TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: Version control software - a second questions From:"Wilcox, John (Contractor)" <wilcoxj -at- WDNI -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 24 Mar 1997 06:16:00 -0800
----------
From: Chris Hamilton
Version control software has been something sitting toward the bottom of
my task list for quite some time. As I write this, the suggestions are
PVCS Version Manager from Intersolv and StarTeam from StarBase. From the
brief glimpses I took at the respective web sites, these appear to be
software version control packages.
My question is this: do software version control packages tend to work
well for documentation or is this a case of forcing a square peg into a
round hole?
------------------------
We use PVCS for all files related to software releases, including the
documentation. Everything is stored in binary, so it really doesn't
matter whether you're managing text files, executables, or graphics.
PVCS is a client/server application, and each client needs a license.
It is well-suited to large projects. One caveat: the administrator will
probably need to attend a training class.
When you need to work on a file, you check it out (and lock it so no one
else can work on it). When you check it in, PVCS does a delta between
the new and old versions, saves the changes, and increments the version
number. This number is for internal use only. You can manually assign
version labels according to the actual software or document version.
Regards,
John Wilcox, Documentation Specialist
Timberlands Information Services
Weyerhaeuser
WWC 2E2
Tacoma, WA 98477-0001
206-924-7972
wilcoxj -at- wdni -dot- com
TECHWR-L (Technical Communication) List Information: To send a message
to 2500+ readers, e-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot- Send commands
to LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU (e.g. HELP or SIGNOFF TECHWR-L).
Search the archives at http://www.documentation.com/ or search and
browse the archives at http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html
