Atomic commit

An atomic commit is a concept supported by modern revision control systems that allows committing—uploading to the source—changes in multiple files (called a changeset ) while guaranteeing that all files get fully uploaded and merged.

If there is a failure before a revision control system client can complete the transaction, such as the Internet line disconnecting or a conflict that cannot be automatically resolved by the revision control system, the commit is aborted and all changes that have taken place are reversed (rolled back). This functionality is similar to the Rollback (data_management) feature of modern relational databases.

I think there is a lot more to it. Atomic isn t simply the action of checking in multiple files at the same time and being able to Roll them back. An Atomic commit means the files that are commited together should concerned a single modification. and Everything concerned by the modification should be include in the commit. Which gives the definition of Atomic (The word atom originally meant a smallest possible particle of matter, not further divisible.).

This way, the trunk stays stable. people who update their working copy does not miss mandatory stuff left to be commited in somebody else working copy. and when you look at the changeset, its not to messy to read through. and If you invert the patch, that single modification is removed entirely from all part of the program.

==See also== *Two-phase commit *Three-phase commit *Commit (data management)