Re: Versioning vs Revisioning

Chris Ruprecht wrote:

> a version is a property of a single file, a revision is the combination
> of a version of many files. Many different files (a specific version of
> each) make up one revision of some package.

Uh oh - getting into some slippery slopes here because of differing sets
of definitions about "version" versus "revision".

Most of the SCM research literature I see define "version" as a general
term, with "revision" and "variant" as different kinds of versions:
- a "revision" is a "version" of an object that is intended to replace
its predecessor instance
- a "variant" is a "version" of an object that is intended to co-exist
with its predecessor (e.g. evolve in parallel)

Alternatively, back in the days of RCS and SCCS, both were often
referred to as "revision control" but not necessarily "version control".
In those times, the definitions were almost the opposite of what Chris
wrotes above: a "revision" was of exactly one file; a "version" was of a
collection of one or more file revisions.

That led to yet another definition of the difference between the two: a
"revision" was a number or sequence of numbers (e.g., "1.2.3.4") but a
"version" was a (typically more meaningful) "name".

I typically end up going back to the definitions from the SCM research
community which emphasize the intended permanence<->transience (e.g.
obsoleting the predecessor or co-existing with it in parallel)
separately from the scope they are applied to (a single file/element
-vs- an entire "component" -vs- the whole repository)

-- 
Brad Appleton <brad@bradapp.net> www.bradapp.net
    Software CM Patterns (www.scmpatterns.com)
    Effective Teamwork, Practical Integration
"And miles to go before I sleep" --Robert Frost
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