23.8.10 Customizing VC

The variable vc-handled-backends determines which version control systems VC should handle. The default value is (RCS CVS SVN SCCS Arch MCVS), so it contains all six version systems that are currently supported. If you want VC to ignore one or more of these systems, exclude its name from the list. To disable VC entirely, set this variable to nil.

The order of systems in the list is significant: when you visit a file registered in more than one system (see section Local Version Control), VC uses the system that comes first in vc-handled-backends by default. The order is also significant when you register a file for the first time, see Registering a File for Version Control, for details.