Cheap Source Control
by Quest Johnny · in Technical Issues · 12/31/2006 (11:51 am) · 9 replies
I've been using winzip as a cheap backup/source control to keep an image of my entire game directory, or the "game" or "art" directories whenever I made a successful change, but recently someone suggested just making a direct copy.
Direct Copy has the advantage that you can actually jump into that dir and play the game, and you can get to any file very fast. It also doesn't run the risk of corruption, like a zip/rar file
However, RAR/ZIP files will not affect the dates on the files when you make backups, whereas copying them will (and it is useful to know which files were touched and when)
I was wondering if anybody had used a similar method and could share their thinking?
Direct Copy has the advantage that you can actually jump into that dir and play the game, and you can get to any file very fast. It also doesn't run the risk of corruption, like a zip/rar file
However, RAR/ZIP files will not affect the dates on the files when you make backups, whereas copying them will (and it is useful to know which files were touched and when)
I was wondering if anybody had used a similar method and could share their thinking?
About the author
#2
they're both free. i've been using "tortoise" subversion for a while and it's great.
the advantage of using real source control over simple backups
is, as ken said, that when something goes wrong,
you can dig back through revisions of the code and see where it happened.
of course,
there's a programmer philosophy which goes along w/ it to make it really useful,
which can pretty much be summarized as: check-in working versions of code often.
ie, try to have as few files as possible checked out, while still having what's checked in be a functioning whole.
12/31/2006 (8:15 pm)
Highly recommend moving to CVS or Subversion, as Ken recommends.they're both free. i've been using "tortoise" subversion for a while and it's great.
the advantage of using real source control over simple backups
is, as ken said, that when something goes wrong,
you can dig back through revisions of the code and see where it happened.
of course,
there's a programmer philosophy which goes along w/ it to make it really useful,
which can pretty much be summarized as: check-in working versions of code often.
ie, try to have as few files as possible checked out, while still having what's checked in be a functioning whole.
#4
01/01/2007 (12:39 am)
I actually have all my work in subversion on one of my servers. but as said previously, a server is not required. both svn and cvs work just fine locally and they are both free.
#5
Gary (-;
01/01/2007 (2:40 am)
I would strongly suggest subversion. The freely available Subversion Red Book is a fantastic reference.Gary (-;
#6
CVS I'm familiar with, but I think I tried to set that up and failed to get it working. I was looking for something simpler. Plus which, most of the files I'd be backing up would be binaries - you can't use diff and many of the other tools on binaries so where is the advantage there, and are they stored efficiently? and can you backup the repository on CD if you use them?
01/01/2007 (6:41 am)
I did try to set up Subversion on a previous machine, but I kept running into problems (files would disappear, couldn't get at repositories, etc) and the IRC channel where they support it they were rather rude and nasty, which sort of put me off the whole thing, so I don't know if I'd be up to trying that again...CVS I'm familiar with, but I think I tried to set that up and failed to get it working. I was looking for something simpler. Plus which, most of the files I'd be backing up would be binaries - you can't use diff and many of the other tools on binaries so where is the advantage there, and are they stored efficiently? and can you backup the repository on CD if you use them?
#7
There are binary diff tools. There are at least a couple image diff tools.
Most of the above is probably true for subversion too, but I haven't used it personally.
01/01/2007 (7:32 am)
A CVS repository is just a bunch of files, so backing them up is trivial. Setting up CVS on a local machine is very easy. A big advantage with binaries is version control. If you change it, you'll have a comment to say what changed and why. You can tag releases so that you can warp back to any previous release and see exactly what the state of your files were at any point.There are binary diff tools. There are at least a couple image diff tools.
Most of the above is probably true for subversion too, but I haven't used it personally.
#8
01/01/2007 (8:14 pm)
I took your advice and I installed Tortoise SVN and SVN local-server. SO FAR so good.. tho I did have problems the time before it seems to be working well this time. Wish me luck!
#9
01/01/2007 (8:47 pm)
Good luck ! 
Torque 3D Owner Ken Paulson
Default Studio Name
CVS is completely free and you don't need a separate server to run it, you can do it all on one machine. For backups you just backup the CVS repository (which can have any number of projects) and you're done.