Ask YC: which subversion client do you like most | Hacker News Reader

Ask YC: which subversion client do you like most

7 pointsozzieg22 comments

I have tried several variants recently, and don't enjoy them. I am looking for advice and the strengths of those you use.

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On Windows I'm using a combination of TortoiseSVN [1] for general use and Subclipse [2] for Eclipse based projects.

[1] http://tortoisesvn.tigris.org/

[2] http://subclipse.tigris.org/

Kinda off topic, but how about moving to git? I love it.

Count me in on the git crowd. Having tried most of the distributed source control systems out there (hg, mtn, darcs, arch), I have to say git is my favourite. I've been using it daily for about 3 months now.

While, as a devout Ocamlist, I don't much like Python, Git's code is indeed a Torvalds-style mess with an unholy mixture of C, shell scripts and even bits of Perl. Now it certainly has innovative concepts but writing a complex app like this in C is not a good idea. A HLL would have been safer, and for performance-critical parts, you can still use C, as in Mercurial. Actually, Mercurial's code is rather clean, a bunch of Python files, plus two C stubs. Also, Git doesn't, understandably, work well under Windows. I would consider this an advantage but my bosses insist on shipping Windows software for some strange reason.

Funny, my answer to the original question is "git-svn".

It has been working great for me. See the guide here:

http://tsunanet.blogspot.com/2007/07/learning-git-svn-in-5mi...

On windows, Tortoise SVN and the eclipse plug in. On Unix, I just use the command line.

On Linux and Mac OS, I use the command-line. On Windows, TortoiseSVN is probably the best choice, IMHO.

TortoiseSVN just sucks. I'd rather use the command line. Actually, I do... For the times you just have to use a GIU, try SynchroSVN. It isn't free, but worth the price IMO.

The client built into IntelliJ is nice if you grok Java. They also have a Local History that lets you track every minor change, not just changes between commits.

OSX: Subclipse, SVNX and the finder SVN Plugin. Sometimes command line.

Thinking about moving to git as well.

On windows, TortoiseSVN is the bomb.

Command line works for me. I have done some tinkering with TortiseSVN but I am generally not on Windows, so the command line is the most common.

command-line svn and Trac web interface gets the job done.

That said, I'm probably going to switch to mercurial or fossil for the next project.

Do you find those tools solid to control your project ?

I keep comparing everything back to Perforce and nothing seems to be as good.

From a "control" perspective Perforce gets a lot of things right. It's fast, efficient and easy to maintain. It's also a big hit with nosy managers since they can easily limit what any developer can see and also tell exactly what each developer has checked out. Keeping all the metadata at the server has it's advantages.

I believe Perforce's customers include both Google and Microsoft. They must be doing something right.

That said, I think more and more people need to deal with multiple projects at once where there isn't a single central policy. Distributed VCS systems really shine as "control" becomes less important.

same here, I've switched a few projects over to mercurial already and Trac supports it pretty well too

Have you seen any companies offering hosted mercurial?

http://www.assembla.com/ offers Trac+Mercurial

I prefer the command line regardless of os. I've tinkered with OS X SCPlugin a bit though

Write some scripts (batch files).

Subclipse is really neat.

svn command line, why would you need anything else?

vc-mode in emacs

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