GitOD: An on demand distributed file system approach to Version Control

Abstract

Version Control Systems (VCS) are tools used to manage changes in documents, programs and other kinds of information stored as computer files, usually as part of a collaborative project or task. In this project, an extension is proposed to the concept of distributed VCS through the development of a specialized distributed file system. In order to reduce the use of bandwidth and disk space usually required by a local copy of a distributed VCS repository, a new approach is proposed in which only essential files are initially retrieved, while other files are downloaded as they are needed. This strategy can be useful in devices where bandwidth, storage and power resources are limited and/or expensive, such as tablets or smartphones.