Facebook's Migration to Mercurial: A Human-Driven Technical Decision

Explore the journey of Facebook's transition from Git to Mercurial, uncovering the technical and social dynamics that influenced one of the tech industry's pivotal decisions in source control management. This post delves into the reasons behind Facebook's shift, the challenges of scaling Git, and the pivotal role of community and collaboration in adopting Mercurial

The text discusses the reasons behind Facebook's decision to migrate off Git and adopt Mercurial as their primary version control system for large monorepos. It outlines the scaling limits and performance issues that led to the exploration of alternatives, the challenges faced with Git maintainers, the consideration of other version control systems, and the successful migration process to Mercurial. The overarching theme highlights the human-driven nature of technical decisions and the importance of collaboration and communication in technology adoption.

Facebook's decision to migrate off Git and adopt Mercurial for large monorepos
Scaling limits and performance issues with Git leading to the exploration of alternatives
Challenges faced with Git maintainers and their recommendations
Consideration of other version control systems such as Perforce and Mercurial
Successful migration process to Mercurial and the impact on engineering practices and dev-tools
The human-driven nature of technical decisions and the importance of collaboration and communication in technology adoption