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I have used StarTeam, VSS, and CVS to version control
documentation with no problems at all. In fact, I have
version-controlled my documents since 1994, when I went
to work for StarBase (makers of StarTeam) and I was on
the design team for that product. (Note, I no longer work
for StarBase, nor do I have any vested interest in the
company or the product.) So that's almost 10 years of
version controled documentation -- and I'm not about to
stop now.
Yes, when you store a binary file (such as a Word document)
in a version control system, you get a copy of the whole
file, and so versioning binaries is going to consume more
disk space than versioning ascii files, but so what? When
you consider that you can purchase all the disk space you'll
ever need for less than a day's pay, the trade-off certainly
seems like a no-brainer to me. <g> Some systems, such as
StarTeam, allow you to specify the total number of binary
versions to store, then, as a new one gets saved, the oldest
one drops off the bottom of the stack.
On the down side, you cannot compare or merge binary files
in any of these systems. Years ago, I worked on a versioning
system that incorporated a document comparison utility for
Word, but the comparison utility jacked-up the price of the
product prohibitively, so the software went nowhere.
On the up side, however, when you mention to the VP of
Engineering or the Director of Development that you need to
begin versioning your documentation, you garner an extra
layer of respect in their eyes.
So, what exactly do you get when you enter documents into a
version control system such as CVS or VSS?
1. Multiple versions of your document at your disposal,
which allows you to back up to a prior version should
the need arise. (Like when you open your Word document
the day before deadline and it's hopelessly corrupted.)
Also, you have a record of when you added or deleted a
feature description, etc.
2. File storage in a system that is guaranteed to be backed
up on a regular basis.
3. Mechanisms that allow only one person to edit documents
and store new versions at a time (preventing accidental
loss of work because two people are working on a file at
the same time.
>
> I'm wondering what sort of document versioning software writers might be using
> to control versions of files. I know MS Word has a built in verisioning
> component, though I would like to know if ordinary word processing lend them
> selves to something like concurrent versioning system (CVS) that many software
> developers use in their shops. A file system based versioning system of the
> sort used by software developers allows programmers and engineers to merge work
> they collaborate on. The same type of system would be very useful in word
> processing. Does anyone know of any such systems employed in this way in
> technical documentation development?
