Nice Version Control

Very basic and generic guidelines for working with others using a revision control system:

• Update your working copy before modifying anything
• Always diff before you commit, to avoid committing anything unintentionally
• Write accurate, meaningful and ideally concise commit messages.
• Commit smaller, logically grouped changes together
  • (This makes it easier to revert a specific change without reverting unrelated stuff, too.)
• Avoid conflicts when possible by knowing who's working on what parts
• When implementing major changes, check in with others working on the project
• Try to implement major changes in a branch first
• Keep branches in sync, to make it easier to merge back into mainline

See Also

For more information about specific revision control systems at Free Geek:

• Subversion for Coders
• Git for dummies