Senior Seminar

The First Version Control Systems The first version control system was created in 1972 by Bell Labs where Unix was developed. This alpha version control was named "SCCS - Source code control system" and was only available for Unix and only worked with source code files. After a decade, in 1982, "RCS - Revision control system" was introduced and included cross-platform functionality. However, this version control system was also only for text files. Both of these version control systems worked for a single user and couldn't be used for sharing code. In 1986, a centralized version control system was introduced. This was called the "Concurrent version control - CVS". This was a breakthrough in version control systems because this entry had a central repository and could be used by multiple developers. It still lacked one key feature of a good version control: keeping track of changes made in directory trees. It instead focused on changes made in individua...

  When choosing a FOSS project, there are certain qualities one should keep in mind if a set goal is to be achieved within the project. Having a well established healthy community of welcoming developers and users is an important quality to look for in a FOSS project. This helps in creating a group of developers who are willing to help fellow devs. The project should not shy away from releasing alpha or beta versions with all the bugs outlined clearly. The developers should be open and honest about the status of the project. It's Important to us because, in order to make the project worthwhile, we have to establish a strong community around it based on honest feedback. If we inflate the dev cycle, we risk losing a lot of users. Priorities should be set and implemented according to how important a development phase is. For example, making the project easier to run despite it being a tedious task could attract developers who are trying new things and want to run their test code....