Serena PVCS Version Manager
The Serena PVCS Version Manager (also PVCS Version Manager , formerly PVCS or Polytron Version Control System ) is software for the version management of files on computers . It is used especially for text files such as source texts , configuration files or documentation for the administration and documentation of changes. It can also be used for binary files, but then, like many other version management systems, loses its usefulness due to the possibility of calculating the difference between two file versions.
history
PVCS was originally developed by Polytron in early 1976 and was the first commercial tool for versioning files on the market. In 1989, Polytron was acquired by Sage Software. Intersolv , established two years later, was the result of a merger with Index Technologies in 1991. In 1999 Micro Focus and Intersolv merged again to form Merant , which was taken over by Serena Software in 2004. PVCS has since been marketed under the name Serena PVCS Version Manager.
function
Like CVS, PVCS manages individual files and can therefore not, or only to a limited extent, be used to manage entire projects, since it only considers the status of a file and not the structure of an entire directory and its subdirectories. The authorization control in PVCS can be controlled in a very granular manner via direct assignment of authorizations and groups.
So-called version labels can be assigned to map configuration states of a project, which are linked to the respective file version of each file involved in the project and can thus reflect the corresponding historical state. Version labels can be defined as floating (flowing with newer versions) and as fixed (firmly linked to the respective version of files). The version labels marked as floating can then be fixed at a suitable stage of development.
A so-called promotion model can be defined to support implemented software development processes. It reflects the development status of the respective files and can be freely configured for each project. An example of a linear promotion model would be [Development], [CodeReview], [Acceptance test], [Production]. In this the promotion status can be switched between two neighboring statuses or it can be freely set by the system administrator. More complex promotion models with a tree structure can also map more complex processes in the company. PVCS can be operated using a few command line tools as well as a graphical user interface (Fat Client and Web Client). The integration of PVCS in current development environments such as Eclipse or Visual Studio is still given today due to its widespread use.
The current version is PVCS Version Manager 8.5 and is available for Linux , Solaris , HP-UX , AIX and Windows .
See also
literature
- Gerhard Versteegen, Guido Weischedel: Configuration Management . Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg 2002, ISBN 978-3-642-55817-7 , pp. 240 ff .