Mercurial is:
- Fast
Extremely high-performance delta-compressed [:Revlog:storage scheme]
- Optimized for disk layout and access efficiency
Complete cross-indexing of files and [:ChangeSet:changesets]
Bandwidth and CPU efficient HTTP and SSH sync [:WireProtocol:protocols]
- Scalable
- Distributed development model supports unlimited numbers of developers
Allows arbitrary [:Merge:merging] between developer [:Branch:branches]
- Doesn't significantly degrade with large numbers of files or changesets
- No waiting for locks!
- Robust
SHA1 integrity checking on [:Repository:repository] data
- Append-only storage model with transaction journalling
- Fast full-repository verification
Convenient [:BackUp:backup]
- Easy to use
- Most commands are familiar to users of [:CVS] and other systems
- Built-in command help
- Integrated stand-alone web interface
Works with various [:GUIClients:GUI tools]
- Easy to adopt
Runs on UNIX, MacOS X, and [:CategoryWindows:Windows]
[:RepositoryConversion:Conversion tools] available for many popular [:SCM:SCMs]
Allows a variety of [:WorkingPractices:usage models]
Supports user-defined [:Hook:hooks] and [:CategoryExtension:extensions]
- Free
[:DeveloperRepos:Source code] available under the GPL license
Actively [:MailingLists:community] supported and [:DeveloperInfo:developed]