Source Code version control systems

Last update: May 26, 2020

General

These are called Version Control Systems (VCS) or Source Code managers (SCM). Most keep track of different versions of the program by having a copy of an old version somewhere. Many keep track of differences between 2 consecutive versions. I have only found VCS that track plain ASCII source code so they will not track MS Word .DOCX files or anything like it. The VCS usually use a utility called "diff", or something like it, but "diff" only works on ASCII text files, not binary files.

Some of these are command-line oriented, some have a separate GUI client you must install. GUI clients can make it easier for people who are new to VCS.

Some paid website hosts come with a free VCS but sometimes you have to install it yourself. I happen to like http://bluehost.com/ because it's easy to install apps with one click. I can also upload my HTML files, many other sites do not do that, they make you use an online editor.

This is not an exhaustive list, this is mainly a list of mature tools. Tools are listed in alphabetical order.

Now, on to the apps and sites!

Bazaar

1. Bazaar is a version control tool that is based on a distributed and client-server repository model. It provides cross-platform OS support and is written in Python 2, Pyrex and C. http://bazaar.canonical.com/en/

Bitbucket

1. https://bitbucket.org/
2. Bitbucket was developed by Atlassian, the company that gave us the well-known management tools Trello, Confluence, and Jira. In contrast with GitHub, Bitbucket provides convenience when working with private repositories but is inconvenient when searching for open-source projects. For this reason, Bitbucket is commonly used by enterprises rather than individual developers.

Codebase

1. Git, Mercurial and Subversion hosting with project management tools. https://www.codebasehq.com/
2. Features: Code Hosting, Tickets, Issues & Milestones, File Sharing, Time Tracking, Discussions, Wikis/Notebooks.

CVS

1. http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/cvs
2. Free.

Github

1. There is Github, free version now has unlimited private and public repos. https://github.com There are also several documentation tools that read comments from your source code and integrate with GIT to produce documentation.
2. There are several GUIs for GIT which are good for beginners.
3. Github for teams if $4/month/user. https://github.blog/2020-04-14-github-is-now-free-for-teams/
4. Github pricing and plan features: http://github.com/pricing
5. All items on Github might have to be open source. Check the terms.
6. You can use Markdown to document things but Github adds more features to its markdown, so it's called Github-flavor markdown. Writing in Markdown makes it super easy to convert Markdown to other formats like PDF, HTML, Latex, etc.
7. Free private repos have limit of 3 collaborators?
8. Features: Issue tracker, wiki page for each project, actions, graph of commits per day, pull requests, keeps track of different versions of your project, each project can have a temporary branch to test some new code, host code and binaries for download.

Github Desktop

1. Github desktop is a GUI that runs on your PC and interfaces with online Github. https://help.github.com/en/desktop/getting-started-with-github-desktop/installing-github-desktop

Git

1. Download and install on your own OS like Linux, Mac OSX and Windows. Has some GUI clients here: https://git-scm.com/downloads/guis.
2. Download Git: https://git-scm.com/downloads

Git for Windows

I'm listing this separately as I think it's a separately developed project from Git.

1. https://gitforwindows.org/
2. Provides BASH emulation. Has its own GUI. Has Windows shell integration.

Gitlab

1. Main page: https://about.gitlab.com/what-is-gitlab/. Used by major companies.
2. Gitlab pricing: https://about.gitlab.com/pricing/

Mercurial

1. Mercurial is a distributed revision-control tool which is written in python and intended for software developers. The operating systems that it supports are Unix-like, Windows and macOS. https://www.mercurial-scm.org/

Monotone

1. Monotone, written in C++, is a tool for distributed revision control. The OS that it supports includes Unix, Linux, BSD, Mac OS X, and Windows. https://www.monotone.ca/

Phabricator

1. Phabricator is a set of tools for developing software. It includes applications for code review, repository hosting, bug tracking, project management, and more. Phabricator is powerful, fast, scalable, and completely open source. You can download and install it on your own hardware for free, or launch a hosted instance with us. https://www.phacility.com/

Sourceforge

1. https://sourceforge.net/
2. Features: Can create a wiki for each project.

SVN

1. Aka Apache Subversion. https://subversion.apache.org/

Documentation apps

which integrate with VCS.

Readthedocs

Readthedocs

FREE. Whenever you push code to your favorite version control system, whether that is Git, Mercurial, Bazaar, or Subversion, we will automatically build your docs so your code and documentation are never out of sync. Of course we build and host your docs for the web, but they are also viewable as PDFs, as single page HTML, and for eReaders. No additional configuration is required. We can host and build multiple versions of your docs so having a 1.0 version of your docs and a 2.0 version of your docs is as easy as having a separate branch or tag in your version control system. You must import docs from a project's source code, there is no way to enter docs manually. https://readthedocs.org/.

More links.

1. April 2020. Top 5 VCS. https://www.softwaretestinghelp.com/version-control-software/ This one is good because it lists pros and cons for each tool.
2. A DDH search for more info
3. Top VCS tools with more detailed pros and cons. https://yalantis.com/blog/github-and-alternatives-what-is-the-best-hosting-service-for-your-software/
4. 2017. Top 50 repo hosts. https://stackify.com/source-code-repository-hosts/