view Main.txt @ 15:39d078a6e4ae

Moved hg serve as suggestion to quick start.

Main page
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Mercurial is... 
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Mercurial is a free, distributed source control management tool. It offers you the power to efficiently handle projects of any size yet provides an easy, intuitive interface. 

Every Mercurial clone is a full-fledged repository with complete history and revision tracking capabilities. It is independent of network access or a central server. Committing, branching and merging are fast and cheap. 

Mercurial is used for version control of files, much like tools such as [Git](http://git-scm.org), [Bazaar](http://bazaar-vcs.org), [Subversion](http://subversion.tigris.org/) and [CVS](http://www.nongnu.org/cvs/). It is written in Python and available on many different platforms, including Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, FreeBSD and OpenSolaris. 


Projects using Mercurial
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* [Mercurial](http://selenic.com/repo/hg)
* [Mozilla](http://hg.mozilla.org/)
* [Cython](http://hg.cython.org/)
* [MoinMoin](http://hg.moinmo.in/)
* [OpenJDK](http://hg.openjdk.java.net/)
* [NetBeans](http://hg.netbeans.org/)
* [Open Solaris](http://hg.genunix.org/)

[and many more](http://www.selenic.com/mercurial/wiki/index.cgi/ProjectsUsingMercurial)


How you can benefit from using Mercurial
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### Power and speed
Mercurial offers you the power and speed to efficiently handle projects of any size and kind. You can use a multitude of [workflows]() and enhance its functionality with [extensions](). 

### Ease of use
Mercurials consistent and intuitive interface makes it easy to learn and understand. You can simply start with the [bare basics]() and learn incrementally or print a copy of the [hgbook]() to understand the big picture in one go. 

### Just works
Mercurial strives to deliver on each of its promises. If it looks like you could use it for a specific task, chances are that it will just work on the first try. (if it doesn't, that's most likely no feature but a [bug](http://selenic.com/mercurial/bugs/))

[bare basics]: Quick_Start - Learn to use Mercurial in 30 seconds (or similar). 

(just works instead of webserver: webserver can far more easily be delivered by other projects, too. Just works better fits the "hg is powerful yet easy" theme -> Integrated webserver into quick start?)


Get Mercurial
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If you're using Windows, download TortoiseHG for full Explorer integration. ![TortoiseHG Logo]()

GNU/Linux: Just [get it from your package manager](link to a simple guide for the different distros). 

MacOSX: Download (app). 

-> A "news" link should be alongside the version. This makes the site itneresting to returning visitors.


Mercurial Quick Start
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Clone a project and create a patch

$ hg clone http://bitbucket.org/ArneBab/hello_world
$ cd hello_world
$ (edit files)
$ hg add (new files)
$ hg commit -m 'My changes'
$ hg export > patch.diff

Create a project and commit

$ hg init (project-directory)
$ (add some files)
$ hg add
$ hg commit -m 'Initial commit'

-> [Workflows]()

(maybe instead of "Take a look"; it would be great to be able to detect the OS of the visitor and show Windows users TortoiseHG while showing MacOSX and GNU/Linux users the Quick Start)

(### Integrated webserver
With the "serve" command, Mercurial offers you an integrated webserver as the fastest way to show and share your work.)

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