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Intralink v/s SVN (subversion)

s.iyer
1-Newbie

Intralink v/s SVN (subversion)

My company wishes to let go Intralink and go for SVN (Tortoise Subversion control) for version control of files, since SVN is open source and is free.

I request inputs from people who have used it before. We are on Proe for the past 5 or 6 years and have that much of data. I am afraid of conflicts hence the question.

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions
KevinBrault
5-Regular Member
(To:s.iyer)

We are using it at a couple of small sites (less than five users). It works well but does not offer the functionality of Intralink.

We only use it for preventing accidental overwriting of other users files and to retain a version history.

It does not know of the relationships between files (drawings, assemblies and parts) at all.

There is a trick to using it with ProE. You have to renumber all the ProE files back to a ".1" extension or remove the numeric extension altogether before uploading or downloading. We do this with a batch file that then calls SVN. Just right click on the file or folder and select ProE_Upload or ProE_Download and all the steps are taken for the user.

We also have a batch file that runs every night and creates a "Where Used" list. Before any user renames a file they have to consult this list and have all the parent assemblies and drawings in session, rename, then save everything.

The only pros with SVN is that it does not require as much admin or user time, works well over a WAN and requires less resources (it is not always running in the background). But I do not recommend it with design groups larger than five or so.

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5 REPLIES 5

I've never heard of SVN being used for CAD data management. That's more for software management IMHO. Are you referring to IntraLink 3.4 or a later version (Windchill based)? Most IDE's have integrations to SVN that handle the brunt of the interactions. Pro/E would not have that and I question the ability to manage the relationships between Pro/E files correctly.

We have Intralink 3.4. Somebody had a great idea of using SVN instead of upgrading to 9.1 or using 3.4 to save on money. However, I am vary of the pitfalls and that we would be going from the proverbial frying pan into fire. My gut feeling says it is not going to work since proe has its own data management for relationships between various files. However, I am unable to place my finger on particular aspects.

I fear the loss of data and adding to a different dimension to the mess. For certain reasons, the Intralink is not operational and is presently a free for all. Luckily we operate on seperate projects and project data is in seperate folders.

From what I know of SVN, you will get basic configuration control on the files. Since software development relies on folders or packages, you will have to manage numerous search paths to navigate them as Pro/E will not see the whole database. To the user, its just like a huge folder structure with check in and out.

KevinBrault
5-Regular Member
(To:s.iyer)

We are using it at a couple of small sites (less than five users). It works well but does not offer the functionality of Intralink.

We only use it for preventing accidental overwriting of other users files and to retain a version history.

It does not know of the relationships between files (drawings, assemblies and parts) at all.

There is a trick to using it with ProE. You have to renumber all the ProE files back to a ".1" extension or remove the numeric extension altogether before uploading or downloading. We do this with a batch file that then calls SVN. Just right click on the file or folder and select ProE_Upload or ProE_Download and all the steps are taken for the user.

We also have a batch file that runs every night and creates a "Where Used" list. Before any user renames a file they have to consult this list and have all the parent assemblies and drawings in session, rename, then save everything.

The only pros with SVN is that it does not require as much admin or user time, works well over a WAN and requires less resources (it is not always running in the background). But I do not recommend it with design groups larger than five or so.

Thank you all for your answers. We are a team of 15 engineers working on Proe. The team size is precisely the reason for the apprehensions.

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