Re: Dancing rabbits hawking toilet paper (was Re: Big Leak,Titanic going down again!)

[Paul Johnson]

Dawn Trembath wrote:
> 
> At 07:46 AM 2/29/00 -0800, you wrote:
> >2. When developing, changing the feature set, or creating code,
> >use CVS.
> 
> OK - so where does one go to find out more about CVS?  Things like: What
> exactly is it?  How does one use it?
> 
If you download the source package for cvs from
http://www.sourcegear.com/CVS

the source package has a fabulous manual in the docs directory. It is
called cvs.ps.  Of all free software I've ever seen, this is the most
helpful/clear/useful manual possible.

With cvs, here is what you do.

Begin with your source code as a starting point.  Then you create a cvs
repository, import your source into it.  Then in a clean directory you
check out your source code, and after some editing you check it back
in.  Inside the repository, it keeps diff files for each change.

It seems to me one of the most useful features of cvs is the ability to
checkout the source as it existed at a particular time/date.  You can
checkout what you had on January 24, 1999.

It also has the ability to put labels ("tags") to mark milestones in
your effort.  For software that gets released, for example, you can tag
a set of files as "release1" or such.  Then you can easily get it back. 
You can also create branches.  If your cvs archive tracks the
development of a     project, you can create a side-branch where the
code is not updated with the rest of the archive, but rather it sits in
a protected state only including changes you make on that branch.
-- 
Paul E. Johnson                       email: address@hidden
Dept. of Political Science            http://lark.cc.ukans.edu/~pauljohn
University of Kansas                  Office: (785) 864-9086
Lawrence, Kansas 66045                FAX: (785) 864-5700

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