Passive version control for Windows

Question

I have moved to a new position where non-programmers sometimes produce snips of code and I have been authorized to better structure their code foundation. However, before I introduce them to a standard version control system, I would like a passive version control system as a stopgap solution so we experience less losses from now on.

I have experience in programming, version control, and Linux or Windows systems administration, however they do not.

I want to know if there is a tool that can monitor a windows shared folder, and on each file change, passively commit the change to a separate repository.

Principles:

• Being a stopgap, something is better than nothing
• Completely transparent to the user
• Can be a kludge
• Preferably SVN or at least using one of the following: CVS, SVN, Git, Mercurial

Answer 1

You can use a CVS like the ones you mention and set up some background auto-commit. E.g. with git on Linux

inotifywait -q -m -e CLOSE_WRITE --format="git commit -m 'autocommit on change' %w" file.txt | sh

commits file.txt as soon as it is saved. Alternatively, you can cron the commit.

Since each user has their own repository, there shouldn't be any conflict and committing should be smooth, so it kludge shouldn't break often.