Is there any good way to handle large assets (i.e. 1000's of images, flash movies etc.) with a DVCS tool such as hg and git. As I see it, to clone repositories that are filled with 4 GB assets seems like an unnecessary overhead as you will be checking out the files. It seems rather cumbersome if you have source code mixed together with asset files.
Does anyone have any thoughts or experience in doing this in a web development context?
These are some thoughts I've had on this matter of subject. In the end you may need to keep assets and code as separate as possible. I can think of several possible strategies:
Assets in one repo and code in the other.
DVCS tools don't keep track of other repositories than their own so there isn't any direct BOM (Bill of Materials) support, i.e. there is no clear cut way to tell when both repositories are in sync. (I guess this is what git-submodule or repo is for).
Example: artist adds a new picture in one repository and programmer adds function to use the picture, however when someone has to backtrack versions they are forced to somehow keep track of these changes on their own.
Asset repository overhead even though it only affects those who do use it.
Assets and code reside in the same repository but they are in two separate directories.
Both strategies listed above still have the disadvantage of having a large overhead since you need to clone the large asset repository. One solution to this problem is a variant of the first strategy above, two repositories; keep the code in the distributed VCS repo and the assets in a centralized VCS repo (such as SVN, Alienbrain, etc).
Considering how most graphic designers work with binary files there is usually no need to branch unless it is really necessary (new features requiring lots of assets that isn't needed until much later). The disadvantage is that you will need to find a way to back up the central repository. Hence a third strategy:
Code in repository as usual and assets are not in repository. Assets should be put in some kind of content/media/asset management system instead or at least is on a folder that is regularly backed up. This assumes that there is very little need to back-track versions with graphics. If there is a need for back-tracking then graphic changes are negligible.