Version Control System in Software Development

 

 "If you are a software developer or a learning student you probably heard of version control system, it is a must known tool for a developer."

 

What is version control? 

Version control/Source control is the practice of tracking and managing the changes to the source code.so a specified file version may be called later if needed Version control system is a software tool that helps all the members of a software team to work on the latest version of the file.

Why we need a Version control system?

 let us imagine a software development company has its workers all around different locations of the world. the company will face lot of issues, some possible problems the company will face are,

1.collabration between the Team: There are so many people located at different locations at some point they need to Communicate between them or they will work on the same project. 

2.Storing versions: The project will not be completed in a single version it may have n number of versions, in that situation there may be a challenge in storing all the versions in a single place. 

3.Restoring the previous versions: Some time we need to look into the previous version of the file to identify the root cause of a bug or defect faced by the developer. 

4.Figure out what changes happened: at some point developers need to know what change made to the code? or where exactly the change happened? 

5.Backup: Incase the system or disk breakdown and there is no backup means all the efforts of the developers will be wasted.

All the problems will be solved by the help of version control system.

 How it works?

There may be several work stations or several developers at different locations, and there is one repository work as a server. The developers uses the repository either for committing or updating the code/ tasks. each developers have their own working copy and all developers store their source code into a particular server repository. Incase any developer face break down then also the work wont stop. there will be a copy of source code in the central repository. 

Benefits of version control system:

•  helps in managing and protecting the source code. 
• keep track of all the modifications made to the code. 
• Comparing earlier versions of the code to find the root cause of the bugs. 
• Version control system provide s smooth work flow.

 Some of the popular version control systems are, GitHub, GitLab, Perforce, Beamstalk , AWS code commit, Apache Subversion.

Types in Version Control System:

1.Local Version Control System: Local version control system is based on a database  located on the Local Computer. The data base stores the different versions of the source file.Main drawback in the Local Version Control system is in collaborating with the co -Developers .

2.Centralised version control system:To deal with the collaboration issue Central Version control system  is Developed.In this version control system there is central server where every developers commit or update their code and collaborate through the central server.every changes made by the Developers will be recorded and stored in the central repository or server. the major drawback in CVS is if the main server goes down there will be stoppage in work and no collaboration between the Developers.if the server crashed all of their works will go to dust. there is no backups for the source files without the server..

3.Distributed version control system: To overcome the issue in the CVS Distributed version control is develped.it is similar to CVS but Every developer will have a copy of all the versions of a source file in the Local machine too.So if the server crashed there will be no stoppage in Work.If the Developers machine breakdown happen they can get the source files from the central server.