Distributed version control

In software development, distributed version control (also known as distributed revision control) is a form of version control in which the complete codebase, including its full history, is mirrored on every developer's computer.[1] Compared to centralized version control (cf. monorepo), this enables automatic management branching and merging, speeds up most operations (except pushing and fetching), improves the ability to work offline, and does not rely on a single location for backups.[1][2][3] Git, the world's most popular version control system,[4] is a distributed version control system.

In 2010, software development author Joel Spolsky described distributed version control systems as "possibly the biggest advance in software development technology in the [past] ten years".[2]

  1. ^ a b Chacon, Scott; Straub, Ben (2014). "About version control". Pro Git (2nd ed.). Apress. Chapter 1.1. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
  2. ^ a b Spolsky, Joel (17 March 2010). "Distributed Version Control Is Here to Stay, Baby". Joel on Software. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
  3. ^ "Intro to Distributed Version Control (Illustrated)". www.betterexplained.com. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).