68806 revisions. We are running SVN 1.0.1 + Apache 2.0.48 on - Linux. ...
+ Linux. ... -SVN is a superb piece of work, and it is a *huge* step +
SVN is a superb piece of work, and it is a *huge* step
forward from VSS. To put things in perspective... previously we
had 26 VSS databases for one product, primarily because of
problems with VSS when the repositories grow large. As you can
imagine, trying to manage product releases across so many
- repositories was really painful.
+ repositories was really painful.
Now, with SVN, *all* of the artifacts for that same product are +
Now, with SVN, *all* of the artifacts for that same product are in a single repository, meaning that with a few cheap copy operations all of the sources that make up a given release can - be grouped together. ...
+ be grouped together. ...I'm sure you are aware about the fantastic product you +
I'm sure you are aware about the fantastic product you people have built, but I'd like to tell you a little story which - should give new users some comfort about it. + should give new users some comfort about it.
-Here in Conectiva we used to maintain our packages in a file +
Here in Conectiva we used to maintain our packages in a file based system, storing the latest SRPM packages, and also some old versions in case something bad happened. For a long time we wanted to build some system which would make our life easier in the daily work, and at the same time would give us some - flexibility accessing historic information.
+ flexibility accessing historic information. -Shortening the history a lot, 1 year and 6 months ago, the - first revision was committed into our repository:
+Shortening the history a lot, 1 year and 6 months ago, the + first revision was committed into our repository:
% svn log https://svn.distro.conectiva/repos/cnc -r 1
@@ -426,29 +429,30 @@
Created basic structure.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
+
- Since then, 5 complete Conectiva Linux distributions were +
Since then, 5 complete Conectiva Linux distributions were committed into the repository, and every single update in the distribution is done using Subversion. We've already surpassed 50000 revisions, in a 30GB repository. Even though we have had space, memory, and other kinds of problems around the repository, I'm proud to say we have never lost a single bit of - information since then.
+ information since then. -Based on this, the least I could do is sending a big THANK - YOU for everyone involved in the project.
+Based on this, the least I could do is sending a big THANK + YOU for everyone involved in the project.
Teledata Communications has been using Subversion for +
Teledata Communications has been using Subversion for storing all of the source code on all our software products for the past year (since version 0.24). I have been very happy with the overall results and they way that developer impacts are @@ -458,122 +462,122 @@ year to the move away from our prior system with locking (and the corresponding messages back and for to have something 'unlocked'). We continued to expand the use of the product to - all groups in the company.
+ all groups in the company. -Mark Bohlman
- Software Development Manager
Mark Bohlman
+ Software Development Manager
AST makes automotive scan tools. We keep our source code +
AST makes automotive scan tools. We keep our source code for both the embedded side and the Windows interface side under Subversion. In addition we keep our (large) databases under - Subversion as well.
+ Subversion as well. -GladeSoft sells an embedded webserver toolkit and +
GladeSoft sells an embedded webserver toolkit and application framework. Subversion stores all of our code and documentation. In addition we store all of our business records - in Subversion; so I guess we can't pull an Enron as easily :-) -
+ in Subversion; so I guess we can't pull an Enron as easily + :-) -Neither company has lost a single change with +
Neither company has lost a single change with Subversion. Both companies also have satellite workers who use SSL to access the source repositories. Subversion administration is relatively straightforward provided you use Apache so there are no permission problems. At AST most of the server administration is done by one of the mechanics who has - other work to do.
+ other work to do.I manage a 13 member application development group for a +
I manage a 13 member application development group for a trading firm. There are about 9 other developers outside the group, and some others, so we have about 20 people using our - subversion repository.
+ subversion repository. -For the past 10 years we used SCCS. It was very frustrating +
For the past 10 years we used SCCS. It was very frustrating --- files could not be renamed or moved, developers would forget about locks they had acquired, and remote development was next to impossible. SCCS also made our limited Windows development - painful (we are a Unix shop).
+ painful (we are a Unix shop). -Since we switched to subversion things have been much better. +
Since we switched to subversion things have been much better. Our entire history was transported into our Subversion repository, so none of our history was lost. I wrote a Python script to transform it directly from SCCS to Subversion, and it was - painless.
+ painless. -Conflicts have been very rare. The ability to easily branch +
Conflicts have been very rare. The ability to easily branch has been very useful; developers can make commits to branches without breaking other people's code. It's easier to see what people are working on as the commits hit our internal commit mailing list. Since we tag each release, we're able to determine which source code contributed to a release. TortiseSVN makes Windows development easy (no more ftping files over, or trying to - build on a remotely mounted samba drive).
+ build on a remotely mounted samba drive). -Robert Zeh
+
Robert Zeh
Manager, Application Development
- Error Free Software
I also have had a very positive experience moving from CVS to - Subversion in a commercial setting. We are a small-ish silicon +
I also have had a very positive experience moving from CVS + to Subversion in a commercial setting. We are a small-ish silicon valley startup that used to have everything in CVS. Shortly after I joined as s/w manager I switched the s/w team to SVN (0.37) with excellent results. We have had zero loss of data, zero down time, with effective branching, easy repository restructuring and constant time tags as our big positives. The entire company will be moving in the near-ish future based on our pilot. And of - course the support from this list is fantastic.
+ course the support from this list is fantastic. -[Fair play dictates that we also include the - wish-list portion of Chris's testimonial...]
+[Fair play dictates that we also include + the wish-list portion of Chris's testimonial...]
-As for my wishlist, it is short - completely seamless and +
As for my wishlist, it is short - completely seamless and foolproof tracking of merge history at the same level as the commercial tools. I don't want to remember revision numbers, I just want to branch and merge with the tool remembering common base versions etc. This is really the only thing I miss about - ClearCase.
+ ClearCase. -[We agree :-). Better merge tracking is on - Subversion's long-term roadmap.]
+[We agree :-). Better merge tracking is + on Subversion's long-term roadmap.]
- -We are using Subversion since version 0.17 and it never +
We are using Subversion since version 0.17 and it never let us down. On contrary it provided a much better experience than any versioning system we have used before, including CVS and perforce. With Apple adding support for .svn files within NIBs with Xcode 1.2 we are certain that subversion is the ideal versioning platform for modern software development on Mac OS - X.
+ X.... I've been using Subversion for personal and team +
... I've been using Subversion for personal and team projects for a few years now. I never regretted it, except for - the deep frustration I feel everytime I have to go back to CVS.
+ the deep frustration I feel everytime I have to go back to + CVS. -I am glad to have introduced many people to this software, +
I am glad to have introduced many people to this software, through projects, talks or a course on versionning systems. I haven't heard anybody disappointed by it, and this doesn't - surprise me. ...
+ surprise me. ...