The history of version control

Version control systems were designed to solve the task how to collaborate effectively on documents. They have gone through various iterations.

  1. Local Version Control Systems (LVCS): In the early days of software development, programmers relied on local version control systems. These systems stored different versions of files and directories on the local disk. Changes were tracked by copying entire directories, creating multiple versions of the project.

    copyright www.phdcomics.com

  2. Centralized Version Control Systems (CVCS): As software development became more collaborative, the need for a centralized solution arose. CVCS, such as Concurrent Versions System (CVS) and Subversion (SVN), were introduced. These systems had a central server that stored the repository and allowed multiple developers to access and commit changes. However, they still had some limitations, such as the reliance on a central server and the inability to work offline effectively.

  3. Distributed Version Control Systems (DVCS): DVCS addressed the limitations of CVCS by allowing developers to have local copies of the entire repository. One of the most prominent DVCS is Git, created by Linus Torvalds in 2005. Git introduced a distributed architecture where each developer had a complete copy of the repository, including the entire history. This allowed for efficient branching, merging, and offline work. Other DVCS like Mercurial (Hg) also gained popularity.

  4. Web-Based Version Control Systems: With the rise of the internet and collaborative development, web-based version control systems emerged. They provided a platform for hosting repositories and added web interfaces to simplify collaboration and code management. GitHub (2008), GitLab (2011), and Bitbucket (2008) are popular examples of such platforms.