home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
OS/2 Shareware BBS: 10 Tools
/
10-Tools.zip
/
rcstxi11.zip
/
rcstexi.110
/
rcsintro.tex
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1997-03-30
|
13KB
|
350 lines
@c
@c ================================================================================
@c Edition 1.1
@c of the Texinfo-manuals for the
@c (R)evision (C)ontrol (S)ystem
@c Version 5.7
@c
@c (c) 1982, 1988, 1989 Walter F. Tichy.
@c (c) 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 Paul Eggert.
@c (c) 1996, 1997 Karl Heinz Marbaise (doing converting job)
@c ================================================================================
@c
@c Discription:
@c Introduction to RCS
@c
@c Authors:
@c Walter Tichy,
@c Paul Eggert,
@c Karl Heinz Marbaise (doing converting job)
@c
@c e-mail:
@c Internet: KHMarbaise@p69.ks.fido.de
@c Fido-net: 2:2452/117.69
@c
@c Bugs, question:
@c to above e-mail adress.
@c
@c License:
@c The "Texinfo Edition of the RCS V5.7 manuals" are free
@c software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
@c the terms of the GNU General Public License as published
@c by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at
@c your option) any later version.
@c
@c The "Texinfo Edition of the RCS V5.7 manuals" are distributed
@c in the hope that they will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY;
@c without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
@c FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public
@c License for more details.
@c
@c You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
@c along with the "Texinfo Edition of the RCS V5.7 manuals"; see the
@c file COPYING. If not, write to the:
@c Free Software Foundation,
@c 59 Temple Place - Suite 330,
@c Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
@c
@c See \rcstxi.110\COPYING for details.
@c
@c ================================================================================
@c
@c
@c $Id: RCSINTRO.TEX 1.2 1997/03/30 22:53:17 KHM Exp $
@c
@c =============================================================================
@c rcsintro -- introduction to RCS commands
@c -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
@node rcsIntroduction,Synopsis,VersionControl,Top
@chapter Introduction to RCS commands
@cindex Introduction
@cindex RCS commands
@menu
* rcsintroDesc:: Introduction to @code{RCS}.
* rcsintroFunc:: Functions of @code{RCS}.
* rcsintroStart:: Getting started with @code{RCS}.
* rcsintroAutoIdent:: Automatic identification.
@end menu
@c =============================================================================
@c rcsintro -- introduction to RCS commands
@c Description
@c -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
@node rcsintroDesc,rcsintroFunc,rcsIntroduction,rcsIntroduction
@section Description
The Revision Control System (RCS) manages multiple revisions
of files. RCS automates the storing, retrieval,
logging, identification, and merging of revisions. RCS is
useful for text that is revised frequently, for example
programs, documentation, graphics, papers, and form letters.
The basic user interface is extremely simple. The novice
only needs to learn two commands: @code{ci} and @code{co}.
@code{ci}, short for "check in", deposits the contents of a file into
an archival file called an RCS file.
An RCS file contains all revisions of a particular file.
@code{co}, short for "check out",
retrieves revisions from an RCS file.
@c =============================================================================
@c rcsintro -- introduction to RCS commands
@c Options
@c -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
@node rcsintroFunc,rcsintroStart,rcsintroDesc,rcsIntroduction
@section Functions of RCS
@itemize @bullet{}
@item Store and retrieve multiple revisions of text. RCS saves
all old revisions in a space efficient way. Changes no longer
destroy the original, because the previous revisions remain
accessible. Revisions can be retrieved according to ranges
of revision numbers, symbolic names, dates, authors, and
states.
@item Maintain a complete history of changes. RCS logs all
changes automatically. Besides the text of each revision,
RCS stores the author, the date and time of check-in, and a log
message summarizing the change. The logging makes it easy to
find out what happened to a module, without having to compare
source listings or having to track down colleagues.
@item Resolve access conflicts. When two or more programmers
wish to modify the same revision, RCS alerts the programmers
and prevents one modification from corrupting the other.
@item Maintain a tree of revisions. RCS can maintain
separate lines of development for each module. It stores a
tree structure that represents the ancestral relationships among
revisions.
@item Merge revisions and resolve conflicts. Two separate
lines of development of a module can be coalesced by merging.
If the revisions to be merged affect the same sections of
code, RCS alerts the user about the overlapping changes.
@item Control releases and configurations. Revisions can be
assigned symbolic names and marked as released, stable,
experimental, etc. With these facilities, configurations of
modules can be described simply and directly.
@item Automatically identify each revision with name,
revision number, creation time, author, etc. The
identification is like a stamp that can be embedded at an
appropriate place in the text of a revision. The identification
makes it simple to determine which revisions of which
modules make up a given configuration.
@item Minimize secondary storage. RCS needs little extra space
for the revisions (only the differences). If intermediate
revisions are deleted, the corresponding deltas are compressed
accordingly.
