Apache Subversion vs BitKeeper

Apache Subversion is a free, open-source centralized version control system for individual users through large enterprise operations. It versions directories, files and free-form key/value properties, with atomic commits that apply only when the complete change succeeds. Branches and tags use copy operations with a small, constant space requirement, while merge tracking assists changes between development lines. File locking is optional, and selected files can require a lock before editing. Repositories can be served through Apache HTTP Server using WebDAV/DeltaV, or through the standalone svnserve server, including SSH tunneling. Subversion supports Windows, macOS and Linux, with API and self-hosted deployment options. It offers native large-file handling, sparse checkout and nested repositories. TortoiseSVN and Eclipse or NetBeans integrations are identified as separate third-party projects rather than core features. The project publishes source code, while binary packages are maintained by volunteers or other projects. Community support comes through user and developer mailing lists. Archived releases outside currently supported versions lack community support, and experimental features in the 1.14 release notes carry no backward-compatibility promise.

BitKeeper is a distributed source management system for version-controlling software projects. It is open source under the Apache 2.0 License and supports Windows, macOS, Linux, and self-hosted deployment. Its distributed versioning model includes file locking, sparse checkout, and native handling of large files. For large code bases, BK/Nested divides a repository into sub-repositories while keeping changesets, libraries, and configuration files in sync with the full project. The Binary Asset Manager provides local storage for large assets such as videos, photos, artwork, office files, and CAD files. BitKeeper records who changed source, when and from which computer, with comments; its auto-merge uses the full history to resolve conflicts, according to the maker. The maker also describes checksums and redundant encoding for detecting and correcting common failures in revision-controlled data. Developers can use graphical tools or the command line, with all operations available through the command line. A self-paced demo with a sample repository takes about 30 minutes. Users can clone the last released BitKeeper source with Git. The maker notes that BitKeeper is not the best choice for every project and that Git is an excellent solution for many use cases.