Category:Version Control

What is version control?

Version control systems help you keep track of the different versions of files--especially source code files--which change and evolve during the course of a project. But, version control systems can do much, much more for you besides! Source makes it easy to:

• Collaborate with other researchers.
• Package and make your code available--for the RAE, for example.
• Recover past versions of files--very useful for recovering from disasters!
• Highlight differences between two versions of a file--very useful for finding bugs!
• Keep a record of when changes were made, add reminders about why they might have changed, who changed them etc.
• Develop variants (branches) of your code simultaneously.
• Work on your code from several different computers--without losing track of what the latest version is!