Open Source Development with CVS, Third Edition, is an updated edition of the best-selling guide to the most widely used version control software for open source developers. This new edition has been enhanced with more value-added material covering third-party tools, remote operation, scalability, client access limits, BitKeeper, and overall server administration for CVS.
| ||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. Learn more. |
Book Description
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.
Product Description
Amazon Review
The need for a modern source-code management strategy in the distributed open source community is paramount. The benevolent dictatorship model of open source maintainers is only quasi-stable, but it is far better than the other extreme: the chaos of democratic code development.
The best available compromise is the concurrent versioning system (CVS), which introduces proctored code merging into source code management. CVS is ideally suited for world-wide open source development, and the world is ready for monographs that address the management issues that Per Cederqvist explicitly avoided in his fine 164-page postscript manual distributed with the CVS tar-ball. What is the role of a maintainer/manager in establishing test protocols for code merges? What minimal functional level of developer communications is necessary for merges to remain stable? Is a maintainer-less release possible?
These questions go largely unanswered in Karl Fogel's new Open Source Development with CVS. Fogel's 300-page book consists of chapters alternating between CVS basics and common code maintenance issues. He includes a few anecdotes from open source lore and lots of non-specific common-sense guidelines on team software development.
Fogel is at his best when he is engaging us in thinking about what should and should not be under CVS control. He points out that complex relationships exist between developing code and its dependencies on intimately related applications, such as build tools themselves (gcc, autoconf) or partner applications, for example, the server's client or the client's server. His brief discussion of strategies is too short to be satisfying.
Frustratingly, Fogel's book is chock-full of post-modern self-indulgences, such as his boasting reverence for technological ignorance. The discipline needed by good maintainers is missing here; Fogel's informal prose is often grating and his copious parenthetical remarks are distracting or bullying (they sure are); one wonders where his editor was. Ultimately, his management arguments boil down to an endorsement for the benevolent dictatorship model--a safe conclusion, but one which seems not to use CVS's merging capability for all that it is worth. To the question of how to run a project, he responds, "Well, we're all still trying to figure that out, actually". True, and he isn't there yet, but at least he has the questions right. --Peter Leopold, Amazon.com --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Karl Fogel (Chicago, IL) co-founded Cyclic Software in 1995. He now works as a programmer in Chicago, IL and is a member of the CVS development team.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
"Traditional capitalism is based on the idea of limited supply; however, information has become a commodity in itself and is never in short supply." Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
"Traditional capitalism is based on the idea of limited supply; however, information has become a commodity in itself and is never in short supply." Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
I wasn't sure whether to download the open source CVS chapters or get the book. I was very pleased I decided to get the book and read it. The extra chapters were extremely helpful - especially if your background is in the Windows/commercial development model. Karl Fogel's style is simple and clear, and he presents CVS in a good order for the user, with good cross-referencing and command summaries at the back. The only slight reservation I had was the price, but I don't suppose there is a large audience offsetting the cost, and it has proved worth a second read. He has some good suggestions on setting up, administering and developing an open source software project. The extra chapters are not at all 'filler' material but the kind of issues you mostly end up learning through costly experience. The CVS tutorial, examples and reference info is also first class.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.3 out of 5 stars
29 reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Book
5 Dec 1999
By Aronbo
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
I've been using CVS for a couple of years, read the manual and had great success. However, there have been lots of gaps in my understanding and places where I wasn't really sure what was happenning. This book answered those. It has lots of well chosen examples that illustrate points that I've wondered about, but been afraid to try out for fear of really messing up my CVS repository.
The book is a little heavy on the "Open Source" religion, but dismissing it because of that would be a big mistake. This is a fine book.
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
excellent, invaluable, not enough about permissions
20 Aug 2001
By Robert Nagle
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
Open Source Development with CVS Karl Fogel
Here is a chatty discussion of CVS and how to use it. The best thing about the book is that he spends a lot of time discussing his examples. That helps you to understand the output. I also found the troubeshooting section to be more than adequate, and a discussion of pcl-cvs (the plugin to emacs) to be a nice and helpful addition.
Fogel wrote some chapters about open source development. Call them filler or distractions, still it gives insight about how version control management contributes to open source. . The book has an appendix of descriptions of each command and at times Fogel urges the reader to refer to the Cederqvist manual. I actually appreciated that because it allowed Fogel to write about the things not already found in the online manual.
One quibble was with the organization of the book. To learn how to setup CVS from scratch, you need to start by reading chapter 4 (Admin), and then go back and reread chapter 2 (An overview). Maybe a briefer overview would have been better and an explanation of the functions in succeeding chapters.
The chattiness of the chapters (which is a good thing) often made it hard to find the user commands. Perhaps user input could have been highlighted in some way. Also, the discussion of file permissions was simply inadequate. Indeed, chapter 4 contained an error related to permissions on page 112 (what does "+R" mean? ) and didn't discuss sticky bits for group ownership. This was significant, because I couldn't proceed with learning CVS until I could figure out those permissions.
In short: an excellent, invaluable book, but you should consult the Cederqvist manual for the section of file permissions.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not only technical, but also community info...
28 Feb 2001
By John P. Hoke
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
I found this book a joy to read. Before ordering this book, I had read the GPL'd chapters online and found them to be quite good so I wanted to support the author with my wallet. I figgured the rest would be the regular pomp about Open Source that we are seeing alot of lately, but I could not have been more incorrect! The author not only knows his technical details about the CVS system, he fully groks the Open Source movement, personalities and community.
The author alternates chapters between community issues (ethics, forking, project maintenance and administration, as well as "people skills") and the technical nuts and bolts of running a CVS server and/or using a CVS client.
While the title touts the Open Source movement, CVS is just as at home in a closed environment, say a web development team, inhouse application development, or anywhere else that you need to track text based files. Mr. Fogel does a good job of showing run of the mill examples and code, as well as some more esoteric uses of CVS commands and utilities.
If you are doing any sort of development and are investigating content version control software this book (and application) are for you.
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 29 reviews
4.3 out of 5 stars
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
