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diff --git a/www/history.md b/www/history.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c3df911 --- /dev/null +++ b/www/history.md @@ -0,0 +1,95 @@ +# The History And Purpose Of Fossil + +Fossil is a [distributed version control system (DVCS)][100] written +beginning in [2007][105] by the [architect of SQLite][110] for the +purpose of managing the [SQLite project][115]. + +[100]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributed_version_control +[105]: /timeline?a=1970-01-01&n1=10 +[110]: https://sqlite.org/crew.html +[115]: https://sqlite.org/ + +Though Fossil was originally written specifically to support SQLite, +it is now also used by countless other projects. The SQLite architect (drh) +is still the top committer to Fossil, but there are also +[many other contributors][120]. + +[120]: /reports?type=ci&view=byuser + +## History + +The SQLite project started out using [CVS][300], as CVS was the most +commonly used version control system in that era (circa 2000). CVS +was an amazing version control system for its day in that it allowed +multiple developers to be editing the same file at the same time. + +[300]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concurrent_Versions_System + +Though innovative and much loved in its time, CVS was not without problems. +Among those was a lack of visibility into the project history and the +lack of integrated bug tracking. To address these deficiencies, +the SQLite author developed the [CVSTrac][305] wrapper for CVS beginning +in [2002][310]. + +[305]: http://cvstrac.org/ +[310]: http://cvstrac.org/fossil/timeline?a=19700101&n1=10 + +CVSTrac greatly improved the usability of CVS and was adopted by +other projects. CVSTrac also [inspired the design][315] of [Trac][320], +which was a similar system that was (and is) far more widely used. + +[315]: https://trac.edgewall.org/wiki/TracHistory +[320]: https://trac.edgewall.org/ + +Historians can see the influence of CVSTrac on the development of +SQLite. [Early SQLite check-ins][325] that happened before CVSTrac +often had a check-in comment that was just a "smiley". +That was not an unreasonable check-in comment, as check-in comments +were scarcely seen and of questionable utility in raw CVS. CVSTrac +changed that, making check-in comments more visible and more useful. +The SQLite developers reacted by creating [better check-in comments][330]. + +[325]: https://sqlite.org/src/timeline?a=19700101&n1=10 +[330]: https://sqlite.org/src/timeline?c=20030101&n1=10&nd + +At about this same time, the [Monotone][335] system appeared. +Monotone was one of the first distributed version control systems. As far as +this author is aware, Monotone was the first VCS to make use of +SHA1 to identify artifacts. Monotone stored its content in an SQLite +database, which is what brought it to the attention of the SQLite architect. +These design choices were a major source of inspiration for Fossil. + +[335]: https://www.monotone.ca/ + +Beginning around 2005, the need for a better version control system +for SQLite began to become evident. The SQLite architect looked +around for a suitable replacement. Monotone, Git, and Mercurial were +all considered. But at that time, none of these supported sync +over ordinary HTTP, none could be run from an inexpensive shell +account on a leased server (this was before the widespread availability +of affordable virtual private servers), and none of them supported anything +resembling the wiki and ticket features of CVSTrac that had been +found to be so useful. And so, the SQLite architect began writing +his own DVCS. + +Early prototypes were done in [TCL][340]. As experiments proceeded, +however, it was found that the low-level byte manipulates needed for +things like delta compression and computing diffs +were better implemented in plain old C. +Experiments continued. Finally, a prototype capable of self-hosting +was devised on [2007-07-16][345]. + +[340]: https://www.tcl.tk/ +[345]: https://fossil-scm.org/fossil/timeline?c=200707211410&n1=10 + +The first project hosted by Fossil was Fossil itself. After a +few months of development work, the code was considered stable enough +to begin hosting the [SQLite documentation repository][350] which was +split off from the main SQLite CVS repository on [2007-11-12][355]. +After two years of development work on Fossil, the +SQLite source code itself was transferred to Fossil on +[2009-08-11][360]. + +[350]: https://www.sqlite.org/docsrc/doc/trunk/README.md +[355]: https://www.sqlite.org/docsrc/timeline?c=200711120345&n1=10 +[360]: https://sqlite.org/src/timeline?c=b0848925babde524&n1=12&y=ci |