In order to understand the central need for source code control, it can be illuminating to have a brief look at the development history of source code management. This gives us an insight into the features that we ourselves might need. Some examples are as follows:
- Storing historical versions of source in separate archives: This is the simplest form, and it still lives on to some degree, with many free software projects offering tar archives of older releases to download.
- Centralized source code management with check in and check out: In some systems, a developer can lock files for exclusive use. Every file is managed separately. Tools like this include Revision Control System (RCS) and Source Code ...
