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Source Code Control Tools

I think we've all been there - a project without source code control - maybe the project was very small or you had add a couple of developers working on a project - maybe you inherited a project in that state.

The first thing you might notice when working without source code control is that your system is very fragile to change.

You're always working on the production code itself, or on a copy of the production code.

If you're working with a copy of the production code, how many developers can access it, what if they want to make conflicting changes? So you end up trying to make your own SCC system - maybe each developer has their own copy of the production code, and they can only change certain parts, and then comes the pain of trying to integrate those changes back into one completely working codebase.
So, why not just work on the production code itself - well you end up causing another problem - what if the changes you want to make will take 6-8 weeks to implement - you start making substantial changes to the code - and then an end user calls up with a major problem in the copy of the application you just deployed - without an SCC tool, you don't have any way to re-create the copy of the application you deployed - you can't fix the problem and re-deploy that older version - now you've got to either abandon the changes you're working on to fix that bug and hope in your rush, you don't create new ones, or you have to move forward with your proposed changes and leave the user without a solution to the problem for 6-8 weeks.

Those are the types of problems Source Code Control tools were designed to solve.

There are many other Source Code Control tools out there - many are commerical, but there is also a large group of open source SCC Tools you can check out as well - please take some time and see what Source Code Control Tools can do for your current or next project.

Links Of Interest

Eric Sink's Blog - Source Control HowTo

Source Code Control Products
SourceOffSite
- Featuring integration with Visual Studio 2005 and full support for Windows, Macintosh, Linux and Sol
- From $89 to $15446

Team Coherence (.Net/ActiveX/Component/Source Code Control)
- Version Control, Issue Tracking, and Build Management in One Easy-to-use Package
- From $96 to $455

Vault (Tool/Source Code Control)
- Source Control Powered by SQL Server
- From $89 to $267