vesterberg.se

Version control should be used extensively in a development project. Not only for source code, but also for documentation, readme’s, configuration files and even test data. Put as much as possible under version control. It is possible by the use of environment variables in Eclipse to have a complete Eclipse project under version control that is used by several developers concurrently. I often use separate version control projects for development environment and source code.

For some projects I have even used two version control programs simultaneously. The source code was under cvs-control and I was not allowed to update too often. On my computer I used Perforce to have my own development environment and the source code under version control. Since Perforce leaves no files or directories this combination was perfect. I could version my code as often as I wanted and at the same time I could release at regular intervals to cvs.

My opinion is that you should version often. Do the work in small increments and be disciplined to shortly describe the increments every time. If you have a good version control program and know how it works it doesn’t take many seconds. I use Subversion most of the time now and it is really excellent. If you have a nicely organized development environment you reduce the startup time when you have to go back and do some work on something you built six months ago.