In engineering, chaos is the challenge — consistency is key! At UnioTech, whether you’re coding software, building circuits, or crafting machines, we recommend using version control as your secret weapon. It’s not just about tracking changes; it’s about supercharging teamwork, squashing errors, and keeping projects smooth and steady. From software to hardware and even mechanical design, version control keeps innovation on track. Ready to see why it’s the ultimate game-changer in engineering? Let’s jump in!
Version Control for Software Development
At UnioTech, we use software version control to manage and track changes over time. It enables our developers to collaborate effectively, ensuring that no one’s work is accidentally overwritten. We also use it to create a historical record, making it easy to revert to earlier versions, compare changes, and identify sources of errors.
Why it’s important:
- Collaboration: We ensure multiple developers can contribute simultaneously, merging work seamlessly.
- Change Tracking: It provides a clear record of modifications, making it simple to understand changes.
- Error Recovery: When new updates introduce issues, we can quickly roll back to stable versions.
- Consistency: It maintains a single source of truth, so everyone works with the latest updates.
Branching and Merging for Collaborative Coding:
We recommend using branching to create separate lines of code for new features, bug fixes, or experiments without affecting the main project. Merging then combines changes from different branches back into the main codebase.
- How We Do It: Create clear, consistent branch naming conventions (e.g., main, develop, feature/ and bugfix/) to keep our workflows organized.
- Commit Histories for Change Tracking: Every commit is a snapshot of the code at any specific moment.
- Commit Messages: We encourage concise yet descriptive messages to make tracking changes easier. The information from these messages is then compiled into release notes when it comes to releasing a new version.
- Tagging and Release Management: Tagging specific commits as key releases or milestones (e.g., v0.6.9) makes it easy to identify stable versions approved for release.
- We recommend using a consistent versioning system like semantic versioning (major.minor.patch) to communicate updates clearly and consistently across multiple elements and projects.
Tools and Technologies We Reccomend:
- git – free and open source distributed version control system designed to handle everything from small to extensive projects quickly and efficiently. The most popular version control system.
- Our projects use GitHub for collaborative development, issue tracking, and pull requests.
- GitHub Actions – a GitHub-flavored CI/CD solution that we use to automate all software workflows including building, testing, and deploying the releases.
Version Control for Hardware Development
At UnioTech, we follow version control to manage changes in hardware designs, including schematics and PCB layouts. This approach minimizes errors and fosters effective collaboration.
How You Can Do It:
- Develop the hardware design in software of choice – Altium Designer or KiCAD.
- Use git and GitHub for version control.
- Compare versions and do reviews using Cadlab.io. This tool is a game changer for hardware developers that narrows the gap between hardware and software design workflows. Now it’s much easier to review the changes in the new version and we don’t even need to have the software installed locally!
Features and Best Practices:
- Handling Revisions of Circuit Designs: We use version control to maintain a clear history, allowing reversion if needed.
- Our Recommendation: Do regular commits to save the work state at different stages and export the schematics in PDF reader format for ease of access and review.
- Managing Component Libraries and BOM Changes: We recommend managing updates to ensure accurate parts management throughout the project.
Tools and Technologies We Recommend:
- Altium Designer: It allows to design PCBs and component libraries, enhancing team collaboration while.
- Git and Cadlab for Hardware Designs: You can adapt traditional version control for hardware files like schematics and PCB layouts.
- Version-Controlled Component Libraries
Version Control for Mechanical Design
UnioTech applies version control in mechanical design projects to track changes in CAD files, assembly designs, and engineering drawings. This ensures consistent design iterations and efficient collaboration.
How We Do It:
- CAD Files: We track modifications to ensure consistency and enable rollbacks when needed.
- Assembly Designs: We manage changes, ensuring components fit and function as intended.
- Engineering Drawings: We keep detailed records of revisions, capturing all updates for compliance and review.
Features and Best Practices:
- Tracking Design Iterations: We use version control features that come with our design software of choice – Autodesk Fusion, to provide a clear trail of modifications with the possibility to roll back when needed.
Integrating Version Control Across Disciplines
At UnioTech, we use cross-functional version control to ensure consistency and traceability across software, hardware, and mechanical engineering efforts. This unified approach helps us prevent misalignment, minimize integration issues, and facilitate seamless collaboration.
Key Strategies We Recommend:
- Align Software Updates with Hardware and Mechanical Designs: We recommend managing dependencies across domains when hardware updates impact software or mechanical components and vice versa.
- Unified Branching Strategies: We maintain clear branching strategies that support parallel development across disciplines.
- Automated Testing and Integration: We use CI/CD pipelines to trigger software builds and software quality checks including the documentation.
Conclusion
Version control is essential to maintaining smooth, consistent product development at UnioTech — whether in software, hardware, or mechanical engineering. It’s more than just managing files; it powers collaboration and drives innovation.
In today’s fast-paced engineering environment, version control isn’t just a helpful tool—it’s a must-have for consistent success!
