Analysis of Git and Mercurial

Apr 27, 2009, 12:32 (0 Talkback[s])

"Distributed Version Control
In traditional version control systems, there is a central repository that maintains all history. Clients must interact with this repository to examine file history, look at other branches, or commit changes. Typically, clients have a local copy of the versions of files they are working on, but no local storage of previous versions or alternate branches.

"Distributed Version Control Systems (DVCS) use a different structure. With DVCS, every user has their own local repository, complete with project history, branches, etc. Switching to an alternate branch, examining file history, and even committing changes are all local operations. Individual repositories can then exchange information via push and pull operations. A push transfers some local information to a remote repository, and a pull copies remote information to the local repository. Note that neither repository is necessarily "authoritative" with respect to the other. Both repositories may have some local history that the other does not have yet. One key feature of any DVCS system is to make it easy for repositories to unambiguously describe the history they have (and the history they are requesting). Both Git and Mercurial do this by using SHA1 hashes to identify data (files, trees, changesets, etc).

"DVCS's provide a lot of flexibility in developer workflows. They can be used in a manner similar to traditional VCS's, with a central "authoritative" repository with which each developer synchronizes. For larger projects, it is also possible to have a hierarchy of server repositories, with maintainers for each repository accepting changes from downstream developers and then forwarding them upstream. DVCS's also allow developers to share work with each other directly. For example, two developers working on a new feature could work on a common branch and share work with each other independent of an "authoritative" server. Once their work was stable, it could then be pushed to a public repository for a larger audience."

Complete Story

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