Version Control & File
Management
Danielle Skaggs
INF 385E
October 26, 2006
Overview
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What is File Management?
IA and File Management
File Management Tips
What is Version Control?
Why use it? Pros and Cons
Version Control Tips
What is File
Management?
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Term comes from computer science
Used to describe:
– File organization
– Creation and manipulation of files
(Claybrook, 1983; Wikipedia)
File Management - Then
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I/O processors
“Space and Timing Calculations for
Magnetic Tape”
“Cellular Multilist File Organization”
TB = TSEEK + TL + THS + TDT
(Claybrook, 1983)
File Management for IA
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Managing large collections of data and
page files
– Poor file maintenance results in broken
links
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Content Management Systems
– Document management
– Hypermedia management systems
File Management for Your
Project
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Determine a logical system of file
organization
Treat folder, file names as labels
Example from Rosenfeld & Morville (2002, p. 54)
Personally meaningful labels
User friendly labels
What is Version Control?
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The management of multiple revisions
of the same unit of information
Any practice that tracks and provides
control over changes
- Wikipedia
Why is Version Control
Needed?
Typical website infrastructure (Gsoedl, 2001)
Version Control Software
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Assignment of version numbers
Filelocking
Description of changes for each
commit or check-in
Content centrally stored on shared
server
Branching
Example Interface
Gsoedl’s web-based version control application
Branching
(Louridas, 2006)
Trunk: main line of development, the main starting point of
most branches.
Branch: A set of evolving source file versions.
Merge: To combine different changes to the same file.
-from Version Control Talk Demystified:
http://www.spinellis.gr/tot/vcs-glossary.html
Version Control Programs
Open Source
CVS
Proprietary
Benefits of Version
Control
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Ability to return to an earlier version
– In case of error or failure in working copy
– To view snapshot in time
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Track who made changes
Maintain current pages while
developing their replacements
Record of development process
Drawbacks of Version
Control
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Time investment to train personnel to
use system
Temptation to change system to take
advantage of latest technology (Dennis, 1998)
No access if central server is
unavailable
Possibility of commit wars
Version Control for Your
Project
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Decide how often to commit files
Pick your method:
– Version control software
– Zip archives
– Folders
-based on Luhn’s file backup tips (2002)
So, You Want to Try Version
Control Software. . .
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Subversion:
http://subversion.tigris.org/
– O’Reilly guide to using Subversion:
http://svnbook.red-bean.com/
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CVS: http://www.nongnu.org/cvs/
– How to guide:
http://durak.org/cvswebsites/howto-cvs/
Bibliography
Atzeni, P., Mecca, G., & Merialdo, P. (1997). Design and Maintenance of DataIntensive Web Sites (RT-DIA-25-1997). Rome: Department of
Information Automation.
Claybrook, B. G. (1983). File management techniques. New York: John Wiley &
Sons.
Computer file management. (2006, June 27). Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_file_management
Dennis, A. R. (1998, July). Lessons from three years of web development.
Communications of the ACM, 41(7), 112-113.
Gsoedl, J. (2001, July 22). Managing team-based web development. Dr. Dobb’s
Journal. http://www.ddj.com/184404448
Louridas, P. (2006, January/February). Version control. IEEE Software, 104-107.
Luhn, R. (2002, August). Strategies for foolproof backup. PC World, 20(8), 89.
Moss, D. (1997, July). Managing change. DBMS, 10(8), S14.
Revision control. (2006, October 10). Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revision_control
Rosenfeld, L., & Morville, P. (2002). Information architecture for the world wide
web (2nd ed.). Beijing: O’Reilly.