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# Content
1 Using CVS (part 2)
2 ==================
3
4 Contents
5 --------
6 - Errata to "Using CVS (part 1)"
7 - Setting up CVS on a Public PC (with WinCVS/SSH)
8
9 - How CVS handles binary files
10 - Tagging the Repository
11 - Branching in CVS
12 - Keyword Expansion
13 - Online CVS Resources
14
15 - See "Using CVS (part 1)" for basic information on setting
16 up and using CVS at UKC.
17
18 tdb1, 29/10/00.
19
20 Errata to "Using CVS (part 1)"
21 ------------------------------
22 Setting up CVS on a Public PC (with WinCVS/SSH)
23 -----------------------------------------------
24 Assuming you already have WinCVS working we just need to
25 make a few modifications to get the same thing working with
26 SSH. This will only work on a public PC, although with some
27 careful copying of files you might be able to get it to work
28 on a normal SSB machine.
29
30 Firstly we need to get SSH working. As it is SSH does work,
31 but it will keep prompting for a password, which is a pain
32 when it's hidden in a cmd window somewhere. We'll start by
33 tweaking the SSH setup, and then we'll setup a key pair to
34 remove the need for a password.
35
36 [adapted from instructions given by jc]
37
38 First thing is to setup a few environment variables. This is
39 done in the System part of Control Panel. Under the User
40 Variables section add the following;
41
42 HOME =
43 z:\username
44 CVS_RSH =
45 ssh
46 CVSROOT =
47 :ext:user@raptor.ukc.ac.uk:/usr/local/proj/co600_10/cvs
48
49 Next we need to go about setting up the key pair. This is
50 done by two batch files called getkey.bat and copy-key.bat
51 which are already on the public PC's. Unfortunately you need
52 to modify getkey.bat to make it work with raptor, so copy it
53 from the C: drive (c:\winnt\system32 I believe) to your
54 desktop (or anywhere else). Edit it so that the third line
55 reads;
56
57 set HOST=raptor
58
59 Then run it. You'll be prompted for your raptor password
60 three times, and then the key is setup. Next you need to run
61 copy-key.bat. Just go to "Start -> Run -> copy-key raptor"
62 to make it do it's stuff.
63
64 Now, we're pretty much all set. You should be able to type
65 "ssh raptor" into a command window and log straight in
66 without the need for a password. If not, something has gone
67 wrong !
68
69 Finally, a quick alteration to WinCVS and we're done. In the
70 preferences set the CVS Root to be;
71
72 :ext:user@raptor.ukc.ac.uk:/usr/local/proj/co600_10/cvs
73
74 Then set the Authentication type to "SSH server". Assuming
75 you've already done the rest of the setup from the last
76 document you should be able to do a checkout as normal, but
77 this time without the need for a mapped drive - which is a
78 much neater way of doing things.
79
80 How CVS handles binary files
81 ----------------------------
82 Basically CVS can't do version management of binary files,
83 and quite obviously this is because it's not possible to
84 make version comparisons between two revisions in a logical
85 way. But, CVS will let you store binary files and will let
86 you add new versions. However, it will not store "changes"
87 between them, or allow you to view diffs between them.
88
89 IMPORTANT: You must make sure you tell CVS that a file is
90 binary, otherwise it will not store it correctly
91 and the file will be corrupted.
92
93 In WinCVS it's really easy to add a binary file, simply
94 select "Add selection binary" instead of the usual "Add
95 selection". WinCVS will display a "binary" icon instead, and
96 add "-kb" into the Option column. This -kb tells the CVS
97 command that the file is binary.
98
99 This leads nicely into how to do it from the command line.
100 You simply type the following in place of the usual "cvs
101 add" command.
102
103 cvs add -kb <filename>
104
105 Again, the -kb is present. Now, a quick explanation of what
106 this "-kb" means. Basically it is telling CVS not to do
107 keyword expansion (turning $Revision$ into $Revision: 1.3 $)
108 and tell is not to attempt to convert between unix/windows
109 text formats.
110
111 Tagging the Repository
112 ----------------------
113 Tagging the repository is a way of "marking" all the files
114 at a particular point in time. For example, when "release 1"
115 is finished you might want to mark this in the history of
116 all the files, so you can easily come back to it in the
117 future. As every file the makes up "release 1" may be on a
118 different individual revision, it would be tedious to do
119 without the aid of tagging.
120
121 This is the best example I've seen that clearly shows how a
122 tag is implemented. Imagine the dotted line signfies the
123 point at which you declared the files were "release 1". As
124 you can see, work as continued on the files, but you could
125 easily pull out each file at "release 1".
126
127 File A File B File C File D File E
128 ------ ------ ------ ------ ------
129 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.1
130 ---1.2-. 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2
131 1.3 | 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.3
132 \ 1.4 .-1.4-. 1.4 1.4
133 \ 1.5 / 1.5 \ 1.5 1.5
134 \ 1.6 / 1.6 | 1.6 1.6
135 \ 1.7 / | 1.7 1.7
136 \ 1.8 / | 1.8 .-1.8----->
137 \ 1.9 / | 1.9 / 1.9
138 `1.10' | 1.10 / 1.10
139 1.11 | 1.11 |
140 | 1.12 |
141 | 1.13 |
142 \ 1.14 |
143 \ 1.15 /
144 \ 1.16 /
145 `-1.17-'
146
147 In fact, if you imagine pulling this line straight, you'd
148 get the following effect which even more clearly shows where
149 "release 1" is.
