Excursus

The current series of posts about subversion:

• Subversion

• Subversion, Serendipity, and Discipline

• Subversion and the Single User

• LaTeX and Subversion

• Circle Six Subversion

• Subverting Difference

• Subversion and TextMate

have ended, but I wanted to make one last observation. For authors producing complex documents whose development they need to track, what’s important is version control, not necessarily subversion. There are a variety of version control systems on the market, and while subversion suits my present needs, others may suit your needs better.

One important conceptual difference between version control systems is whether they use a centralized or distributed model. Subversion uses a centralized model. There is a central repository from which local working copies may be checked out. Intriguingly, other version control systems use a distributed model. Git and Mercurial are examples. If you are interested in a version control system based on a distributed model have a look at Mercurial and Mark Adams post about Mercurial and the single user. And if you have a spare hour (and a thick enough skin to persist through his abusive personality—apparently subversion users are stupid and ugly), here is Linus Torvalds explaining the virtues of git’s distributed model:

Update Forgot to mention, if you are using TextMate and are curious about Mercurial, there is a Mercurial bundle that you might try.