Concurrent Versions System vs Darcs
Concurrent Versions System
cvs.nongnu.orgDarcs
darcs.netSide by side
| Figure | Concurrent Versions System | Darcs |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Version Control Software | 8.0 (#19) | 8.8 (#3) |
| Branching and merging | The manual documents branching and merging as CVS capabilities. | Darcs treats every repository as a branch, with branching handled by pushing and pulling between repositories. |
| Security | The manual warns that pserver passwords are trivially encoded and transmitted in the same encoding, which does not prevent an attacker from obtaining them. | The download page provides checksums alongside the listed Windows and Intel Mac binaries. |
| Support | The manual lists the info-cvs mailing list for general CVS discussion and bug-cvs for bug reports. | The FAQ directs unanswered questions to the darcs-users mailing list or the #darcs IRC channel. |
Plans
In their own words
Concurrent Versions System
Concurrent Versions System has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
Darcs
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.