Working (Multiuser) with CVS

checkout: Getting the source

The first thing you must do is to get your own working copy of the source:

 cd working_dir/
 cvs checkout swoop

This will create a new directory called "swoop" and populate it with the source files.
It will also create a `CVS' directory, that is used internally by CVS.
Now you can start your favorite editor and work on the files.

commit: Commiting your Changes

commit will store your new source files (or modified files) in the repository and make them available to anyone else:

 cd ~/working/
 cvs commit swoop

CVS starts an editor, to allow you to enter a log message (you may type a message like "added superSwooping function", save and exit or just exit immediately). The environment variable `$CVSEDITOR' determines which editor is started.
If you want to avoid starting an editor you can specify the log message on the command line using the `-m' flag instead.

You can also commit single files from a module:

 cd ~/working/swoop 
 cvs commit index.html

`commit' verifies that the selected files are up to date with the current revisions in the source repository. It will notify you, and exit without committing, if any of the specified files must be made current first with `update' (usually because someone edited the same file in parallel). `commit' does not call the `update' command for you.

update: Bring Work Tree in Sync with Repository

Use the update command when you wish to update your copies of source files from changes that other developers have made to the source in the repository.

When other developers changed the source and commited their changes to the repository while you also changed the source, you have to update your working copy before you can commit it.

Execute the update command from within your private source directory to merge your local files with the repository.

Example:

 cd ~/working
 cvs update swoop

If update reports conflicts in the files you have to edit the files (by hand) and resolve the conflicts.
After that you may commit the updated files with your changes and contributions.

diff: Viewing Differences

If you do not remember modifying a file, you can run diff to see what you changed in that file:

 cd ~/working/swoop
 cvs diff index.html

diff compares the file version that you checked out with your working copy and displays the differences.

release: Cleaning Up

When you finished working on a project (you can always restart), call the release command:

 cd ~/working
 cvs release swoop

The release command checks that all your modifications have been committed.
If history logging is enabled it also makes a note in the history file.

When you use the `-d' flag with `release', it also removes your working copy.