Good excuses NOT to use version control

Posted by Kent Fredric on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by Kent Fredric
Published on 2008-09-25T10:32:12Z Indexed on 2010/03/23 20:43 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 289

Filed under:

version-control

|

vcs

|

subjective

This question may seem backwards to all logical reasoning, but I encountered a team member who was working on a side project out of the main tree, and had decided ( rephrased )

I'm the only developer, we don't need version control, that's stupid

Now personally, the idea horrifies me, and I can't for one justify it.

So now my stance is clear, I want some legitimate answers why somebody can excuse themselves from using version control. The default answers will of course be "there is no excuse".

Not what I want to see. If you can't see an excuse, then just don't post. ( Feel free to downmod excuses others post that are illegitimate/bad and give reasoning )

© Stack Overflow or respective owner

Related posts about version-control

In the context of the TFS version control SDK (Microsoft.TeamFoundation.VersionControl), what exactl

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
In the context of the TFS version control SDK (Microsoft.TeamFoundation.VersionControl), what exactly is deletionID? It is a property of Microsoft.TeamFoundation.VersionControl.Client.Item. It is also a parameter to some of the query methods on Microsoft.TeamFoundation.VersionControl.Client. I'm… >>> More
What are the advantages of version control systems that version each file separately?

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
Over the past few years I have worked with several different version control systems. For me, one of the fundamental differences between them has been whether they version files individually (each file has its own separate version numbering and history) or the repository as a whole (a "commit" or… >>> More
What are the advantages of version control systems that version each file separately?

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
Over the past few years I have worked with several different version control systems. For me, one of the fundamental differences between them has been whether they version files individually (each file has its own separate version numbering and history) or the repository as a whole (a "commit" or… >>> More
R and version control for the solo data analyst

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Many data analysts that I respect use version control. For example: http://github.com/hadley/ See comments on http://permut.wordpress.com/2010/04/21/revision-control-statistics-bleg/ However, I'm evaluating whether adopting a version control system such as git would be worthwhile. A brief overview: I'm… >>> More
What version control tool can generate this header

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
This is from a sql script. What tool can generate this? Thanks --USE [MY_TABLE] GO /****** Object: StoredProcedure [dbo].[adminIncExp] Script Date: 03/05/2010 09:14:12 ******/ SET ANSI_NULLS ON GO SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON GO -- ============================================= -- Author: … >>> More

Related posts about vcs

sqlite database, RoR and VCS

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
What is the common way of dealing with the development.sqlite3 files with VCS (in particular, git)? If I commit this file to the VCS, will it be merged with another developer's copy? Or should each developer run the db:migrate task each time a new migration file is created? >>> More
How to commit a file conversion?

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
Say you've committed a file of type foo in your favorite vcs: $ vcs add data.foo $ vcs commit -m "My data" After publishing you realize there's a better data format bar. To convert you can use one of these solutions: $ vcs mv data.foo data.bar $ vcs commit -m "Preparing to use format bar" $ foo2bar… >>> More
Is a VCS appropriate for usage by a designer?

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I know that a VCS is absolutely critical for a developer to increase productivity and protect the code, no doubts about it. But what about a designer, using say, Photoshop (though it's not specific to any tools, just to make my point clearer). VCSs uses delta compression to store different versions… >>> More
Why should i write a commit message?

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
Why should i write a commit message? I dont want to and i think its stupid every single time. A gui frontend i use which will go unnamed forces you to do it. I hear other doing it everytime even if they are using the VCS on the command line. If i commit several times a day and havent finish a feature… >>> More
Using branchs for a mini project or module of project: Good practice?

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
In my repo I have 3 closely related mini projects: 1 server and 2 clients. They are all quite small (<3 files each). Since they are so small and so closely related I just dropped them in folders in one single repo. However now that I know I can't clone a single directory in my VCS of choice (Mercurial)… >>> More