Comparing two revisions:

Revisions for Comparing Popular Version Control Systems

Tue, 2010-03-30 09:46 by adminSat, 2010-04-03 13:10 by admin

Cleaning up and improving the introduction

Some more notes about integration
< previous diffnext diff >
Changes to Body
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<p><em>This article is not finished neither it's cleaned up. I'm writing a migration guide from svn to bazaar for subversion users currently. If you're interested in this topic you might want to subscribe to feed/RSS in order to be notifed whenever i update it with more information.</em></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span>It's about the sixth years since my first commit
+
<p><strong>Why another comparison review!!?</strong></p><p>Perhaps becuase many of other reviews are either outdated or unfair.</p><p><strong>What's the difference between this and the others!!?</strong></p><p>There are three differences.</p><ul><li><em> The first</em> : Most of the current reviews are written by a user of one of this softwares so the author can't be fair since he has much less experience with the others, in this article however i only write about Bazaar and let the users of other DVCSs to participate and write about their favorite software.</li><li><em>The second</em> : There are many resources available regarding to this topic and each one
  +
has pros and cons. But the main issue i have with them is that most of
  +
them are outdated because all this DVCSs are under very active
  +
development. An issue that exists now, might become a feature! few
  +
months later. So i started this article as a research project which
  +
means that just like DVCSs it's also under active development :). Anyway
  +
if you like to read resources on other sites i suggest you to check the
  +
date they've been published before relying on them. (You can subscribe to this page's RSS/Feed in order to be notices of the
  +
new updates.)</li><li><em>The third :</em> This article is practical becuase it includes personal experiences from users of all these DVCSs, and chalenges they've faced using them ,not only what's been written in Documentations</li></ul><p style="text-align: justify;"><span>It's about the sixth years since my first commit
 
using Subversion,
 
using Subversion,
 
Moving from CVS to Subversion was really amazing, Subversion was
 
Moving from CVS to Subversion was really amazing, Subversion was
 
anyone, on anything, anywhere ,
 
anyone, on anything, anywhere ,
 
at anytime, and also keep track of all this activities.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;">The age of single all-in-one solution is over in many fields including Version Control Systems, each solution has its
 
at anytime, and also keep track of all this activities.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;">The age of single all-in-one solution is over in many fields including Version Control Systems, each solution has its
-
own pros and cons and Same applies to VCSs. So in this article i'm going to compare three major DVCSs available. There are many resources available regarding to this topic and each one has pros and cons. But the main issue i have with them is that most of them are outdated because all this DVCSs are under very active development. An issue that exists now, might become a feature! few months later. So i started this article as a research project which means that just like DVCSs it's also under active development :). Anyway if you like to read resources on other sites i suggest you to check the date they've been published before relying on them.</p><p><strong>Why did i start with Bazaar ?</strong></p><p>I decided to start with Bazaar for several reasons</p><ul><li>It's written with python and for this reason it's much easier to extend and develope than C or C++.</li><li>It's a multi purpose VCS covering several different Use Cases</li><li>It's plugin system is quite easy to use</li><li>It's comes with several great cross platform GUI utilities</li></ul><p>Drupal infrastructure team has finally decided to use Git instead of Bazaar. I read most of the comments there which was extremely useful and it clearly confirmed my point of view which i mentioned earlier in this page. Bazaar is the winner at the time of writing this article by both Ease of use and Extensibility. The main reason that they decided to use Git was the number of people willing to help. <a href="http://groups.drupal.org/node/48818">Evaluation discussion for how to move Drupal.org off of CVS | groups.drupal.org</a>
+
own pros and cons and Same applies to VCSs. So in this article i'm going to compare three major DVCSs available.</p><p>My main focus on this article is Bazaar since i've
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</p><p>My main focus on this article is Bazaar but you'll see notes from my friend Antoni who is a Mercusial(HG) user.</p><h3>Installation</h3><h4>Bazaar</h4><p>Karmic : <br>Add this repository for Bazaar gui
+
decided to start (You can read why i decided to start with Bazaar at the Conclusions
  +
section) but i asked my friend <a href="http://drupal.org/user/334209">Antoni</a> who is a Mercurial(HG)
  +
user to help with all sections related to HG. Kudus
  +
to him. Currently i use whygitisbetterthanx.com site for Git but i'm also looking for Git user to share his personal experience by using Git with me. So if you're Git user i'll be more than happy to hear your opinion :)</p><h3>Installation</h3><h4>Bazaar</h4><p>Karmic : <br>Add this repository for Bazaar gui
 
