NAME
cvsutils - CVS utilities for use in working directories
SYNOPSIS
cvsu [options]
cvsco [ options ]
cvsdiscard [ options ]
cvspurge [ options ]
cvstrim [ options ]
cvschroot [ options ]
cvsdo [ options ]
DESCRIPTION
The idea of cvsutils is to facilitate working with the files in the
working directory of a developer using CVS (Concurrent Versions
System).
From the point of view of CVS, working directories have low value,
since they can easily be recreated using the cvs checkout command.
Also the cvs update command will show the status of the files, i.e.
whether they have been modified, added or removed.
CVS in it’s current state is a client-server system that does most of
its work on the server side. CVS provides only few (if any) means for
managing the working directory without communicating with the server.
There are, however, several reasons why such means are necessary:
* There is enough information on the client side to create fast
tools for sorting and purging the working directory without
contacting the CVS server.
* Checking out a big module over a slow line can take too much
time.
* There should be support for disconnected operations.
* CVS poses certain unnecessary restrictions on read-only users,
e.g. cvs add command doesn’t work for them.
CVSU
cvsu is "cvs update offline". It lists the files found in the current
directory (or in the directories which you specify). Following is taken
into account:
* Attributes of the file.
* Information about the file in CVS/Entries.
* Timestamp of the file compared to the timestamp stored in
CVS/Entries.
Run cvsu --help to see supported command line options. The options can
be abbreviated. This functionality is provided by Perl, and can vary
from one machine to another.
CVSCO
cvsco is a "cruel checkout". In other words, it removes results of
compilation and discards local changes. It deletes all the files except
listed unmodified ones and checks out everything which seems to be
missing. Please note, that cvsco doesn’t update files which haven’t
been modified locally. It only reloads missing files and files which it
erases.
CVSDISCARD
cvsdiscard is "discard my changes". In other words, it discards local
changes but keeps results of compilation. It works like cvsco, but it
only deletes files which are likely to cause merge conflicts.
CVSPURGE
cvspurge leaves all files known to CVS, but removes the rest. Unlike
cvsco, it doesn’t remove local changes. It is useful to test local
changes in the otherwise clean source tree.
CVSTRIM
cvstrim removes files and directories unknown to CVS. Files listed in
.cvsignore are not removed. The idea is to remove the files that are
not resulted from the normal build process - backups, coredumps etc.
cvstrim relies on .cvsignore files being correct. Note that the backups
for modified files are removed.
CVSCHROOT
cvschroot makes it possible to change CVS/Root in all subdirectories to
the given value. Currently the only argument accepted is the new
CVSROOT value. Old-style CVS/Repository files that contain the full
path to the repository are updated to reflect the change. New-style
CVS/Repository don’t need to be changed. If the environment variable
CVSROOT is defined, it overrides the contents of CVS/Root. In other
words, it is treated as the old CVS root.
CVSDO
cvsdo simulates some of the CVS commands (currently add, remove and
diff) without any access to the CVS server. Using cvsdo add and cvsdo
remove allows you to create diffs with cvs diff -N, and all removed and
added files will appear in the diff correctly, as if you had used cvs
add and cvs remove respectively.
cvsdo diff tries to locate the backup copies of the modified files. If
they can be found, they are compared with the current version using
diff. Only those backup copies are used that have the modification
date equal the date listed in CVS/Entries for the modified file. cvsdo
diff patches the diff output to make it more robust to apply. An
exception is made for files named "ChangeLog" - in this case diff will
be instructed to omit all context lines, so that the patch can be
applied even if other changes have been written to the ChangeLog. Also
the added files are handled properly. The header of the diff output is
patched in such way that at least GNU patch will create a new file when
the resulting patch is applied and remove that file when the patch is
reverted.
LICENCE
cvsutils is covered by the GNU General Public License (GPL).
SEE ALSO
cvs(1), cvs2cl(1).
AUTHOR
This manual page was written by Uwe Hermann <uwe@debian.org>, for the
Debian GNU/Linux system (but may be used by others).
February 27, 2002