Fossil (software)

Software configuration management, bug tracking system and wiki server

Not to be confused with FOSSIL or Fossil (file system).

Original author(s)| D. Richard Hipp
Initial release| 2006; 19 years ago (2006)
Stable release|

2.26[1] / 30 April 2025; 3 months ago (30 April 2025)

Repository|

* fossil-scm.org/home

Written in| C, SQL
Operating system| Cross-platform
Type| Software configuration management, bug tracking system, wiki software
License| 2010: BSD-2-Clause[a][2]
2007: GPL-2.0-only[b]
Website| www.fossil-scm.org

Fossil is a software configuration management, bug tracking system and wiki software server for use in software development created by D. Richard Hipp.

## Features

[edit]

The Fossil web interface showing changes to the SQLite source tree

Fossil is a cross-platform distributed version control system that runs on Linux, BSD derivatives, Mac and Windows. It is capable of performing distributed version control, bug tracking, wiki services, and documentation.[3][4]

The software has a built-in web interface, which reduces project tracking complexity and promotes situational awareness. A user may simply type "fossil ui" from within any check-out and Fossil automatically opens the user's web browser to display a page giving detailed history and status information on that project. The fossil executable may be run as a standalone HTTP server, as a CGI application, accessed via SSH, or run interactively from the CLI.[5]

To simplify centralized development, Fossil provides an "autosync" mode to automatically sync changes when commits are made, in a similar manner to centralized version control systems.[4][6]

Content is stored using a SQLite database so that transactions are atomic even if interrupted by a power loss or system crash.[7]

Fossil is free software released under a BSD license (relicensed from previously GPL).[8]

## Adoption

[edit]

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|

Fossil is used for version control by the SQLite project, which is itself a component of Fossil. SQLite transitioned to using Fossil for version control over CVS on 2009-08-12.[9][10]

Some examples of other projects using Fossil are:

* Tcl/Tk Project
* Pikchr
* MySQL++, a C++ wrapper for the MySQL and MariaDB C APIs
* LuaSQLite3
* libfossil
* fnc, the ncurses-based Fossil UI experience in the terminal
* Androwish, the Tcl implementation for Android

## Source code hosting

[edit]

The following websites provide free source code hosting for Fossil repositories:

* Chisel. Original site owner James Turner announced that the site would cease operation on May 1, 2013.[11] After domain ownership was transferred on May 1, 2013, it continued operation.[12]
* SourceForge (unofficially through webpages hosting service[13])

## See also

[edit]

* Free and open-source software portal

* Comparison of revision control software
* List of revision control software

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ BSD-2-Clause since 2010-05-16.
2. ^ GPL-2.0-only from 2007-07-21 until 2010-05-16.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Changes for version 2.26".
2. ^ Fossil Copyright
3. ^ "Fossil: A Coherent Software Configuration Management System". www.fossil-scm.org. Retrieved 2025-04-21.
4. ^ a b Edge, Jake (March 16, 2011). "Version control with Fossil". lwn.net. Archived from the original on 2024-01-16. Retrieved 2025-04-22.
5. ^ "Fossil: The Fossil Web Interface". www.fossil-scm.org. Retrieved 2025-04-21.
6. ^ "Fossil: Fossil Concepts: Workflow". www.fossil-scm.org. Retrieved 2025-04-22.
7. ^ "Integrated version control with Fossil SCM". 5 November 2009., DLR Tech Talk presentation by Arne Bachmann, 2009-12-01
8. ^ "Fossil DSCM Relicensed with BSD License". 2010-05-16.
9. ^ "Fossil: Fossil Performance". Fossil-scm.org. 2009-08-23. Retrieved 2009-09-12.
10. ^ "SQLite: Timeline". sqlite.org.
11. ^ "Chiselapp.com shutting down". James Turner. 2013-03-28. Retrieved 2013-04-10.
12. ^ "ChiselApp ChangeOver Complete". Andreas Kupries. 2013-04-30. Retrieved 2013-05-01.
13. ^ "Example: Free Fossil-SCM Repository Hosting". Retrieved 2015-11-21.

