Perforce

Perforce is a commercial, proprietary revision control system developed by Perforce Software.

Architecture

The Perforce server manages a central database and a master repository of file versions.

Server

Metadata

The Perforce database is proprietary, preconfigured, and self-installed. It stores system-related metadata (file state, file attributes, branching and merging history, changelists, change descriptions, users, groups, labels, etc.). Files are identified by namespace (i.e., by OS-neutral filenames). File content itself is not stored in the database. MD5 hashes of file content are stored in the database, however, and can be used to verify repository file integrity.

Database tables are stored as binary files. Checkpoints and journals are written as text files that can be compressed and offloaded. A database that has been corrupted by hardware failure or other catastrophe can be recovered from the most recent journal and checkpoint. Administrators must plan for disaster recovery by configuring database journaling and setting up regular checkpoints.