Is version control (ie. Subversion) applicable in document tracking? [closed]

Answer 1

Thinking out of the box, would migrating to a Wiki be out of the question?

Since you consider it feasible to force your users into Subversion (or something similar), a larger change seem acceptable.

Another migration target could be to use some kind of structured XML document format (DocBook comes to mind). This would enable you to indeed use diffs and source control, while getting all sorts of document formats for free.

Answer 2

Subversion, CVS and all other source control systems are not good for Word documents and other office files (such as Excel spread sheets), since the files themselves are stored in a binary format. That means that you can never go back and annotate (or blame, or whatever you want to call it), or do diffs between documents.

There are revision control systems for Word documents out there, unfortunately I do not know any good ones. We use such control systems for Excel at my work, and unfortunately they all cost money.

The good thing is that they make life a lot easier, especially if you ever have to do an audit or due diligence.

Answer 3

Have a look at Sharepoint. If cost is an issue, Sharepoint portal sevices can also work for you. Read this for more info

Answer 4

You could do that, but if that files are binary you should always put a lock on it before editing. You won't get a conflict (which would be unresolvable).

Answer 5

You could use something like the Revisionator, which is like google docs but with built in revision control including diffs, forks, and 3 way merges. http://revisionator.com

UPDATE: It also fixes the problem of too frequent autosaving that you mention with Google Docs. It'll still autosave to prevent data loss, but it will only create a new version in the revision history and share with other users when you explicitly "release" your changes.

Answer 6

Many of the new version control projects are better suited to entire directories, and not so much for single files.

Convincing someone that they need to get an entire project, when they only want to update an individual file can be a "fun" way to spend an afternoon.