I’ve always used Subversion as my choice of RCS (Revision Control System), but the hassle of setting up a repository for each project just was a bit too much. That, and the fact I often had to re-read the quick start pretty much every time I went to use it meant that it really wasn’t a solution I regularly used. It basically came down to the idea that if something isn’t easy to use, it probably won’t get used.
Now Subversion is certainly good, but I really need something lighter…and then I started reading about distributed RCS’s which was my introduction to Mercurial.
I couldn’t be bothered describing all the fundamental differences that are documented everywhere else in comparisons between distributed and centralised RCS models. Here are the benefits that I’ve found though:
- No need to have a separate repository/folder to the actual project. That is the working directory/repository exists with the project, something that makes file organisation much easier.
- Mercurial commands just seem easier. With Subversion, I always struggled with creating new repositories. Not so with Mercurial.
- Mercurial is written in Python, a language I really enjoy writing in, so, good potential for future hacking if necessary.
- Mercurial can easily be installed locally as a user.
Creating a Repository
Whilst in the source folder
hg init # Create the repository.
hg add # Add the files in the folder into the repository.
hg commit # Commit the changes.That’s it.
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