DevOps Practices - Version Control

DevOps Practices - Version Control

Version control is a system that records changes to a file or set of files over time. It is usually used to track changes in the source code of software applications, although almost any file can be tracked this way.

Version control provides the ability to revert selected files or the entire projects to any previous version. It is also possible to compare changes over time, see who modified files that might cause a problem, and more.

Generally, using version control allows you to recover your files if you did something wrong.

The History of Version Control

Local Version Control Systems

When doing changes to files, many people often copy and paste files to some sort of 'backup' folder. This approach is simple, although incredibly error-prone. That's why local VCS were developed; they had a simple database that kept all the changes to files under revision control.

Centralized Version Control Systems

The next vital feature that developers needed was the ability to collaborate with each other on different projects. To address this problem, Centralized Version Control Systems (CVCS) were developed (CVS, Subversion, and Perforce). CVCS's contain all versioned files on a single server; any number of clients can connect to it and check out files from the central server.

Compared to local VCS's, this approach has many advantages:

• ability to collaborate,
• fine-grained permission controls
• simple centralized administration.

The downside of using CVS is a single point of failure. If the server goes down or a hard drive becomes corrupted, the entire project's history is lost.

Distributed Version Control Systems

Distributed Version Control Systems (Git, Mercurial, Bazaar, Darcs) solve the issues of CVS by cloning the whole repository to clients' computers. This way, if the server goes down, every person working on the project has a complete 'backup' of the project's history on their local computer. When the server comes back online, the whole project, including its history, can be copied back to the server if needed.

AWS CodeCommit

AWS CodeCommit is a fully-managed source control service that hosts secure Git-based repositories. It simplifies collaboration in a secure and highly scalable ecosystem. CodeCommit eliminates the need to operate your source control system or worry about infrastructure scaling. CodeCommit can be used to stores anything, from source code to binaries, and it also works well with your existing Git tools.

What Are the Benefits of Using AWS Codecommit?

• Fully managed - AWS CodeCommit eliminates the need to host, maintain, back up, and scale your own source control servers. The service automatically scales to meet the growing needs of your project.
• Secure - AWS CodeCommit automatically encrypts all of your files in transit and at rest. It is integrated with AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM), allowing you to customize user-specific access to your repositories.
• High availability - AWS CodeCommit has a highly scalable, redundant, and durable architecture. The service is designed to keep your repositories highly available and accessible.
• Code collaboration - AWS CodeCommit helps you collaborate on code with teammates via pull requests, branching and merging. You can implement workflows that include code reviews and feedback by default, and control who can make changes to specific branches.
• Compatibility with the existing tools - AWS CodeCommit supports all Git commands and works with your existing Git tools. You can keep using your preferred development environment plugins, continuous integration/continuous delivery systems, and GUI clients with CodeCommit.

Conclusion

Version control solves the problem of code collaboration and versioning on large software projects; it is a vital component of the development process. Source code management systems allow you to track your code changes, see revision history, and revert to previous versions of a project. With source code management systems, you can collaborate on code with your team, isolate your work until it is ready, and quickly troubleshoot issues by identifying who made changes and what the differences were. Source code management systems help streamline the development process and provide a centralized source for all your code.

Sedmi odjel is an AWS Advanced Consulting Partner and Solution Provider specializing in the implementation of AWS solutions and services.

As a company that works with a lot of software companies, we understand the whole development lifecycle and how DevOps model and tools can help your company become more productive and competitive.

If you have any question about DevOps tools:

• visit our dedicated DevOps page
• give us a call at +385 1 3141 562
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