--------------------------------- Version Control using Hg Part I --------------------------------- .. Prerequisites .. ------------- .. None .. Author : Primal Pappachan Internal Reviewer : Kiran Isukapatla Date: Jan 27, 2012 ---------------------- Spoken Tutorial Script ---------------------- .. L1 *{{{ Show the first slide containing title, name of the production team along with the logo of MHRD}}}* .. R1 Hello friends and welcome to the first part of tutorial on 'Version Control using Hg' .. L2 *{{{Show the slide containing the objectives}}}* .. R2 At the end of this tutorial you will be able to 1. Understand what is Version Control #. Identify the need for using Version Control #. Install Mercurial and intialize a repository .. R3 First, let's understand what 'Version Control' is. .. L3 *{{{Show the slide 'what is version control'}}*} .. R4 'Version control' is a way to track files over time and share them. This allows access to earlier versions of a file(s) if and when required. It therefore enables us to make changes to the content of a file, view it's change log and collaborate on a single piece of work with a team of people. As the quote from the famous blog post 'Version Control for masses' says "Version control is one of those weird, geeky things that never really gained much ground in non-geek fields, despite the fact that it’s blindingly useful." Over the course of these 3 spoken tutorials, we are going to see a handful of such things, which are widely used in the programmer world, but not so much in the scientific computing world, even when if they would be very useful. .. L4 *{{{Show the slide 'Home-brewed'}}}* .. R5 Let's look at an example of home-brewed Version Control system Version control is a way of backing up files, before making changes. Most people would have cooked up their own version control system, without realizing, there were tools built by others, that performs the task in a more organized and systematic way. .. L5 *{{{Show the slide 'Problems'}}}* .. R6 Let's look at the various problems associated with this set-up. 1. Name and changes made are not related or linked. #. Can't track sequence of changes made to a file #. Does not scale .. L6 *{{{Show the slide 'The need for Version Control'}}}* .. R7 Having seen the problems of a home brewed setup, let's now move onto identifying the needs for a 'Version Control System'. 1. To err is Human . . . #. Tracking the history and evolution of a project #. To collaborate effectively on a project #. To efficiently track down bugs and pin-point the #. changes that caused it .. L7 *{{{Show the slide 'The need for Version Control'}}}* .. R8 We have seen that one of the main motivations to use a Version Control system is the ability to go back to a working version of a file, when something goes wrong. Below are a few more advantages of using an automated version control system. 1. By tracking the history of a project, any person may see the evolution of a p 2. Allows for effective collaboration on a project, as everything is shared. 3. Helps to identify which additions have broken down a project and thus aids in 4. It is good for a one man show as it is for a big group of people working on a Keeping your stuff version controlled will help avoid accidental deletion of individual files etc. Hosting it on a remote server will protect your sanity from a hard disk crash. .. L8 *{{{Show the slide 'How does it work? - Analogy}}}* .. R9 It is, in some ways, similar to playing a video game. We generally play games in stages. While playing, we save the game at some instances as per our choice. We continue playing, but we could, if necessary, choose to go back to one of the saved states and start over. In this manner, we could change the course of the game. .. L9 *{{{Show the slide 'Mercurial or hg'}}}* .. R10 Some of the Version Control tools available and used widely are: 1. cvs(Concurrent Version Systems) #. svn(subversion) #. hg(mercurial) #. git .. R11 Each of these tools have their own merits and demerits. In this tutorial we shall learn how to use mercurial or hg which is easy to learn and use and comparatively light weight. Once you learn how to use hg, you can easily try other tools and switch to one that you feel most comfortable with. Let's now get into Installation. For Linux distributions, Ubuntu and Debian type the following in command line terminal .. L10 ``sudo apt-get install mercurial`` .. R12 For Windows, .. L11 ``http://mercurial.selenic.com/downloads/`` ``http://hgbook.red-bean.com/read/a-tour-of-mercurial-the-basics.html`` .. R 13 For any other Operating system, please refer the hg book for installation instruction - Type 'hg' which lists out all the commands .. L12 ``$hg`` .. R14 and 'hg version' which gives the version number. .. L13 ``$hg version`` .. L14 *{{{Show the 'summary' slide'}}}* .. R15 This brings us to the end of the tutorial. In this tutorial, we have seen, 1. the motivation to use version control #. an analogy of version control with playing a video game #. how to check if mercurial is installed, and it's version using hg version .. L15 *{{{Show self assessment questions slide}}}* .. R16 Here are some self assessment questions for you to solve 1. Is Mercurial a Centralized VCS or Distributed VCS? Justify your reasoning. #. How can you verify whether Mercurial has been installed properly? #. What is the command for accessing built-in help system of Mercurial? .. L16 *{{{Show the solutions slide to self assessment questions }}}* .. R17 And the answers, 1. Mercurial is a Centralized Version Control system. To read more go here, htt #. $hg version #. $hg help command .. L17 *{{{Show the thank you slide}}}* .. R18 Hope you have enjoyed this tutorial and found it useful. Feel free to play around with Mercurial and read the documentation given by hg help command. When you are ready to move on, please proceed to the second tutorial on 'Version Control using Hg' Thank you