Common terms used in source code management and versioning

These are some common terms used in source code management and version control systems. They are usually widespread and standard terms used by most control systems:

• Branch: It is a revision of the main code where developers can make a change and then can merge it with the main code later. Branches can be used to maintain different features and to keep different releases and versions. Tags also come in the same category and have a similar use.
• Change: Change represents a modification in the source code files and is tracked by the source version control system.
• Checkout: Checking out source code means to make a local copy of the repository code on your machine. It can also mean to get the latest code.
• Clone: Cloning is similar to checking out, except it is mostly used when you are cloning the remote repository into an empty local repository.
• Commit: Commit is the same as in other systems; it is basically pushing your local copy or working copy changes to the remote repository.
• Conflict: Conflict occurs when different developers make changes to the same source file and mostly at the same place in the file. Some difference checking tools, such as KDiff, can be used to compare documents and make sure conflicts are not overridden.
• Merge: Merging is typically done when a developer makes changes to a file that has been changed by other developers as well, and then he has to check his code into the repository. In these kinds of scenario, SCM tools usually give warnings that the code file has some changes by other developers and your changes will be merged into theirs. Other times, a similar situation can be resolved by merging changes manually to avoid conflicts, or taking the latest changes from the repository and then merging locally before checking in the code.