Version Control System

A lightweight, efficient file version control system implemented in C++ that allows you to track changes to individual files. This project implements a skip list data structure for efficient version management, providing O(log n) average time complexity for most operations.

Features

• Efficient Version Management: Uses skip list data structure for O(log n) operations
• File Versioning: Track changes to individual files with version numbers
• Version Comments: Add descriptive comments to each version
• Content Preview: View version contents with optional preview mode
• Backup System: Automatic backup of original files
• Command-line Interface: Easy-to-use interactive CLI

Technical Implementation

Core Components

1. Skip List Implementation

   • Template-based implementation for type flexibility
   • Probabilistic balancing for optimal performance
   • Average O(log n) complexity for insert, search, and delete operations

2. Version Management

   • Automatic version numbering
   • Timestamp tracking
   • Comment support
   • Content storage and retrieval

3. File Operations

   • Automatic file backup
   • Safe file operations with error handling
   • Content verification

Building and Running

Prerequisites

• C++17 compatible compiler
• Make sure you have g++ installed

Build Instructions

1. Clone the repository
2. Run the build script:

./build_and_run.sh

Usage

Available Commands

• init <filename> - Initialize version control for a file
• save [comment] - Save current state as a new version (optional comment)
• list [--preview] - List all versions (--preview shows content previews)
• restore <version> - Restore to a specific version number
• view <version> - View the full content of a specific version
• delete <version> - Delete a specific version
• latest - Restore to the latest version
• backup - Restore from original backup
• help - Show help message
• exit - Quit the program

Example Usage

# Initialize version control for a file
> init myfile.txt

# Save a new version with comment
> save "Added new feature"

# List all versions
> list

# List versions with content previews
> list --preview

# Restore to a specific version
> restore 2

# View specific version content
> view 2

Project Structure

.
├── SkipList.hpp         # Skip list data structure implementation
├── Version.hpp          # Version class definition
├── FileVersionManager.hpp # Version management implementation
├── main.cpp            # CLI implementation
├── build_and_run.sh    # Build script
└── README.md           # This file

Technical Details

Skip List Implementation

• Maximum level: 16 (suitable for large number of versions)
• Probability factor: 0.5 (balanced performance)
• Space complexity: O(n)
• Average time complexity: O(log n)

Version Storage

• Version number
• Timestamp
• File content
• Optional comment
• Content preview capability

Error Handling

The system includes comprehensive error handling for:

• File operations
• Invalid version numbers
• Memory management
• User input validation

Future Enhancements

Potential areas for future development:

1. Diff viewing between versions
2. Branch support
3. Network synchronization
4. Compression for storage optimization
5. GUI interface

Contributing

Feel free to contribute to this project by:

1. Reporting issues
2. Suggesting enhancements
3. Creating pull requests

License

This project is open source and available under the MIT License.

Author

Ashish Kaushik

Acknowledgments

• Inspired by modern version control systems
• Built using efficient data structures and algorithms
• Designed for educational and practical purposes