What source code control program would users most recommend?

[DeltaJ]

Hi All,

I'm working for company with a small software team (3 people) working mostly with LabView. We are looking to adopt a source code control program. I'd like to ask forum contributors their opinion of the best software to adopt from the list NI provide? The most recent similar post I could fine was dated from 2001 so I thought I'd post again.

Thanks,

Dave

Link to NI's Knowledge base article on 3rd party software:

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/websearch/26EC5904169430CE8625706E00743997?OpenDocument

[WireJunky]

Sounds like your in a similer situation I was a year ago... I did alot of snooping on the net, and can tell you our team uses tortoise/svn. also opted for a windows based server... running VisualSVN. great way to share code and do development. Granted there are some snags with using tortoise from outside labview -but looking at cost vs. productivity for a small team, I still feel we made the right choice.

[Andrey_Dmitriev]

Hi, Dave,

We using SourceSafe for years. Not ideal, but works. Integrated with LabVIEW and no server install required.

Andrey.

[DeltaJ]

Thank you both for the information. Neither option really leaps out as a great one - we are going to have a look at these options and the recommended suppliers and see if we can find a best option for us.

Thanks again,

Dave

[BuddyHaun]

I agree with WireJunky. We use Subversion and Tortoise SVN for a large team that is located in the US and in Europe and it works very well for us. VisualSVN is very easy to administer and you probably want a central repository for your code anyway. A couple things that will make your life easier is to try and have the developers work in their own sections of the code where you do not have to merge code any more than absolutely necessary. Also have the developers commit on a regular basis when they have code in a working state. We work out of the trunk and create tags at points where we build dev, test  or production releases instead of creating branches that have to be merged. On top of all that the price is right and the documentation is very good.

[F._Schubert]

You should also look around on LAVA, once it's up again. There is a dedicated SCC forum.

Subversion (SVN) seems to be the standard, as it works well with binary files (as VIs). There was a recent discussion wether to use the lock-unlock mechanism or thecommit-resolve way.

If you just use it on a local PC/single developer (as I do for now), it is a one-click installer available for turtoise. For a team, you propably need to have a apache server running on your network or select a web based hosting company.

There is also a cool new add-on available for little expenses by JKIsoft to integrate Turtoise into LV:

http://blog.jkisoft.com/

For some more tricks using SVN, do a search on JKI's blog as well:

http://thinkinging.com/

Felix

[DeltaJ]

Thanks to you both for the additional information,

Dave

[unclebump]

Coming from the manufacturing side of things, we use a program called MASS Autosave for file backups on our production floor. It is made for plc's, robots, and such but it will work with generic files. http://www.mdtsoft.com/

We have 45 different programs to troubleshoot all the different machinery in our plant.

[JÞB]

OK I'll chime in.

I have grown accustomed to Visual Source Safe.  Our team also develops in C, C#, and VB.net so its versatility is great.  Many NI products (LV, LWCVI, TS... ) seem to adapt better in Perforce because it is a bit easier on the admin (and $) side if you do not need the power of a Microsoft backed program (I came from a FDA regulated background.)  Although Microsoft pacakages do have an advantage when transitioning from one Windows OS to the next. 

Really though, you must explore your development, user, regulatory, IT and administrative needs and desires.  Thats a big reason why there are a lot of good repositories making money and that the $$ vary widely.