Google Docs like revisioning?

Question

I need to implement similar revisioning history what Google Docs documents have. I'm just wondering how they have implemented revisioning. If you do one change, then that change is saved. Does that mean they have one full copy of document when one change is made to document or is it possible to somehow automatically merge versions from previous versions?

I'm not sure of exactly what google uses but you might gain some more insight if you look up CouchDB. Basically it's a document oriented database with automatic revisioning and automatic propagation across multiple nodes. The database basically has document revisioning built-in so you just have to give the API the correct call to grab an old revision. Just realize that, unlike code revision stores CouchDB and Google don't have an endless history. They need to be trimmed and cleaned on a regular basis. — Evan Plaice, Jan 02 '12 at 17:02

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 31 '11 at 19:20

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You should probably take a look at MobWrite. I believe this is what Google Docs uses.

answered Dec 31 '11 at 19:20

user513590

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score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 31 '11 at 19:23

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You should read Joel Spolsky's blog post about distributed version control systems for a bit of insight into how it is possible to store only the modifications (avoid keeping a full copy of the document for every change).

answered Dec 31 '11 at 19:23

shamp00

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Google Docs like revisioning?

2 Answers2