Karen I originally used to use RCS under UniVerse with some simple verbs that committed items in and out of a work directory using an index file to map account|file|item paths to work file keys. This meant that I could easily manage items from hashed files (eg dictionaries) using some simple RCSPUT, RCSGET, RCSLOG type verbs. It was simple and worked pretty well, and I should have the source code somewhere waiting to dig out and clean up when I get a chance.
Later on we went to CVS, using commit/extract scripts under UNIX and TortoiseCVS with Windows. The reason was that we needed to integrate source control from a wider set of locations: UniVerse code for the server routines as well as all the client stuff (VB, Delphi, resources, web pages etc). Keeping these in step was a major exercise, especially since we had a lot of shared libraries and common modules between projects. One simple thing that helped us hugely, was writing some simple commands that generated all of the dictionaries, INI file entries, data items etc that we needed on the server side from scripts. This meant that the scripts were part of the 'source code', held in type 19 files and CVS'ed with the rest of the source. We also added scripting (two way generation) to our windows development environment, for the same reason. One thing to be aware of. Changing revision control strategies at a later date is a major pain. I know this may sound obvious, but think ahead to what you will need to control in order to ensure that you have every base covered. If you are only doing server based work, that is all you need to scope: but if you are adding other interfaces, make sure sure your solution will work with those as well! Also (sorry if this sounds heavy): revision control is not something to approach lightly. It takes planning and resource. We learned (the hard way) to include it in project plans, and to make it a specific routine task for systems administration. A poorly or partially implemented revision control doesn't help anyone, so make sure you get the buy-in and budget for it: tools like RCS, CVS etc. may be free but there is an ongoing cost in managing any solution. I haven't used the highly-regarded and oft-quoted PRC so I don't know if it works with multiple environments, but a commercial system may be a cost saving in the end. Managing a good revision control strategy is a headache for someone and an overhead for everyone: but however much management it takes, it is still a lot less than the time and expense of trying to reconstruct a revision when you haven't got everything in place. It only takes one disaster... Brian "Burned and Learned" ------- u2-users mailing list u2-users@listserver.u2ug.org To unsubscribe please visit http://listserver.u2ug.org/
