After configuring your system to work with CVS, checkout the modules you will be working on.
You only need to checkout a module once. After a local copy of the module is on your system, it is on your system.
To checkout a module, use the following command:
cvs co <module-name>
For example, to checkout the redhat-logviewer module, change to your work directory, and execute the following command:
cvs co redhat-logviewer
A directory called redhat-logviewer/ is created in the current directory.
If a branch name is not specified when checking out a module, it is referred to as the HEAD of the CVS module.
Think of a CVS branch as a version of the files for a particular version of a manual or package.
To checkout a branch of a module, use the following command:
cvs co -d <directory> -r <branchname> <module-name>
A directory named <directory> is created, and the files for the <branchname> branch of the <module-name> module are copied in the directory.
For example, to checkout a branch named BRANCH-VERSION-1.2 from the mymodule module, use the command:
cvs co -d mymodule-1.2 -r BRANCH-VERSION-1.2 mymodule
The BRANCH-VERSION-1.2 branch of the module is checked out in the mymodule-1.2 directory on your system.
To determine which branches and tags exist for a file, use the command:
cvs status -v <filename>
For example, the status of the file foo.sgml is as follows:
===================================================================
File: foo.sgml Status: Up-to-date
Working revision: 1.47
Repository revision: 1.47 /usr/local/CVS/docs/custom-guide/rhl-cg-en.sg
ml,v
Sticky Tag: (none)
Sticky Date: (none)
Sticky Options: (none)
Existing Tags:
BRANCH-VERSION-1.2 (branch: 1.25.2)
Only tags marked as branches in the second column under the Existing Tags section can be checked out as a branch.
To retrieve the latest versions of the files in a module, change to the directory that contains the files for the module and execute the command:
cvs up
The latest versions of all the files in the module are downloaded into your local copy. If you notice a file conflict, refer to Section 3.3.7, “Resolving Conflicts”.
After modifying files in your local version of a module, commit them to save the changes on the CVS server:
cvs commit -m "some log message" <filename>
The log message should be as descriptive as possible so that you and anyone else working on the module understands what changed. Using a log message such as updated some files does not accurately describe what has changed and will not help you in the future.
<filename> can be one filename, a series of filenames separated by spaces, or a group of filenames specified using wildcards such as *.png or foo-*.sgml.
If no filename or group of filenames is specified in the commit command, all files that have been changed in the module, added to the module with the cvs add command, and removed with the cvs rm command are committed to the server. All files in the module means that the command is recursive. It is not good practice to issue the commit command without a filename or group of filenames specified because you might not remember exactly what files changed.
If you notice a file conflict, refer to Section 3.3.7, “Resolving Conflicts”.
To add a file to a module, create the file in your local copy, and execute the following command:
cvs add <file-to-add>
After adding the file, you must commit the add to copy it to the server:
cvs commit -m "some log message" <file-to-add>
If a file is no longer needed in the module, use the following command to remove it from your local version and commit the removal to the server. Even though the file is removed from current version of the module, an archived copy is still kept on the server and can be retrieved at any time.
cvs rm -f <file-to-remove>
After removing the file, you must commit the removal:
cvs commit -m "some log message" <file-to-remove>
You can not use wildcards in the commit command to commit removed files. They must be specified with the complete filenames.
If you need to rename a file, it is best to rename the file on the CVS server so that the history of the file is preserved. If you need to rename a file, contact Tammy (or whoever is the technical lead).
Sometimes it is necessary to view the status of a file in a CVS module. To view the status of a file, use the command:
cvs status <filename>
The statuses of a file in the repository are as follows:
- Up-to-date
Your revision of the file is identical to the latest revision on the CVS server.
- Locally Modified
You have update to the latest revision from the server, but then you modified the file in your checkout.
- Locally Added
You added the file with the cvs add command but have not yet committed the addition of the file.
- Locally Removed
You removed the file with the cvs remove command but have not yet committed the removal.
- Needs Checkout
A newer version of the file is on the server and needs to be retrieved. Even though the status includes the word checkout, it really means that you need to update your files with the cvs update command.
- Needs Patch
The revision in your local checkout needs a patch to be the latest revision from the server. Issue the cvs update command to resolve.
- Needs Merge
A newer revision exists on the server and your local version contains modification not yet committed. This status usually occurs if you don't have the latest revision of the file and edit it anyway.
- File had conflicts on merge
Similar to Needs Merge, except when you tried to issue the cvs update command, the differences could not be resolved automatically. Refer to Section 3.3.7, “Resolving Conflicts” for more information on resolving conflicts.
- Unknown
The CVS server does not know anything about this file. It has not been added or removed locally and has never been committed to the server. This status usually occurs for files you should not commit to CVS such as generated-index.sgml or for files that you want to add to the repository but have not issued the cvs add command for yet.
If you modify a file and the same content is modified by someone else and committed first, you will probably see a message similar to the following when committing the file or updating your local copy of the module:
RCS file: /usr/local/CVS/docs/module-name/filename.sgml,v retrieving revision 1.12 retrieving revision 1.13 Merging differences between 1.12 and 1.13 into filename.sgml rcsmerge: warning: conflicts during merge cvs server: conflicts found in filename.sgml C filename.sgml
To resolve the conflict, open the file, search for <<<<<<< and determine which version of the content should be in the latest revision of the file in CVS. For example:
<para> Some sentence. <<<<<<< filename.sgml A sentence that was changed in the working copy. ======= A same sentence that was changed differently and committed. >>>>>>> 1.13 </para>
The content between the <<<<<<<, the ======= is the content in your working copy. The content between the ======= and the >>>>>>> is the content from the latest revision (or the latest revision for the branch) on the server.
Resolve the conflict, and commit the file.
All commands assume you are in the proper directory for the CVS module.
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
| cvs checkout <module-name> or cvs co <module-name> | Creates a directory called <module-name> with the contents of the module in the directory |
| cvs co -d <directory> -r <branchname> <module-name> | Creates the <directory> directory with the contents of the <branchname> branch of the <module-name> module |
| cvs update or cvs up | Update your files with the latest files from the CVS server |
| cvs add <filename> | Add a new file "filename" to the CVS server |
| cvs commit -m "My message" <filename> | Update file <filename> with the latest copy from your computer |
| cvs log <filename> | View the commit messages for the file <filename> |
| cvs status <filename> | View status of the file, such as Locally Modified |
| cvs status -v <filename> | View existing tags and branches for file |
| cvs diff <filename> | Show diff of the working copy of the file and the latest version of the file for the branch |
| cvs diff -r1.1 -r1.2 <filename> | Show diff of version 1.1 and 1.2 for file |
Table 3.1. Basic CVS Commands
For more information, read the CVS manual available on your system at /usr/share/doc/cvs-<version-number>/cvs.ps (the CVS version might vary) and visit the CVS webpage available at http://www.cvshome.org/.
![[Tip]](./stylesheet-images/tip.png) | Tip |
|---|---|
Since CVS is using ssh to connect to the CVS server, it will prompt you for your password before allowing you to performing your CVS request. If you want to configure your machine so that you do not have to enter a password, refer to the Red Hat Linux 9 Customization Guide for details about using ssh-agent. | |