Versiointijärjestelmä

Versiointijärjestelmä, or version control system (VCS) in English, is a software tool that helps manage changes to files over time. It records these changes, allowing users to revert to previous versions, track the history of modifications, and collaborate effectively with others on the same project. This is particularly crucial in software development, where multiple developers might work on different parts of a codebase simultaneously.

The core principle behind a version control system is the concept of a repository, which stores all the project's files and their complete history. When a developer makes changes, they "commit" these changes to the repository. Each commit is a snapshot of the project at a specific point in time, usually accompanied by a descriptive message explaining the changes made.

Common operations within a version control system include checking out files (getting the latest or a specific version), committing changes, branching (creating an independent line of development), merging (combining changes from different branches), and diffing (comparing different versions of a file). Popular examples of version control systems include Git, Subversion (SVN), and Mercurial. Git has become the de facto standard in modern software development due to its distributed nature and powerful branching capabilities. Using a version control system significantly reduces the risk of data loss and streamlines the development workflow.