Current Concepts in Version Control Systems

Bachelor thesis, Petr Baudis, academic year 2006/2007

Abstract:

	We will describe and analyse the concepts, architectural
	approaches and methods currently in use in the field of version
	control systems, present some original work in the area
	and propose and outline interesting future research directions

	Popíšeme a rozebereme koncepty, návrhové principy a metody
	v současnosti užívané v oboru systémů pro správu verzí,
	představíme původní práci v této oblasti a poukážeme na
	možné zajímavé směry dalšího výzkumu


Outline:

1. Introduction

2. History Organization
	We will explore how can the history be organized, the merits and
	shortcomings of each described approach, as well as implications
	on the history model imposed by choice of centralized /
	decentralized model of the system

3. Storage Model
	While the history can be organized one way on the logical level,
	it is often beneficial to choose a storage model which may not
	directly share the design properties of the chosen logical
	architecture, since it can provide significant space and time
	effectivity improvements. We will explore possible approaches
	in the field of permanent versioned data and metadata storage

4. User Interaction
	We will explore various approaches to user interface in the
	field of version control, what imlications do architectural
	decisions have on the user interface and how can current tools
	aid the user effectively with various tasks

5. Merging Methods
	One very important capability of version control systems (that
	support branching) is merging branches, and it is currently also
	one of the most active area of research in this field; we will
	cover the most frequently used and most promising methods
	of universal textual merging and briefly cover some of the
	specialized merging

6. Conclusion