Towards social version control

Abstract

Version control systems are an integral part of software development process since their first use in 1970s. And since then, they have been improved with many features and easy-to-use user interfaces. In this paper, we propose a new feature to be implemented into commonly used version control systems, such as CVS and SubVersion. This feature promotes real time collaboration, opening the door towards a social interaction among development team members. This interaction allows software developers to communicate more effectively through an internal social networking site within the context of the version control environment. The new feature demonstrates that it can be effectively utilized to avoid conflicts, which is one of the major challenges not only in version control, but in any collaborative system. © 2012 IEEE. © 2013 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.