Subversion/GIT for Writing?

azzeretti

Does anyone know if there exists a revision control software package for writing, similar to the ones used in application development?

I used various applications when writing code. The benefit to them is that you can take version of the application and "branch" it without modifying the source. If the branch is acceptable you can then add it to the main package.

For an age I have been looking for something similar for writing. At the moment, I tend to create a new document and brainstorm/test paragraphs there. However, merging them again is annoying to say the least and you risk modifying the original passage(s) and possibly messing it up!

Maybe I should just develop one!?

pickarooney

I'd buy that for a dollar
I've often thought about using something like this but never really looked into seeing was there something available.
Currently I just bang a new version point number on whenever I make a major edit and upload to gmail and a few other places, so I have a big list of files called <bookname>_version_6.2, <bookname>_version_8.1, etc.

On something of a similar note, I'm sick to the back teeth of the way OpenOffice/Word mangle my paragraph breaks and chapter splits and even teh simple formatting and would like to be able to use something cross-platform that allows me to move chapters about and automatically renumber them with minimal fuss.

The Mad Hatter

I use Scrivener, which allows you to do what you want (I think), among other things.

pickarooney

For that money it would want to be writing the chapters itself!

The Mad Hatter

pickarooney wrote: »

For that money it would want to be writing the chapters itself!

That's what I thought, until I tried it. It's worthwhile if you're as disorganised as I am.

Blush_01

Pretty sure RoughDraft does something similar, and it's free. Then again, no idea whether the software has been updated and it's years since I downloaded (or used) it.

Antilles

azzeretti wrote: »

Does anyone know if there exists a revision control software package for writing, similar to the ones used in application development?

I used various applications when writing code. The benefit to them is that you can take version of the application and "branch" it without modifying the source. If the branch is acceptable you can then add it to the main package.

For an age I have been looking for something similar for writing. At the moment, I tend to create a new document and brainstorm/test paragraphs there. However, merging them again is annoying to say the least and you risk modifying the original passage(s) and possibly messing it up!

Maybe I should just develop one!?

Is there a reason you can't just use the same software for your writing as you do for your code?

I use Drop Box, btw, which also has version control.

azzeretti

Antilles wrote: »

Is there a reason you can't just use the same software for your writing as you do for your code?

I use Drop Box, btw, which also has version control.

I suppose I could (or Dropbox) but that involves an external application. I think it would be great if the word processing application had built in revision control, so there would be no need for any external app.