## Further reading

[edit]

* Schimpf, Jim (March 2013). Fossil Version Control - A Users Guide (PDF) (2.0 ed.). Retrieved 11 November 2013.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website

* v
* t
* e

Version control software

Years, where available, indicate the date of first stable release. Systems with names in italics are no longer maintained or have planned end-of-life dates.

Local only|

| Free/open-source|

* RCS (1982)
* SCCS (1973)

|

Proprietary|

* The Librarian (1969)
* Panvalet (1970s)
* PVCS (1985)
* QVCS (1991)

Client–server|

| Free/open-source|

* CVS (1986, 1990 in C)
* CVSNT (1998)
* QVCS Enterprise (1998)
* Subversion (2000)

|

Proprietary|

* AccuRev SCM (2002)
* Azure DevOps
* Server (via TFVC) (2005)
* Services (via TFVC) (2014)
* ClearCase (1992)
* CMVC (1994)
* Dimensions CM (1980s)
* DSEE (1984)
* Integrity (2001)
* Perforce Helix (1995)
* SCLM (1980s?)
* Software Change Manager (1970s)
* StarTeam (1995)
* Surround SCM (2002)
* Synergy (1990)
* Team Concert (2008)
* Vault (2003)
* Visual SourceSafe (1994)

Distributed|

| Free/open-source|

* BitKeeper (2000)
* Breezy (2017)
* Code Co-op (1997)
* Darcs (2002)
* DCVS (2002)
* Fossil (2007)
* Git (2005)
* GNU arch (2001)
* GNU Bazaar (2005)
* Mercurial (2005)
* Monotone (2003)

|

Proprietary|

* Azure DevOps
* Server (via Git) (2013)
* Services (via Git) (2014)
* TeamWare (1992)
* Plastic SCM (2006)

Concepts|

* Baseline
* Branch
* Trunk
* Changeset
* Commit
* Gated
* Delta compression
* Interleaved
* File comparison
* Fork
* Merge
* Monorepo
* Repository
* Tag

* Category
* Comparison
* List

* v
* t
* e

Bug tracking systems

Years indicate the date of first stable release.

Client-server|

| Free software|

* GNATS (1992)
* Debbugs (1994 / 1999)
* Bugzilla (1998)
* Request Tracker (1999)
* MantisBT (2000)
* Roundup (2001)
* Trac (2004)
* Redmine (2006)
* Apache Allura (2009)
* Maniphest (2010)
* Tuleap (2011)
* GitLab (2011)
* Apache Bloodhound (2012)
* Gitea (2016)
* Codeberg (2019)

|

Proprietary|

* Helix ALM (formerly TestTrack) (1998)
* Axosoft (2002)
* Jira (2002)
* Azure DevOps Server (2005)
* YouTrack (2009)

Distributed|

| Free software|

* Fossil (2006)

|

Proprietary|

* Azure DevOps Server (2013)

SaaS-only|

* SourceForge (1999)
* GNU Savannah (2000)
* OSDN (2002)
* Launchpad (2004)
* Assembla (2005)
* CodePlex (2006) discontinued
* GitHub (2008)
* Bitbucket (2008)
* YouTrack (2011)
* Azure DevOps Services (2012)

* Category
* Comparison

* v
* t
* e

Wiki software

.NET|

* FlexWiki
* SharePoint

Java|

* Confluence
* Jive
* Traction TeamPage
* XWiki

JavaScript|

* TiddlyWiki
* Wiki.js

Perl|

* Foswiki
* ikiwiki
* TWiki
* UseModWiki
* WikiBase

PHP|

* BlueSpice
* BookStack
* DokuWiki
* MediaWiki
* PhpWiki
* Phriction
* PmWiki
* PukiWiki
* Tiki

Python|

* Allura
* Bloodhound
* Kallithea
* Kuma
* MoinMoin
* Trac
* Zim

Ruby|

* Gollum
* Redmine

Other languages|

* CLiki
* Common Lisp
* Federated Wiki
* CoffeeScript
* Haskell

* Comparison
* List
* Category

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*[e]: Edit this template