(known as bazaar explorer)</p><p>{syntaxhighlighter brush: bash;fontsize: 100; first-line: 1; }ppa:bzr-explorer-dev/ppa{/syntaxhighlighter}</p><p>If
 
(known as bazaar explorer)</p><p>{syntaxhighlighter brush: bash;fontsize: 100; first-line: 1; }ppa:bzr-explorer-dev/ppa{/syntaxhighlighter}</p><p>If
 
you're not using Ubuntu Karmic more information here :&nbsp;
 
you're not using Ubuntu Karmic more information here :&nbsp;
 
https://launchpad.net/~bzr-explorer-dev/+archive/ppa</p><p>{syntaxhighlighter brush: bash;fontsize: 100; first-line: 1; }sudo apt-get install bzr bzr-explorer bzr-svn
 
https://launchpad.net/~bzr-explorer-dev/+archive/ppa</p><p>{syntaxhighlighter brush: bash;fontsize: 100; first-line: 1; }sudo apt-get install bzr bzr-explorer bzr-svn
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{/syntaxhighlighter}</p><h3>Integration </h3><h4>Bazaar </h4><p>Has a plugin for Eclipse, the installation proccess was not as smooth
+
{/syntaxhighlighter}</p><h3>Integration </h3><p>Software development without using third-party applications and IDEs is a waste of time! So we should able to use our favoride VCS via our favorite IDE!</p><h4>Bazaar </h4><p>Has a plugin for Eclipse, the installation process was not as smooth
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as subversion but i can't say that it was difficult. i had to manually
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as subeclipse but i can't say that it was difficult. i had to manually
-
add the bzr binary and plugin folders location and also coinfugre few
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add the bzr binary and plugin folders location and also configure few
 
options (All couldn't be pre configured). But according to BzrEclipse
 
options (All couldn't be pre configured). But according to BzrEclipse
 
roadmap, it's going to be much better soon. number of feature is also
 
roadmap, it's going to be much better soon. number of feature is also
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very limited comparing to subversion.</p><h4>Mercurial</h4><p>Mercurial is much better integrated with
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very limited comparing to subeclipse.</p><h4>Mercurial</h4><p>Mercurial is much better integrated with
 
other applications, for
 
other applications, for
 
example currently netbeans
 
example currently netbeans
 
version, however bazaar developers say that in 2.x serious and upwards it's no longer a issue. bazaar supports various different tree formats which can
 
version, however bazaar developers say that in 2.x serious and upwards it's no longer a issue. bazaar supports various different tree formats which can
 
causes lots of headaches. this command helped
 
causes lots of headaches. this command helped
-
https://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/sourceforge/ticket/517</p>
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https://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/sourceforge/ticket/517</p><h3>GUI</h3><p>With lots of tools available out there , having a good GUI is getting more critical everyday and i think the main reason is because it decrease the learning curve dramatically.</p><h4>Bazaar</h4>
 
<h3>Roadmap</h3>
 
<h3>Roadmap</h3>
 
<p>All major DVCSs are under active development, which means that
 
<p>All major DVCSs are under active development, which means that
 
</p><h3>Plugins</h3><h4>Bazaar</h4><p>Bazaar like the other three supports plugins , in my experience <a href="http://wiki.bazaar.canonical.com/BzrPlugins?action=show&amp;redirect=UsingPlugins#Installing%20a%20plugin">installing Bazaar plugins</a> is as easy as downloading and then extracting it
 
</p><h3>Plugins</h3><h4>Bazaar</h4><p>Bazaar like the other three supports plugins , in my experience <a href="http://wiki.bazaar.canonical.com/BzrPlugins?action=show&amp;redirect=UsingPlugins#Installing%20a%20plugin">installing Bazaar plugins</a> is as easy as downloading and then extracting it
 
into the plugins folder.
 
