NAME
curves - console UI to CVS source control
SYNOPSIS
curves [ --debug=value ]
DESCRIPTION
curves provides a simple console UI to the CVS source control program.
Its purpose is to simplify everyday source control tasks and minimize
the most frequent errors. These errors include users forgetting to add
new files when committing, and adding binary files without setting the
-kb switch that tells CVS to leave line endings alone and to suppress
substituting keywords.
OPTIONS
--debug=value
Sets the debug output value to value which may be either
decimal, or hexadecimal if prefixed with 0x. The interesting
settings of the debug value may be found in the source.
USAGE
The top line of the curves screen describes the menu of available
commands. Below the menu are two panes that list the sub-directories
and files in the current directory. Beneath these is a status line
describing either the current directory or file where the cursor is
pointing. The bottom line is for user input.
The menu bar begins with the colon delimited name of the menu. The
main menu is labeled CurVeS while each sub-menu is labeled with the
name as it appears in the main menu. Each menu command has one
capitalized letter. Pressing this key invokes the respective command.
For example, when the main menu is active the F key invokes the File
menu and the Q key quits CurVeS.
A right pointing arrow, >, indicates which of the two primary panes is
active. Use the <tab> key to change the active pane. While the
directory pane is active, the up and down arrow keys move through the
directory list and <enter> changes to that directory. The status line
reports the the name of the current directory, the number of
subdirectories in it, the number of files, and the number of selected
files in parenthesis. While the file pane is active, the arrow keys
move around the list and either <space> or <enter> toggles the
selection mark for the current file. The selection mark is a usually
grave accent ‘ but changes to an ampersand & when it coincides with the
cursor. The status line reports the name and size of the file, the
time and date it was last modified, and the most current status of the
file. Each filename also bears a prefix mark to indicate its current
status (see File Status and Marks).
Menu Commands
Cvs Chooses the sub-menu of CVS commands. These commands operate
either on the marked files or on the current file if none are
marked.
CVS->Add
Perform cvs add. The current file or marked files are queued
for addition to the module for the current directory. The
output of the command is displayed to the console.
CVS->BinaryToggle
For uncontrolled files that are not excluded by .cvsignore,
CurVeS attempts to determine if the file contains binary or
ASCII data. The result of its analysis is shown in the status
of the file, either New Add (B) for binary or New Add (T) for
text. This command toggles the status of the file in the
unlikely event that the heuristic failed.
Note that this status toggle persists only as long as the
current CurVeS session. This information is passed to CVS only
when the file is added to the module. See the CVS->Add menu
command.
CVS->Commit
Perform cvs commit. The current file or marked files are
committed to CVS. CurVeS prompts the user for a commit comment
using the preferred editor. See the CommitCommentEditor
preference in curves(5).
CVS->Diff
Perform cvs diff. Differences between the current file or
marked files and the most recent version in the CVS repository
appear on the console.
CVS->Log
Perform cvs log. The CVS log for the current file or marked
files appears on the console.
CVS->Update
Perform cvs update. This command synchronizes the current
directory with the CVS repository. It is important to do this
before committing changes.
File Chooses the sub-menu for File commands. These perform general
file operations pertaining to the operating system.
File->Change dir
Prompts the user for a directory to make the current one.
File->Options
Invokes the $(EDITOR) on the .curves program preferences file.
File->View
Pipes the contents of the current or selected files to less.
Mark Chooses the sub-menu for Mark (select) commands. These change
the file selection according to the class of each file.
Mark->AddedNotYet
Marks/selects the not-yet-added files. These are the files that
CurVeS determines may be new to the project but have not been
added.
Mark->Clear
Clears all selection marks.
Mark->Edited
Marks/selects files that are recognized by CVS source control
and have been modified in the current directory.
Mark->Uncommitted
Marks/selects files that have either been edited, added, or
removed from the current directory and have not yet been
committed.
Sort Change the file sort criteria. The menu bar changes to display
the key options and the user input area prompt for a new value.
The first sort key is always used. The second and successive
keys are used to break ties where the previous keys are
ambiguous. For example, an alpha sort is unambiguous and will
never use any other keys. Usually, there are many files in each
class, so the class key usually requires another key. If an
insufficient number of keys is given for an unambiguous sort, a
file ’a’ alpha key is inferred.
The keys are as follows:
a sort alphabetically without regard to case. Thus ’abe’
sorts before ’AXE’.
A sort alphabetically according to ASCII lexical order. Thus
’AXE’ sorts before ’abe’.
c sort by file classification mark. The order of these marks
is defined internally to CurVeS and is from most
interesting to least interesting. Source controlled files
are more interesting than uncontrolled files. Edited files
are more interesting that unedited, added, removed, or out-
of-sync files.
n sort newest files first.
o sort oldest files first.
l sort longest files first, those with the greatest file
size.
s sort shortest files first, those with the smallest file
size.
