[Gllug] Mercurial or Subversion for single user?

[Bruce Richardson]

On Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 12:13:51AM +0000, gvim wrote:
> Subversion, Git and Mercurial seem to be the most popular but a
> cursory glance at Git suggests it's well beyond what I need so that
> leaves Subversion and Mercurial. Subversion is client/server whereas
> Mercurial is distributed but the distinction may not be relevant in a
> single-user scenario.

Quite.  Until you're sharing a repository with others, it really isn't
going to affect you.

> I read Subversion has/had some renaming issues
> but didn't delve into it too deeply.

It's not recommended to rename and modify a file in the same commit.  So
don't do that.  There are some edge cases that can bite you when merging
branches - I'm guessing you won't be doing much of that yet.

> 
> So, what would be the best option. I'm inclined to go with Mercurial
> at this stage.

Your (currently) modest requirements are suited by either.  If you work
with free software much, you're going to encounter both.  Subversion is
more commonly used, if that makes any difference.  On the other hand,
Mercurial is probably a little easier to set up, initially, and doesn't
litter your filesystem with hidden directories (subversion hides status
information in .svn directories which it adds to any directories you
check out).  Both have subtle issues waiting to bite the unwary
regarding tags and branches.

In the long run, though, you'll want to become familiar with more than
one VCS and both of your candidates are functional.  If you toss a coin
to choose between them, it won't do you any harm.

-- 
Bruce

I unfortunately do not know how to turn cheese into gold.
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