into the plugins folder.
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That's it. it's even easier even windows.</p><h4>Notes</h4><p>There is a <a href="http://whygitisbetterthanx.com">nice website</a> for comparing git vs others, very useful. Funny thing is that HG users <a href="http://whyhgisbetterthanx.com">did the same!</a> but made their point quite clear! Also Git users made another one <a href="http://whybzrisbetterthanx.github.com/">for Bazaar!</a></p><p>There
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That's it. it's even easier even windows.</p><h3>Performance</h3><h4>Bazaar</h4><h4>Git</h4><h4>Mercurial</h4><h3>Features</h3><p>All of the major DVCSs have the important features so i'll skip the feature that are available on all of them. Also this part is mostly a respond to <a href="http://whygitisbetterthanx.com">whygitisbetterthanx.com</a>&nbsp; because it seems that the information they're providing is not accurate.</p><h4>Cheap local branching</h4><h5>Bazaar</h5><p>As far as i know, Bazaar currently does support this
  +
feature, but developers are working on it, i'll write more when i
  +
gathered more accurate information.</p><h5>Git</h5><p>According to <a href="http://whygitisbetterthanx.com">whygitisbetterthanx.com</a> git has this feature in a very good way!</p><h5>Mercurial</h5><h4>Staging</h4><h5>Git</h5><p>According to whygitisbetterthanx.com git has this feature in a very good way!</p><h5>Bazaar</h5><p>Bazaar has this feature but not out of the box, they only thing you need to do is creating another branch and bind you current branch to it, then commit you changes to that branch. when you're finished you can bind that branch to any branch you want and push/commit the changes! instead of directly committing your changes.</p><h5>Mercurial</h5>
  +
  +
  +
<h4>Notes</h4><p>There is a <a href="http://whygitisbetterthanx.com">nice website</a> for comparing git vs others, very useful. Funny thing is that HG users <a href="http://whyhgisbetterthanx.com">did the same!</a> but made their point quite clear! Also Git users made another one <a href="http://whybzrisbetterthanx.github.com/">for Bazaar!</a></p><p>There
 
is also another website for comparing Bazaar and Git , they approach is
 
is also another website for comparing Bazaar and Git , they approach is
 
interesting and it's based on personal experience using Tweeter!
 
interesting and it's based on personal experience using Tweeter!
-
http://www.bzrvsgit.com/</p><p><a href="http://wiki.bazaar.canonical.com/IDEIntegration"></a>
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http://www.bzrvsgit.com/</p><h4>Conclusions</h4><p>In this part each Version Control User writes about the main reasons why he ignore a particular DVCS or choose it.</p><h4>Bazaar</h4><p>I
  +
decided to start with Bazaar for several reasons</p><ul><li>It's written with python and for this reason it's
  +
much easier to extend and develop than C or C++.</li><li>It's a
  +
multi purpose VCS covering several different Use Cases</li><li>It's plugin
  +
system is quite easy to use (With no compiling or building process)</li><li>It's
  +
comes with several great cross platform GUI utilities</li></ul><h3>News</h3><p>More and more software and developers are migrating to DVCSs, here you can read their favorite DVCSs </p><ul><li>2010-2-x : Drupal.org's infrastructure team has finally decided to use Git instead
  +
of Bazaar. I read most of the comments there which was extremely useful. But the reason they chosed Git was mostly because of the number of people willing to help. So i can say that Git community is very active. <a href="http://groups.drupal.org/node/48818">Evaluation discussion for
  +
how to move Drupal.org off of CVS | groups.drupal.org</a></li></ul><p><a href="http://wiki.bazaar.canonical.com/IDEIntegration"></a>
 
</p><h3>Resources </h3><ul><li><a href="http://wiki.bazaar.canonical.com/BzrExplorer">BzrExplorer - Bazaar Version Control</a>
 
</p><h3>Resources </h3><ul><li><a href="http://wiki.bazaar.canonical.com/BzrExplorer">BzrExplorer - Bazaar Version Control</a>
 
</li><li><a href="http://doc.bazaar.canonical.com/latest/en/user-guide/bazaar_workflows.html">Workflows — Bazaar v2.1.1 documentation</a>
 
</li><li><a href="http://doc.bazaar.canonical.com/latest/en/user-guide/bazaar_workflows.html">Workflows — Bazaar v2.1.1 documentation</a>
Revision of Sat, 2010-04-03 13:10:

Comparing Version Control Systems : Bazaar vs Mercurial (hg) vs Git

Toturial

Why another comparison review!!?

Perhaps becuase many of other reviews are either outdated or unfair.

What's the difference between this and the others!!?

There are three differences.

  • The first : Most of the current reviews are written by a user of one of this softwares so the author can't be fair since he has much less experience with the others, in this article however i only write about Bazaar and let the users of other DVCSs to participate and write about their favorite software.
  • The second : There are many resources available regarding to this topic and each one has pros and cons. But the main issue i have with them is that most of them are outdated because all this DVCSs are under very active development. An issue that exists now, might become a feature! few months later. So i started this article as a research project which means that just like DVCSs it's also under active development :). Anyway if you like to read resources on other sites i suggest you to check the date they've been published before relying on them. (You can subscribe to this page's RSS/Feed in order to be notices of the new updates.)
  • The third : This article is practical becuase it includes personal experiences from users of all these DVCSs, and chalenges they've faced using them ,not only what's been written in Documentations

It's about the sixth years since my first commit using Subversion, Moving from CVS to Subversion was really amazing, Subversion was superior in many ways and it served me well. But the age of centralized version control systems is over, we need much more powerful VCSs to deal with huge projects. Now days we should to be able to work with anyone, on anything, anywhere , at anytime, and also keep track of all this activities.

