Review
Book Description
Product Description
CVS, the Concurrent Versions System, is the popular source-code management tool that frees developers from the chaos that too often ensues when multiple users work on the same file. An open source technology that is available on most computer platforms, including Windows® and Mac OS® X, CVS is widely used to manage program code, web site content, and to track changes made to system configuration files. Multiple users can check out files from a directory tree, make changes, and then commit those changes back into the directory. If two developers modify the same file, CVS enables both sets of changes to be merged together into one final file. Although CVS is a lifesaver in many development scenarios, it suffers from poor documentation. But with Essential CVS, developers can have it all: the order that CVS brings and the comprehensive documentation developers need.
Essential CVS is a complete and easy-to-follow reference that helps programmers and system administrators apply order to the task of managing large quantities of documents. The book covers basic concepts and usage of CVS, and features a comprehensive reference for CVS commands--including a handy Command Reference Card for quick, on-the-job checks. The book also includes advanced information on all aspects of CVS that involve automation, logging, branching and merging, and "watches." Readers will find in-depth coverage of the following:
- Installing CVS and building your first repository
- Basic use of CVS, including importing projects, checking out projects, committing changes, and updating projects
- Tagging, branching and merging
- Working with multiple users
- Clients, operating systems, and IDEs
- Repository management and managing remote repositories
- Project administration, including bug tracking systems, enforcing log messages, history and annotation, and more.
- Troubleshooting
From the Publisher
About the Author
Jennifer Vesperman is the author of Essential CVS. She writes for the O'Reilly Network, the Linux Documentation Project, and occasionally Linux.Com. As a programmer and system administrator, she currently works with Cybersource, an Australian IT consulting firm. She is the current Coordinator for LinuxChix, an advocacy and support group that focuses on women who use and develop open source programs (especially Linux).
Excerpted from Essential CVS by Jennifer Vesperman. Copyright © 2003. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
To help you get up to speed quickly using CVS, this chapter explains the most common CVS operations. The commands and examples in this chapter are based on standard situations and cover only the most common options. Future chapters go further in depth on each topic covered in this chapter.
The examples and instructions in this chapter are based on the Unix/Linux commandline CVS client. Most graphical clients use the CVS command names for their menu options and buttons, so if you’re using a graphical client you should be able to follow this chapter reasonably easily. Graphical clients and clients for operating systems other than Unix/Linux are described in Appendix A.
You may not need to read all of this chapter; follow these guidelines:
• If you’re working on an existing project that is already stored in CVS, skip the early sections and start at "Checking Out Files."
• If CVS is already installed and running, with a repository available for your
project, go straight to "Importing Projects."
If you’re not sure whether CVS is already installed and running, read the first part of "Installing CVS"; it tells you how to check. If you’re uncertain about having a repository, try searching for the directory CVSROOT. The repository root is then the directory that CVSROOT is in. The other directories in the top level of the repository are CVS projects.
Installing CVS
CVS is client/server software that runs on Unix and Linux platforms. When you install CVS on a Unix/Linux server, you automatically get both server and client software. To access CVS across the network from any Unix/Linux machine, simply install CVS on the machine in question. The server and client software are one and the same.
