I noticed that there's PixelNovel for Photoshop that uses version control for designers.
Then there's Subversion/Git/Mecurial/CVS/etc..., different types of version control for programming / text control.
I was wondering what else can version control do? In real life? Thanks.
What else can version control do?
Most version control systems allow you to store arbitrary binary files (with varying degrees of efficiency). This means that you can version control anything - not just programming files or art assets.
We currently store absolutely everything in version control. Code, executables, content, source images, test programs, documentation, the lot. It's a great way of working because it means that a team member just has to do a single check-out to get all that they need for the project (especially so as we're quite geographically distributed - 3 or 4 continents last time I checked), a new member just needs to be told: "here's the link, do a check-out" (we brought a new tester on recently using this method and it was incredibly painless), everyone is working off the same baseline (and if they're not they have no excuse not to be), and changes can be easily tracked (and rolled back if needed). Of course it does mean that the repository is quite large, and bandwidth is an important factor, but those aside it works very well.
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So, it comes down to any arbitrary binary and text files, right?
Couldn't think of any other kinds of binary / text files other than art files (PNG, JPG, etc.) and text files (CPP, JAVA, DOC, etc.).
What about hard drives? Like controlling how many files in a hard drive, and revert back to a different revision (backup) in case that hard drive catches a virus?Or financial data containing very arbitrary information, can just revert those and probably avoid a meltdown or something...
Couldn't think of any other kinds of binary / text files other than art files (PNG, JPG, etc.) and text files (CPP, JAVA, DOC, etc.).
What about hard drives? Like controlling how many files in a hard drive, and revert back to a different revision (backup) in case that hard drive catches a virus?Or financial data containing very arbitrary information, can just revert those and probably avoid a meltdown or something...
What about hard drives?
You could look at Time Machine (OSX), or alternatives for Linux (I don't know about Windows systems).
Does that count as a version control software?
Oh no, it is a solution for the scenario you described (reverting back to a specific backup if you encounter some problem). VCSs are totally different systems.
So, it comes down to any arbitrary binary and text files, right?
Couldn't think of any other kinds of binary / text files other than art files (PNG, JPG, etc.) and text files (CPP, JAVA, DOC, etc.).
What about hard drives? Like controlling how many files in a hard drive, and revert back to a different revision (backup) in case that hard drive catches a virus?Or financial data containing very arbitrary information, can just revert those and probably avoid a meltdown or something...
Windows has built-in system restore and volume shadow copy which will handle it for client PCs. If you're on a network you'll more likely be storing everything on a central server rather than on your own PC, and that will be protected by some form of backup software.
Backup and restore is something entirely different to version control and is probably not appropriate for discussion on this forum.
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