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AccuRev is a commercial Software Configuration Management (SCM) tool developed by AccuRev Inc. based in Lexington, MA, USA. The company was founded in 1998 by Damon Poole, who is also the architect of AccuRev, which was first released in 2002.
Contents |
Mainstream Features
AccuRev offers a number of features that can also be found in other contemporary tools: A client/server architecture with atomic transactions is utilized. The client and server run on common operating systems such as Windows and Unix/Linux. The client integrates with IDEs such as Eclipse and Microsoft Visual Studio. Graphical and command line user interfaces are available, along with APIs for integration with other software. There is full support for moving/renaming/deleting files and directories while preserving their history. Symbolic links are also supported. AccuRev also provides merge tracking and graphical Version Trees, with 2-way diff & 3-way merge support. An integrated Issue tracking system is included, whereas server replication for distributed development is optional.
Unique Features
In contrast to most SCM tools, AccuRev does not have branches or labels. Instead, the concept of stream is introduced.
- In AccuRev, streams are first-class objects that can be graphically visualized.
- Streams have contents (a configuration), an access control mechanism and a history of changes, where any past state is 100% reproducible.
- Streams are organized in hierarchies where streams inherit their contents from each other.
- Furthermore, the stream hierarchy can be dynamically reorganized to reflect changes in e.g. process or release plans.
- Streams can be directly compared, either on the file level or on the Change Package level. Change Packages can be freely propagated between streams, and also reverted if required.
There are a few variants of streams:
- Dynamic streams are typically used to isolate a certain work effort, much like branches in most other tools.
- Static (immutable) streams are often used to implement baselines, which is typically done using labels in other tools.
- Private Workspace streams is where the user makes the actual changes. These changes are tracked by the tool but are not immediately visible to anyone else. To make a change visible, changes have to be promoted to its parent stream.
It is also possible to crosslink the contents of a dynamic or static stream to another stream, thus making component-based development possible. In most other tools, labels are used for this purpose.
