: For a single author writing short stories in LaTeX, is it worthwhile to switch to a "real" version control system from Dropbox? I'm currently using Dropbox to sync and backup my stories (which

I'm currently using Dropbox to sync and backup my stories (which are generally in LaTeX). However, I've read that it's probably a better idea to switch to a "real" version control system, especially to separate my LaTeX formatting changes (and restructuring) from my content changes.

Assuming that the answer is yes, here are some of my follow-up questions:

Should I use Hg or git? I currently use git for my programming projects, but would not mind learning Hg.
Should I host on my server or use a cloud service (GitLab or Bitbucket) private repository for sync and redundancy?

Misc. situational details (may already be mentioned):

Primarily single-author short stories
Text is in LaTeX documents
I've used Dropbox's history feature before to recover from iOS apps not playing nicely with my project's structure.
I have a VPS I could use for file storage & sync

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@Welton431

If you're anticipating large structural changes to your LaTeX documents, then a version control system might do you some good. If that's the case, use git since you're familiar with it. Mercurial (hg) is similar enough that you wouldn't have problems if you go that route, although the cloning and branching paradigm seems a bit different (FWIW, I'm pretty familiar with git and only a beginner with Mercurial).

As for using GitLab or BitBucket, it's a cost-benefit analysis of whether you'd rather have total control (your server) versus the reliability and performance of the third-party services (GitLab or BitBucket).

[Edit: Changing answer due to new data involving Dropbox potentially causing repo corruption]

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: For a single author writing short stories in LaTeX, is it worthwhile to switch to a "real" version control system from Dropbox? I'm currently using Dropbox to sync and backup my stories (which

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: Describing a prison I need ideas on how to describe a prison. I don't know how to start my story that is about a guy in prison. Also, I must reflect on loneliness. Please help, thanks. I'm

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