Let’s start with what a version control system actually is and how it works? In simple terms, version control systems manage changes that are made to your system. This system can be a large website or a small program or software or even a text file. It is also sometimes referred to as source control or revision control as it allows you to track revisions of your project’s assets. All these revisions and changes are identified with the help of a version control software that comes with added features and bug fixes. So this makes it an important component of software configuration management.
Today, version control systems are important for development teams as the right system not just improves visibility, but also helps teams collaborate around the world and accelerate product delivery. Besides this, there are many other benefits of using this system for your projects, which are listed below:
•Effective Collaboration: Working together in a shared folder on the same set of files can lead to many errors. This is where version control systems can streamline the things for you. With a VCS, everybody on the team is free to work on any file at any time and that too without any confusions as the system allows you to merge all the changes into a common version later on. Also, the entire project/the latest changes are centrally placed in a version control system so anybody can refer to it at any time without searching for it explicitly.
•Versions Can Be Stored Without Any Confusion: A version control system lets you save all the changes in a systematic manner so that you can recall specific versions later, compare them, and highlight the changes whenever the need arises. In short, everything is neatly packed up inside the system. You can request any version at any time and you’ll have the snapshot of the entire project instantly.
•Restoration Of Previous Versions: The best part about VCS is it lets you restore the older version of a file effectively. This means if the changes that you made recently prove to be garbage, you can simply undo them with a few clicks and get back to the older version of your project.
•Description For Every Version: Whenever you make changes in your project, the VCS requires you to give a short description of what all is changed. Also, you can see what exactly was changed in the file’s content. All this helps you understand how your project evolved with every change in different versions.
•Disaster Recovery: VCS not just stores different versions of your project but also provides security to the project. Every team member has a full version of the project on his disk including complete project history. In case the central server breaks down, recovery can be easily made from the local Git repository of any of your team members.
With all these benefits on the list, it’s high time to get started with version control. Using the right version control software will help the development team to work in sync, automate their tasks, track changes and ensures complete backup without missing out any important detail.
