[sldev] Setting up source version control, for beginners?

[Ryan Williams (Which)]

Jason Giglio wrote:
> Dale Mahalko wrote:
>   
>> I am (again) starting to poke at the source and I see what a huge
>> undertaking it is to edit a raw directory source files. I have to keep
>> track of what I changed, where I changed it, and what the original
>> looked like in case I ever want to revert my changes or compare to the
>> original.
>>
>> I have absolutely no experience with version control but it looks like
>> I'm going to need to learn how to use it.
>>
>>     
>
> No, not really.  You can do those basic tasks above with simpler tools.
>  You will need to learn/use diff, patch, and possibly rsync and the svn
> client only.
>
> For just a single user editing the source, you really don't need a full
> version control server setup.
>   
Mercurial is a nice choice for the single-user case because you don't 
have to set up a server.  Just 'hg init' and 'hg addremove' in your 
directory and you're good to go*.  It's all self-contained.

-RYaN

* Not sure if this is the exactly the precise set of commands you want 
to issue, but it's pretty close.