Version
Display CurVeS version number in the user entry area.
Quit terminates the program.
Search Commands
CurVeS provides a quick method to search for a particular name in the
current pane. The solidus ’/’ key executes a simple forward search
command. Enter a string and the cursor moves to the next filename that
contains that string. The question mark ’?’ key executes a simple
reverse search.
File Status and Marks
The status of each file is coded in three ways. It is displayed in the
status area when the cursor points to the file. The single character
prefix for each file indicates the file status. When available, each
file is displayed in a color for it’s status.
This table shows the name of the file status, the character prefix for
that status, the color used for the Linux console, and the color used
in X-Windows.
Added + Magenta / Red
File has been scheduled to be added to the module. This
addition will propagate to the repository on commit.
Checkout = Magenta / Red
File exists in the repository, but has never been checked-out
into the working directory. This occurs in multi-developer
projects when others add a new files to a module.
Conflict * Red / Red
Changes committed to the repository conflict with local changes
to the file. Look through the source file for
<<<<<<< filename
... local changes
=======
... repository changes
>>>>>>> revision
where filename is the name of the local file and revision is the
number of the most recent revision comitted to the repository.
These conflicts must be resolved before committing local changes
to this file.
Edited > Yellow / Blue
File has been locally modified and no changes have been
committed to the file since it was checked-out.
Lost ^ Red / Red
The local copy of the file is missing even though it had been
checked-out at one time. The CVS->Update command will restore
the latest copy of this file.
NewAdd (T) ? Green / Green
File has not been added to the module and is not excluded by any
of the cvsignore lists. CurVeS has analyzed the file and
determined it to be ASCII text. This is the normal mode for new
files, but can be changed before it is added to the module by
using the CVS->BinaryToggle menu command.
NewAdd (B) ? Green / Green
File has not been added to the project and is not excluded by
any of the cvsignore lists. CurVeS has analyzed the file and
determined it to contiain binary data. When added to the
module, this file will not experience line-ending changes nor
will it have CVS keywords substituted. CurVeS sets the -kb CVS
switch for binary files when adding them to a module. This mode
may be changed before it is added to the module by using the
CVS->BinaryToggle menu command.
Merge ! Magenta / Red
File has been locally modified and has had changes committed to
the repository. The changes from the repository must be merged
with the local file copy before CVS commit local changes. Use
the CVS->Update commands to merge the repository changes into
the local copy of this file.
Patch < Magenta / Red
Changes to this file have been committed to the repository since
it was last checked-out and no local modification have been
made. Use the CVS->Update command to incorporate the repository
changes into the local copy of this file.
Removed - Magenta / Magenta
File has been scheduled to be removed from the repository. The
removal will propagate on commit.
UpToDate : Cyan / Cyan
File is controlled by CVS but has neither been changed locally
nor have changes been committed to the repository.
Built-in Line Editor
When prompting the user for input, CurVeS uses simple, built-in line
editor that emulates the most interesting EMACS keystrokes. If there
is a default or current setting for the prompt it is shown highlighted
to show selection. Typing a new value will replace the selected value.
The left arrow or ^B move the cursor to the left. The right arrow or
^F move the cursor to the right. HOME or ^A moves the cursor to the
beginning of the line. END or ^E moves the cursor to the end of the
line. DELETE and ^D delete the character under the cursor. BACKSPACE
and ^H delete the previous character. ^K deletes the character under
the cursor and all characters to the end of the line. ESC and ^G
cancel the input. ENTER accepts the new value.
Terminal Emulation
CurVeS does use the termcap and terminfo databases when available, but
it does not use either the curses or ncurses packages to interpret
them. The program first looks in the terminfo database for the current
terminal type. If it isn’t found, it then looks for a termcap entry.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
CurVeS uses the TERM variable to select the correct terminal type. It
uses EDITOR, or VISUAL if EDITOR value is empty, as the editor for the
preferences file.
BUGS
CurVeS always scans the current directory for the latest status for
each file. If access to the repository has a high latency or the
directory is large, this scan may take much time. In addition, if the
repository is remote and the user’s access to it is through a dial-up
connection, CurVeS may initiate a dial-out. The solution to this
problem involves the use of a cached (and potentially stale) view of
the repository’s latest log entries.
CurVeS has no method for working with trees of files. It is not
possible to perform a commit on more than one directory at a time.
AUTHOR
Marc Singer <elf@debian.org>
SEE ALSO
curves(5)