Surround SCM is a fully-featured version manager client/server solution that allows software development teams to control who changes files, as well as remember what they changed and when. It also sports advanced branching and private branches to help facilitate concurrent development of products and versions. Surround SCM is an extremely comprehensive and powerful Version Control System (VCS) system, albeit a rather expensive one. Its power comes from its vast customisation options, as well as its ability to integrate with many APIs, including Visual Studio, JBuilder, Eclipse, and Dreamweaver MX. Overall, Surround SCM is a powerful solution that can easily scale from small to large teams.

Pros: Supports changelists; compare/merge tools; highly customisable
Cons: Tad pricey; relatively steep learning curve


There are some types of software that are essential yet get little press coverage because they are just not glamorous. Version Control Systems (VCS), also known as Software Change Management (SCM) software, are as unglamorous as they come but are indispensable tools for software developers. In fact, any project involving two or more programmers that does not use version control will likely experience delays due to silly mistakes, such as wrong versions of files, or two people having their own version of the same file. Surround SCM 3.0 promises to let you better manage all of digital assets, rivalling other well known programs such as Serena Software's PVCS and Microsoft's SourceSafe.

Surround SCM is a multi-threaded client/server solution that lets you manage all of your team's digital assets, including source code, requirements documents, Web pages, image files, specifications, project documentation, and so on. The software also lets you archive and version virtually any file, as well as locate and retrieve it at any time. It tracks who, when, and what changed for every revision, so you can always retrieve the 'correct' version of a file, the first, the last, or any version in between.

Based on the TCP/IP protocol, Surround SCM has both a Windows graphical user interface (GUI) and command line utilities. Despite the ubiquity of Windows, it's actually surprising how much software is still built using command line utilities. For applications that take a few hours to extract and compile, a command line version is essential. However, the software takes more effort to use than in GUI mode because there are lots of parameters to learn. Support for Microsoft's SCC API also means Surround works with a wide variety of popular Windows-based development tools, including Visual Studio, JBuilder, Eclipse, and Dreamweaver MX.

A networked licence server is included with the software and new licences can be added as the project manpower increases. Licences are added to the licence server and can then be assigned to users on a frequent or temporary basis, as and when needed. The projects (repositories) are managed on the Surround SCM server. Repositories are the major unit of storage and can hold anything from a simple one-file component up to an entire multi-folder system with thousands of files. It's a flexible system too, and each licensed server can work with several Surround SCM servers on various PC/Linux/Mac/Solaris machines.

Surround SCM offers a wide degree of customisation, as well as a security system that allows fine-tooth detailed control over administration functions, users, groups, files and branches. For instance, the software allows you to restrict access of new or junior developers so they can't delete files by mistake.

Installing our test licence was relatively straightforward, after a little bit of difficulty with the manual. However, there is quite a steep learning curve for anyone used to version control systems because Surround SCM does things slightly differently. For instance, there is normally one main branch (lines of development) and additional branches when you make a change to a file, such as changing version 1.5 of a file to version 1.6, making two distinct branches. Surround SCM, however, is based around branches, so each developer creates their own private branch to work from which then merges completed code into the main branch. This method is a welcome approach that helps to reduce errors.

One limitation of version control systems is their ability to archive files. For instance, there is at least one VCS in use that archives every file, including the compiler, linker and so one. Surround SCM just expects files to be binary or text and deals with them appropriately. Having said that, you can also exclude certain file extensions. We also liked the software's ability to handle the same file that exists in multiple repositories within the same branch.

This is especially useful when you're sharing multiple files, such as Delphi and C++, between multiple projects. Cross-platform compare/merge is also done by the included third-party Guiffy 6.1 utility, which supports more than 150 file formats and can compare/merge virtually any type of source file. Guiffy also provides excellent folder and file tree compare and synchronisation capabilities.

One of Surround SCM's key new features is triggers. A trigger allows you to be notified whenever an event occurs, or whenever an action is performed on a file. For instance, pre-event triggers are used for checking files and post-event triggers are used to send e-mail or run scripts. Some examples of scripts (compiled using C++) are available on Seapine Software's Web site. All of the information about the branch, file, repository and so on is passed into Windows environment variables so it can be accessed and used in scripts.

Other key new features include integration with Metrowerk's CodeWarrior, support for Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) and Active Directory, integration with CruiseControl to automate the build process, as well as faster file transfer speeds for remote users. In addition, Surround SCM now offers changelists, which allow you to group changes to multiple files for historical reporting, and atomic transactions, which preserves the source code's integrity by dictating that changelist actions succeed or fail as a group.

Reporting and notification features provide History, Trend, and Labelled File reports to assist you in analysing file information and actions. The software can also inform team members of source file changes with automatic e-mail notifications. Changelists and atomic transactions allow users to group change actions together and view historic changelists to identify related changes, and atomic transactions help ensure that user actions either succeed or fail as a unit.

Links:
Surround SCM Web site
Surround SCM 30-day trial

BIOS, Aug 31, 04 | Print | Send | Comments (0) | Posted In Developer