2011-08-01 18:43:57

Why Another DVCS?

The first reaction from many folks when they see Veracity is to ask us why we built another DVCS.  Having responded to this question many times now, I have finally learned that it is actually two different questions.

Some folks are trying to ask the following question:

How is Veracity different from Git?

The chart on the front page of veracity-scm.com contains some answers.

However, other folks are trying to ask this question:

Eric, you clueless idiot, what recreational pharmaceutical were you smoking when you decided to build yet another DVCS that has no chance of survival because Git has won and all other tools will eventually be crushed under the weight of the awesomeness of Torvalds and his disciples?

This question requires a somewhat different answer.

Has Git Already Won?

Let's start with a Venn diagram:

Oh geez.  That picture turned out to be somewhat ruder than I intended it.  Let me clarify a thing or two:

• I mean no criticism here of Git.  It's an outstanding piece of software in many ways.
• Any criticism of Git's fans or users is intended to be constructive, accompanied with much brotherly love and support.

Seriously, Git fans, you and I are on the same team here.  We're DVCS fans. 

But, well, sometimes when I meet some of the more evangelistic Git fans, I just want to tell them to get out more.  See a broader perspective.

You Are Here

DVCS is the third generation of version control.  I believe the distributed model is the future of our industry, but that future is NOT fully here yet.

Really.  It's not.

DVCS seems so popular right now, but that's mostly an illusion resulting from the fact that early adopters are loud and tend to hang around with their own kind.

Here's a reasonably accurate picture of the status quo:

Most developers are still using boring old centralized tools.  The mind reels at the thought of all those programmers struggling to use a version control system that has so little buzz.  I mean really.  How can they possibly get anything done using a tool that hardly ever gets mentioned on Reddit?

Linus spoke of Subversion as "the most pointless project ever started".  Well, Subversion is the most popular version control system on the planet.  Gosh I would love to someday see Veracity become as pointless as Subversion.

Why did we build another DVCS?

Because the third generation of version control is not over.

It's just getting started.