Programming with multiple people

**dyelax** · 10-15-2011, 09:48 PM

Hello, I've been programming for a little while and my friends are just starting to learn. We want to be able to work together on projects but I don't know what the best way to do this is. I kind of have an idea how to do it in bluej with dropbox but I want to work in eclipse. Is there any way that we can work on the same files at the same time? (dropbox doesn't like this very much) or do we have to work separately and share the files? (if so, how would we share what we've worked on in eclipse?/What is the best way to delegate who works on what and how to put it together?)

**Fubarable** · 10-15-2011, 09:53 PM

You want to use a software versioning system such as Apache Subversion (SVN). Shoot this is an amazingly useful tool even if only one person is working on the project. I've used Assembla for my SVN server and then use both Eclipse (Subclipse plug in), and TortoiseSVN to connect with the server. A programmer would check out the code from the "head" or server, make their changes, and then commit their changes back to the head. You would be notified immediately of any conflicts.

**jammas615** · 10-15-2011, 10:02 PM

I've used and still use Dropbox to store my projects. Dropbox is a simple cloud storage site which stores your stuff securely. When you install it, you get a folder called dropbox on your Desktop which holds all your files stored on the cloud. What i do is have my project folder inside here and then point my eclipse workspace to it. This works well as every computer that you have eclipse on you just have to have dropbox installed and it does the rest for you. It updates as soon as you make a change and i have even had two computers working on the same file at once, eclipse just asks you to refresh for a change.

Check it out:
https://www.dropbox.com/
Oh, and you can get a 2Gb free plan for nothing.

**Fubarable** · 10-15-2011, 10:08 PM

Originally Posted by jammas615

I've used and still use Dropbox to store my projects. Dropbox is a simple cloud storage site which stores your stuff securely. When you install it, you get a folder called dropbox on your Desktop which holds all your files stored on the cloud. What i do is have my project folder inside here and then point my eclipse workspace to it. This works well as every computer that you have eclipse on you just have to have dropbox installed and it does the rest for you. It updates as soon as you make a change and i have even had two computers working on the same file at once, eclipse just asks you to refresh for a change.

Check it out:
https://www.dropbox.com/
Oh, and you can get a 2Gb free plan for nothing.

I strongly strongly disagree with this -- I can't say how strongly enough.

I have to ask jammas: are you really using Dropbox as a versioning control system for a large project that is supported by multiple coders?

I can't advise you strongly enough to not use Dropbox and to use an versioning control system such as SVN or GIT. They're free, easy to use, and built for this purpose. If you use something Like Dropbox, you will run into version clash issues very soon, and it will doom your project especially if it is anything more than the most simple of projects.

For more and even stronger opinions on this, Google Dropbox vs SVN vs GIT and read what professionals have to say.

**jammas615** · 10-15-2011, 10:22 PM

Hmm i see you just proved me wrong on many ways....
Okay, but dropbox does work well if its one person working on multiple computers, and what do you mean by version clash issues?
I tried SugarSync which renamed files and made life hard, but dropbox didn't.

**Fubarable** · 10-15-2011, 10:27 PM

Originally Posted by jammas615

Hmm i see you just proved me wrong on many ways....
Okay, but dropbox does work well if its one person working on multiple computers, and what do you mean by version clash issues?
I tried SugarSync which renamed files and made life hard, but dropbox didn't.

What happens if multiple people are working on the same code at the same time from different locations, and then one uploads a change to a file, and then another uploads changes to the same file over-writing the changes just made by the first person? Dropbox has no facility for reconciling this while versioning control was built just to handle this as well as many other code-specific issues. I suggest that you go to wikipedia and check out its entries on Apache Subversion and Git to see what they can do.

**dyelax** · 10-16-2011, 10:25 PM

So should I download one of the windows binary packages or the source code? A lot of the info on this site is technical terms that I'm not entirely familiar with.

**jammas615** · 10-16-2011, 11:12 PM

Download the source code if your planning on making changes or compiling it yourself or the binaries if you just want to use it and get it up fast.

**dyelax** · 10-17-2011, 10:00 PM

Alright so I downloaded the binaries and looked through the instructions on how to set it up and the instructions to set up the repository say "The examples used in this appendix assume that you have svn, the Subversion command-line client, and svnadmin,
the administrative tool, ready to go on a Unix-like operating system. (This tutorial also works at the Windows command-line prompt, assuming you make some obvious tweaks.)"

Like I said before, I'm not that experienced with all this and have no Idea how do do any command line stuff. Is it necessary to set this up with the command line or is there a more user-friendly way to go about it. Can someone walk me through what im supposed to be doing here?

**jammas615** · 10-17-2011, 10:55 PM

Assuming you're using Apache Subversion.
Read this: Subversion for Windows with Apache server HOWTO

**dyelax** · 10-17-2011, 11:51 PM

okay, I'm following along with that article. I got to 3.2 but I cant seem to find the mod_authz_svn.so and mod_dav_svn.so in the subversion file on my computer. (I downloaded sliksvn so the actual file is sliksvn not subversion)

**dyelax** · 10-18-2011, 04:03 AM

Okay, disregard that last post. I have set up a subversion client with Collabnet and it seems to be working. I still have two questions.
1: When I checkout a file to the subversion server I am using, I get a message saying it worked and the branches, tags and trunk files in the repository all say they have 1 revision but when I click on them I cant see or get to the files that i checked out. Maybe I'm thinking this works a different way than it actually does as I have no experience with this.
2. If I'm going to work on projects with other people, do I have to pay for a hosting package such as this: Personal Plans so they can also reach the server with the repositories?

**jammas615** · 10-19-2011, 01:02 AM

Sourceforge is free to host your project on, why not use that?

**dyelax** · 10-19-2011, 03:08 AM

I also just found this: ECF/DocShare Plugin - Eclipsepedia which seems like an easier solution. Would that work for what im trying to do?

**Fubarable** · 10-19-2011, 03:26 AM

Why not just use Subclipse with Eclipse? I've used this with the free Assembla SVN hosting to great benefit. I've also used TortoiseSVN with Assembla and love it too.