FrameMaker and Version Control Software

[Alison Craig]

Jenny:

I guess I'm lucky. When I started here and said I wanted to use VSS, the lead software engineer set up a VSS DB just for documentation - no sharing with R&D. And it has saved me on a few occasions when I needed to go back into History for something (especially when I was working exclusively in MS Word).

Including my translations, I have more than 10 books, but in English I have only 2 which I use to produce 6 (soon to be 8) different manuals.

Alison Craig, Technical Writer
Ultrasonix Medical Corporation
Tel: (604) 279-8550, ext 127
E-mail: alison.craig at ultrasonix.com
 
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Jenny Greenleaf [mailto:jennygreenleaf at comcast.net] 
Sent: Tuesday, August 03, 2010 11:58 AM
To: Alison Craig
Subject: Re: FrameMaker and Version Control Software

Hi Alison,

I'm a lone writer too. I have several books and release notes to keep track of. I don't want to put stuff in the engineers' DB, so I just use a backup drive that's on the network. IT backs it up.

I just drag my working files over at night and stick them in a working files directory. When I'm done with a book revision, I create a directory for that revision and put the relevant files (sans the backup files, etc.) into that directory as an archive. 


It's crude, but effective. I've never found source control systems to work very well for tech writing. 

I have a fairly limited number of books to keep track of--10 or so--so it's manageable. If you have a lot more, I can see why you would want some source control.

Jenny



On Aug 3, 2010, at 11:29 AM, Alison Craig wrote:

> FM 9 Version: 9.0p250
> Unstructured
> OS: XP Pro with SP3
> FM Experience: 13 months
> Writing Experience: 15 years
> Writing Team: 1 (me)
> 
> 
> I started asking question last week about backups on my version control database and it turns out that no backups are done (as the sole writer, I am the only user of the Documentation database).
> 
> The Lead Software engineer has been trying to get me to change from Microsoft's Visual Source Safe to the open source product that the R&D department has switched to: Subversion. The problem is, he's never given me any compelling reasons to change and his description of how Subversion works hasn't made me want to make the switch.
> 
> After talking with one of the hardware engineers today, I can now see reasons:
> 
> -          Microsoft's has very strict "use" recommendations (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/Bb509342) which really mean I shouldn't be using VSS anymore as I fall outside the 3-5 Gb guideline (after 4-1/2 years, my db is now 17 Gb). Database corruption is a real threat
> -          contrary to what I was led to believe, you *can* actually lock files on checkout. Apparently the programmers don't use this functionality but as I foresee a second writer at some point, locking files seems pretty important to me
> 
> What do other people use for version control of documentation files? Does anyone have any experience (good or bad) with either of these specific programs?
> 
> Any insights would be greatly appreciated.
> 
> FYI: Not only do I keep FM files in VSS, I also keep all my image files and my older Word-based docs.
> 
> 
> Alison Craig, Technical Writer
> Ultrasonix Medical Corporation
> Tel: (604) 279-8550, ext 127
> E-mail: alison.craig at ultrasonix.com<mailto:alison.craig at ultrasonix.com>
> 
> 
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