150
151 File A File B File C File D File E
152 ------ ------ ------ ------ ------
153 1.1
154 1.2
155 1.3
156 1.4
157 1.5
158 1.6
159 1.7
160 1.1 1.8
161 1.2 1.9
162 1.3 1.10 1.1
163 1.4 1.11 1.2
164 1.5 1.12 1.3
165 1.6 1.13 1.4
166 1.7 1.1 1.14 1.5
167 1.8 1.2 1.15 1.6
168 1.1 1.9 1.3 1.16 1.7
169 ---1.2---------1.10--------1.4---------1.17--------1.8----->
170 1.3 1.11 1.5 1.17 1.9
171 1.6 1.17 1.10
172
173 Tagging is actually remarkably easy to do. All you do is
174 issue a single command to tag the files at the current point
175 in time. You should make sure all development stops whilst
176 you do it, otherwise a bit of new code could sneak in.
177 Here's how to do it;
178
179 cvs tag public-release_1
180
181 This would mark the files with the tag "public-release_1".
182 You can then continue with developement, knowing that all
183 those files can easily be retrieved. It's again suprisingly
184 easy to do. Instead of typing "cvs checkout source" you
185 would type;
186
187 cvs checkout -r public-release_1 source
188
189 Which would checkout the source module at the point which
190 you tagged. Alternatively the following would update (or
191 downdate ?) your working copy to the tagged point;
192
193 cvs update -r public-release_1
194
195 Finally, a quick mention of why this would be useful.
196 Imagine the development team was split into two groups, one
197 working on coding, another working on testing. When the
198 coding group have finished "release 1" they can tag it and
199 carry on developing for "release 2". At the same time, the
200 testing team can checkout "release 1" and test it, reporting
201 bugs back to the coding team for fixing in "release 2". It
202 could also mean the a customer could still get hold of the
203 first release whilst you're busy coding for the second.
204
205 Branching in CVS
206 ----------------
207 So far I've only talked about a single CVS branch, the
208 trunk. There is only ever one "current" revision of each
209 file, and everyone is working on the same files. However, it
210 is possible to branch this out into more than one copy of
211 the same files. A good example of why this is useful is
212 continuing the idea at the end of the last section.
213
214 Imagine the coding team are now busy working on "release 2"
215 and the testing team come up with a major flaw in
216 the older "release 1". Customers have already got this
217 version installed, so it needs fixing straight away. The
218 trick is to make a branch at the point where "release 1" was
219 tagged, and then fix the bugs on this branch. This branch
220 need not carry on, it could just have the few bugs fixed,
221 whilst the main branch (the trunk) has development of
222 "release 2" carrying on. This diagram shows this;
223
224 |
225 | -- tag "release_1"
226 |\
227 | \
228 | |
229 | |
230 | - -- tag "release_1-fixed"
231 |
232 |
233 | -- tag "release_2"
234
235 As you can see the customer could then get a copy of
236 "release_1-fixed" and not worry about the unstable code in
237 "release_2".
238
239 Branches can get much more complicated than this, but it's
240 beyond the scope of our requirements. Further info can be
241 found on the web.
242
243 Keyword Expansion
244 -----------------
245 CVS allows you to put certain keywords into a file which CVS
246 will expand when you check files in and out of the
247 repository. There are quite a few, and they're all pretty
248 useful in places. Here's a quick summary;
249
250 $Author$
251 The author of the latest change.
252 eg. $Author: tdb1 $
253
254 $Date$
255 The date/time of the latest change.
256 eg. $Date: 2000/10/30 13:10:04 $
257
258 $Header$
259 Various useful bits of information.
260 eg. $Header: /usr/local/proj/co600_10/cvs/file.txt,v \
261 1.1 2000/10/30 13:00:00 tdb1 Exp tdb1 $
262
263 $Id$
264 Simliar to $Header$, but without that wieldy path.
265 eg.
266 $Id: cvs-2.txt,v 1.3 2000/10/30 13:10:04 tdb1 Exp $
267
268 $Log$
269 Puts the latest log message in.
270
271 $Locker$
272 Name of the person who has a lock (usually no-one).
273 eg. $Locker: tdb1 $
274
275 $Name$
276 Name of the tag.
277 eg. $Name: release_1 $
278
279 $RCSfile$
280 Name of the RCS file.
281 eg. $RCSfile: cvs-2.txt,v $
282
283 $Revision$
284 Revision number of the file.
285 eg. $Revision: 1.3 $
286
287 $Source$
288 Full path to the file in the repository.
289 eg. $Source: /usr/local/proj/co600_10/cvs/file.txt,v $
290
291 $State$
292 State of the file (?).
293 eg. $State: Exp $
294
295 The keywords are automatically replaced by CVS, even if it's
296 already been expanded. You just put it in and leave it be!
297
298 Online CVS Resources
299 --------------------
300 That about concludes my guide on the basics of CVS for the
301 development work in the project. However, further resources
302 can be found on the following webpage. I've learnt an awful
303 lot from this "online book", and I'd recommend it to anyone
304 wanting to get to grips with CVS.
305
306 http://cvsbook.red-bean.com
307
308 Also, the "home" of CVS, if there is such a thing.
309
310 http://www.cvshome.org
311
312 About
313 -----
314 This document was written by Tim Bishop [tdb1@ukc.ac.uk] for
315 use by the team working on a 3rd year Computer Science
316 project called "i-scream". More details can be found on the
317 project website;
318
319 http://www.i-scream.org.uk