Version Control: multiple version hell, file synchronization
- by SigTerm
Hello.
I would like to know how you normally deal with this situation:
I have a set of utility functions. Say..5..10 files. And technically they are static library, cross-platform - SConscript/SConstruct plus Visual Studio project (not solution).
Those utility functions are used in multiple small projects (15+, number increases over time). Each project has a copy of a few files or of an entire library, not a link into one central place. Sometimes project uses one file, two files, some use everything. Normally, utility functions are included as a copy of every file and SConscript/SConstruct or Visual Studio Project (depending on the situation). Each project has a separate git repository. Sometimes one project is derived from other, sometimes it isn't.
You work on every one of them, in random order. There are no other people (to make things simpler)
The problem arises when while working on one project you modify those utility function files.
Because each project has a copy of file, this introduces new version, which leads to the mess when you try later (week later, for example) to guess which version has a most complete functionality (i.e. you added a function to a.cpp in one project, and added another function to a.cpp in another project, which created a version fork)
How would you handle this situation to avoid "version hell"?
One way I can think of is using symbolic links/hard links, but it isn't perfect - if you delete one central storage, it will all go to hell. And hard links won't work on dual-boot system (although symbolic links will).
It looks like what I need is something like advanced git repository, where code for the project is stored in one local repository, but is synchronized with multiple external repositories. But I'm not sure how to do it or if it is possible to do this with git.
So, what do you think?
