Using Source Control with LabVIEW

[GuyM142]

I know there have been many posts about this issue in the past, but the main reason I ask this is to check if there was any progress about it in recent years.

Our programming team has expanded and we are looking for ways to work on the same project from several computers,
as of today we are working with git but it seems hard to resolve conflicts when they happen.

Are there any teams using any kind of source control that is easy to use and works well with vi's? If you use git are there any tips of avoiding conflicts or handling them better?

Thank you!

[Hitchhiker 42]

In terms of git, are you using it with that thing https://github.com/joerg/LabViewGitEnv? I think it uses LVMerge and such to work with git.

In addition, I've heard/read things about Subversion (?), but I'm not really sure, as I've never used it.

[Jonathan L.]

I have been looking into this since spring and I think I have found a fairly good set of solutions using Git. Here is our setup.

1. Take your pick of between GitHub, Bitbucket, GitLab, or another Git repository hosting site. If you want to keep your code private on GitHub, they offer a free discount to FIRST teams. (I can't find the thread on it at the moment. Maybe someone can find it.) Bitbucket is free for up to 5 developers last I checked. GitLab is free for any number of developers, any number of repos, and up to 10GB per repo. Of course there are other pros and cons to each but GitLab is what we are using at the moment.

2. Assuming you don't want to use the command line I recommend SourceTree as a Git client on Windows.

3. LabVIEW comes with a diff tool and merge tool. They are not perfect as you might expect with graphical programming. And I wouldn't recommend depending on them. But when you end up with two developers accidentally changing the same VI they might come in handy. Since SourceTree does not integrate with LabVIEW’s diff and merge tools perfectly, I made a LabVIEW program that works between the two. You can download the Update Installer here. There are a few things the installer does not do to set up so make sure to read the Wiki page. The source code is also available.


Hope this helps you get started. Let me know if you have any questions.