Reviews
Review: SourceGear Vault 2.0
- By Mike Gunderloy
- February 24, 2004
Vault 2.0
starting at $199/user
SourceGear LLC
Champaign, Illinois
(217) 356-0105 x 399
www.sourcegear.com
Vault is the source code control application I've been using for my own
work, both solely on my LAN and in collaboration with other developers
across the Internet. Now SoueceGear is out with version 2.0, which
includes changes to both functionality and pricing that are likely to
help the program's market reach even more.
Let's start with the pricing changes. Prices have been seriously cut
here, to the point where you can get Vault licenses for $100 each in
quantity 25, about a quarter of what they were before. Sharp-eyed
readers may notice that the previous single-user deal (one license for
$50) is gone. That's because Vault no longer has a trial license that
times out. When you install Vault, you get a single user license for
free. That means that if you just want to do your own source code
control, and not share a repository with anyone, all it will cost you is
download time. The trial install also lets you test with multiple users for free for a limited time.
So, with the lowered pricing, what's new? Well, for starters they've
replaced the rather anemic diff/merge tool in the previous version with
an all new tool that can handle diffs, 3-way merges, and folder diffs.
It's fast and colorful (always a plus with me) and can be driven from
the command line. And speaking of merges, there's now true bidirectional
merging between branches and trunk, which will help those with complex
source code control architectures. If you want still more power, you can
set an external program for diff or merge (as well as for viewing or
editing files) and buy one of the other command-line driven products on
the market.
Vault 2.0 supports shadow folders. A useful concept from the VSS world,
a shadow folder retains a local (to the Vault service) copy of the
contents of some particular repository folder. This can be useful for
backups, or as a simple deployment strategy. Vault also adds new label
options that are more compatible with what VSS users will expect.
Vault also moves a tiny bit beyond its Windows roots with this release.
There's a version of the command-line client compiled for Mono, so it
runs on *nix operating systems. Vault also adds a Web-based client for
browsing and viewing source code and diffs, for those times when you
just need to look at code history and don't have the client installed.
Of course, there are the miscellaneous bug fixes and fit-and-finish
items you'd expect from any major new release. All in all, Vault 2.0
takes a good product and makes it even better. Whether you're a lone
wolf, a member of a distributed team, or a corporate developer, I urge
you to take a look.
About the Author
Mike Gunderloy has been developing software for a quarter-century now, and writing about it for nearly as long. He walked away from a .NET development career in 2006 and has been a happy Rails user ever since. Mike blogs at A Fresh Cup.