BitKeeper vs Darcs

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.

Darcs is a free, open-source version control system for Linux, macOS, Windows, and self-hosted deployment. It organizes work around patches, or changes, instead of snapshots. Every working directory is its own repository, allowing users to record changes offline and push them to another repository later. Interactive commands let users select changes for a patch, pull individual changes, and edit or discard a patch before sending it. Branching works by pushing and pulling between repositories, with each repository treated as a branch. The darcs send command supports email collaboration, so maintainers can accept or reject proposed patches without granting commit privileges. The project names hub.darcs.net and darcsweb for repository hosting. Darcs is written in Haskell and can be installed through Cabal, Stack, Nix, platform binaries, or a source tarball. It is volunteer-run and a Software Freedom Conservancy member.