Re:Is Git Irreplaceable? (2019)
by bonzini on Tuesday January 07, 2020 @04:56AM
(#21978502)
DVCS indeed has nothing to do with VCS, it has a lot to do with the data model used by the VCS.
A modern but still centralized VCS like Subversion or Perforce is what you get if you first add networking (CVS) and then atomic commits. Without atomic commits you are pretty much forced to keep a centralized server, and Subversion didn't try to change the server model after adding atomic commits.
DVCS instead is what you get if you start with local revision tracking like RCS, and add atomic commits before networking. Now the network protocol can work at the commit level and is much more amenable to distributed development.
A modern but still centralized VCS like Subversion or Perforce is what you get if you first add networking (CVS) and then atomic commits. Without atomic commits you are pretty much forced to keep a centralized server, and Subversion didn't try to change the server model after adding atomic commits.
DVCS instead is what you get if you start with local revision tracking like RCS, and add atomic commits before networking. Now the network protocol can work at the commit level and is much more amenable to distributed development.