Fossil is a free, distributed software configuration management system for tracking software projects and their history. It combines version control with bug tracking, a wiki, forums, email alerts, chat, and technical notes. Its built-in web interface includes ticketing, documentation, timelines, full-text search, histories, diffs, ZIP downloads, and access management. Fossil is distributed as a single self-contained executable and can run as a standalone server or through CGI, SCGI, inetd, or stunnel. Official precompiled binaries are provided for Linux, Mac, and Windows; it can also be self-hosted. Network communication uses HTTPS or SSH, and synchronization supports autosync or manual merges, with autosync enabled by default. Repositories use an SQLite database with atomic transactions and consistency checks before commits. The project supports setting up an automatic GitHub mirror. Fossil was originally designed for the SQLite project and has since been adopted by other projects. It is available under a 2-clause BSD license. Listed limitations include no file locking, large-file handling, sparse checkout, or nested repositories.
Who it is for
It suits software projects that want distributed version control alongside built-in project and documentation tools. Self-hosting and binaries for Linux, Mac, and Windows support several deployment choices.
What is good
- Combines version control with bug tracking and project tools.
- Built-in web interface includes timelines and full-text search.
- Distributed as a single self-contained executable.
- Supports HTTPS or SSH network communication.
- Free under a 2-clause BSD license.
What to know first
- No file locking.
- No large-file handling.
- No sparse checkout or nested repositories.
Verdict
Fossil combines distributed version control with a web interface and project tools in a self-contained package. Its listed limitations include no file locking, large-file handling, sparse checkout, or nested repositories.
Fossil plans and pricing
All plansCompared on version control software
- Free plan
- Yes
- File locking
- No