The age of single all-in-one solution is over in many fields including Version Control Systems, each solution has its own pros and cons and Same applies to VCSs. So in this article i'm going to compare three major DVCSs available.

My main focus on this article is Bazaar since i've decided to start (You can read why i decided to start with Bazaar at the Conclusions section) but i asked my friend Antoni who is a Mercurial(HG) user to help with all sections related to HG. Kudus to him. Currently i use whygitisbetterthanx.com site for Git but i'm also looking for Git user to share his personal experience by using Git with me. So if you're Git user i'll be more than happy to hear your opinion :)

Installation

Bazaar

Karmic :
Add this repository for Bazaar gui (known as bazaar explorer)

ppa:bzr-explorer-dev/ppa

If you're not using Ubuntu Karmic more information here :  https://launchpad.net/~bzr-explorer-dev/+archive/ppa

sudo apt-get install bzr bzr-explorer bzr-svn

Integration

Software development without using third-party applications and IDEs is a waste of time! So we should able to use our favoride VCS via our favorite IDE!

Bazaar

Has a plugin for Eclipse, the installation process was not as smooth as subeclipse but i can't say that it was difficult. i had to manually add the bzr binary and plugin folders location and also configure few options (All couldn't be pre configured). But according to BzrEclipse roadmap, it's going to be much better soon. number of feature is also very limited comparing to subeclipse.

Mercurial

Mercurial is much better integrated with other applications, for example currently netbeans does not support Bezaar. more information here IDEIntegration - Bazaar Version Control

Migration

Obviously any DVCSs without proper migration utilities is useless for most projects, so lets see what each one has to offer.

Bazaar

To get started with bazaar as fast as you possible with subversion background : BzrForSVNUsers - Bazaar Version Control and Bazaar for Subversion users — Bazaar Migration Docs

You might want to have look at Migrating from Subversion to Bazaar (Including special guide for Sourceforge projects)

Note : While i was trying to migrate one of my sourceproject from svn to bzr, i came into some very nasty issue due to the difference between server and local bzr version, however bazaar developers say that in 2.x serious and upwards it's no longer a issue. bazaar supports various different tree formats which can causes lots of headaches. this command helped https://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/sourceforge/ticket/517

GUI

With lots of tools available out there , having a good GUI is getting more critical everyday and i think the main reason is because it decrease the learning curve dramatically.

Bazaar

Roadmap

All major DVCSs are under active development, which means that their roadmap plays an important role in the decision.

Bazaar

Bazaar roadmap And also it looks like that bazaar developers really care about their users ThreeWishes - Bazaar Version Control , Bazaar also has Bazaar Performance Roadmap

Plugins

Bazaar

Bazaar like the other three supports plugins , in my experience installing Bazaar plugins is as easy as downloading and then extracting it into the plugins folder. That's it. it's even easier even windows.

Performance

Bazaar

Git

Mercurial

Features

All of the major DVCSs have the important features so i'll skip the feature that are available on all of them. Also this part is mostly a respond to whygitisbetterthanx.com  because it seems that the information they're providing is not accurate.

Cheap local branching

Bazaar

As far as i know, Bazaar currently does support this feature, but developers are working on it, i'll write more when i gathered more accurate information.

Git

According to whygitisbetterthanx.com git has this feature in a very good way!

Mercurial

Staging

Git

According to whygitisbetterthanx.com git has this feature in a very good way!

Bazaar

Bazaar has this feature but not out of the box, they only thing you need to do is creating another branch and bind you current branch to it, then commit you changes to that branch. when you're finished you can bind that branch to any branch you want and push/commit the changes! instead of directly committing your changes.

Mercurial

Notes

There is a nice website for comparing git vs others, very useful. Funny thing is that HG users did the same! but made their point quite clear! Also Git users made another one for Bazaar!

There is also another website for comparing Bazaar and Git , they approach is interesting and it's based on personal experience using Tweeter! http://www.bzrvsgit.com/

Conclusions

In this part each Version Control User writes about the main reasons why he ignore a particular DVCS or choose it.

Bazaar

I decided to start with Bazaar for several reasons

  • It's written with python and for this reason it's much easier to extend and develop than C or C++.
  • It's a multi purpose VCS covering several different Use Cases
  • It's plugin system is quite easy to use (With no compiling or building process)
  • It's comes with several great cross platform GUI utilities

News

More and more software and developers are migrating to DVCSs, here you can read their favorite DVCSs

Resources

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