What is version management in software development?

Version control, also known as "version control", is a system or process used within software development to track, manage, and document changes to the source code and other files of a software project. It is an essential tool that enables developers and teams to collaborate effectively, troubleshoot issues, track changes, and revert to previous versions of the software when necessary.

Within version control, there are two major categories:

1. Local versioning: Local versioning used to be widely used and involves saving multiple copies of a project on different folders or disks, each with different changes. However, this is not an efficient way of versioning, especially when multiple developers are collaborating on a project.

2. Distributed versioning: Distributed versioning is a more modern and advanced approach where all developers have a complete copy of the project's version history on their local machine. This allows them to work independently and make changes to their local copies. These changes can then be synced to the central repository, where the final version history is maintained.

Key Features and Benefits of Version Control in Software Development:

1. Version control: Version control keeps track of changes made to the source code and other files and allows you to go back to previous versions if necessary.

2. Collaboration: Versioning allows multiple developers to collaborate on the same project without conflict. They can work on several functions or files simultaneously and combine the changes in the central repository.

3. Traceability: Version control provides a clear and detailed history of all changes made to the software over time. This allows developers to see who made what changes and why.

4. Backup and recovery: Version control acts as a backup mechanism for the software. If something goes wrong, developers can always roll back to a previous stable version of the code.

5. Branching and merging: Developers can create "branches" to work on new features or bug fixes without affecting the main code. These branches can later be "merged" with the main code to integrate all changes.

Some popular version control systems are Git, Subversion (SVN), Mercurial, and Perforce. Git is one of the most widely used distributed version control systems and is widely used in the software development industry for its speed, flexibility, and robustness.