@end itemize
@c =============================================================================
@c rcsintro -- introduction to RCS commands
@c Getting Started with RCS
@c -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
@node rcsintroStart,rcsintroAutoIdent,rcsintroFunc,rcsIntroduction
@section Getting Started with RCS
Suppose you have a file @file{f.c} that you wish to put under
control of RCS. If you have not already done so, make an
RCS directory with the command
@example
mkdir RCS
@end example
Then invoke the check-in command
@example
ci f.c
@end example
This command creates an RCS file in the RCS directory,
stores @file{f.c} into it as revision 1.1, and deletes
@file{f.c}. It also asks you for a description.
The description should be a synopsis of the contents
of the file. All later check-in commands will
ask you for a log entry, which should summarize the
changes that you made.
Files in the RCS directory are called RCS files; the others
are called working files. To get back the working
file f.c in the previous example, use the check-out command
@example
co f.c
@end example
This command extracts the latest revision from the RCS
file and writes it into @file{f.c}. If you want to edit @file{f.c},
you must lock it as you check it out with the command
@example
co -l f.c
@end example
You can now edit @file{f.c.}
Suppose after some editing you want to know what changes
that you have made. The command
@example
rcsdiff f.c
@end example
tells you the difference between the most recently
checked-in version and the working file. You can check
the file back in by invoking
@example
ci f.c
@end example
This increments the revision number properly.
If ci complains with the message
@example
ci error: no lock set by @code{your name}
@end example
then you have tried to check in a file even though you did
not lock it when you checked it out. Of course, it is too
late now to do the check-out with locking, because another
check-out would overwrite your modifications. Instead,
invoke
@example
rcs -l f.c
@end example
This command will lock the latest revision for you, unless
somebody else got ahead of you already. In this case,
you'll have to negotiate with that person.
Locking assures that you, and only you, can check in the
next update, and avoids nasty problems if several people
work on the same file. Even if a revision is locked, it
can still be checked out for reading, compiling, etc. All
that locking prevents is a @code{check-in} by anybody but the
locker.
If your RCS file is private, i.e., if you are the only
person who is going to deposit revisions into it, strict
locking is not needed and you can turn it off. If strict
locking is turned off, the owner of the RCS file need not
have a lock for check-in; all others still do. Turning
strict locking off and on is done with the commands
@example
rcs -U f.c and rcs -L f.c
@end example
If you don't want to clutter your working directory with
RCS files, create a subdirectory called RCS in your work-
ing directory, and move all your RCS files there. RCS
commands will look first into that directory to find
needed files. All the commands discussed above will still
work, without any modification. (Actually, pairs of RCS
and working files can be specified in three ways: (a) both
are given, (b) only the working file is given, (c) only
the RCS file is given. Both RCS and working files may
have arbitrary path prefixes; RCS commands pair them up
intelligently.)
To avoid the deletion of the working file during check-in
(in case you want to continue editing or compiling),
invoke
@example
ci -l f.c or ci -u f.c
@end example
These commands check in @file{f.c} as usual, but perform an
implicit check-out. The first form also locks the checked
in revision, the second one doesn't. Thus, these options
save you one check-out operation. The first form is useful
if you want to continue editing, the second one if you
just want to read the file. Both update the identification
markers in your working file (see below).
You can give ci the number you want assigned to a checked
in revision. Assume all your revisions were numbered 1.1,
1.2, 1.3, etc., and you would like to start release 2.
The command
@example
ci -r2 f.c or ci -r2.1 f.c
@end example
assigns the number 2.1 to the new revision. From then on,
ci will number the subsequent revisions with 2.2, 2.3,
etc. The corresponding co commands
@example
co -r2 f.c and co -r2.1 f.c
@end example
retrieve the latest revision numbered 2.@code{x} and the revision
2.1, respectively. co without a revision number selects
the latest revision on the @code{trunk}, i.e. the highest revision
with a number consisting of two fields. Numbers with
more than two fields are needed for branches. For example,
to start a branch at revision 1.3, invoke
@example
ci -r1.3.1 f.c
@end example
This command starts a branch numbered 1 at revision 1.3,
and assigns the number 1.3.1.1 to the new revision. For
more information about branches, see @ref{rcsOptb}.
@c =============================================================================
@c rcsintro -- introduction to RCS commands
@c Automatic Identification
@c -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
@node rcsintroAutoIdent,,rcsintroStart,rcsIntroduction
@section Automatic Identification
RCS can put special strings for identification into your
source and object code. To obtain such identification,
place the marker
@example
@value{RCSID}
@end example
into your text, for instance inside a comment. RCS will
replace this marker with a string of the form
@example
@value{RCSD}Id: filename revision date time author state @value{RCSD}
@end example
With such a marker on the first page of each module, you
can always see with which revision you are working. RCS
keeps the markers up to date automatically. To propagate
the markers into your object code, simply put them into
literal character strings. In C, this is done as follows:
@example
static char rcsid[] = "@value{RCSID}";
@end example
The command ident extracts such markers from any file,
even object code and dumps. Thus, ident lets you find out
which revisions of which modules were used in a given program.
You may also find it useful to put the marker @value{RCSLOG} into
your text, inside a comment. This marker accumulates the
log messages that are requested during check-in. Thus,
you can maintain the complete history of your file
directly inside it. There are several additional identification
markers; see @ref{coKeyword} for details.