Essential CVS: Version Control and Source Code Management

by Jennifer Vesperman

Overview

This easy-to-follow reference shows a variety of professionals how to use the Concurrent Versions System (CVS), the open source tool that lets you manage versions of anything stored in files. Ideal for software developers tracking different versions of the same code, this new edition has been expanded to explain common usages of CVS for system administrators, project managers, software architects, user-interface (UI) specialists, graphic designers and others.

Current for version 1.12, Essential CVS, 2nd Edition offers an overview of CVS, explains the core concepts, and describes the commands that most people use on a day-to-day basis. For those who need to get up to speed rapidly, the book's Quickstart Guide shows you how to build and use a basic CVS repository with the default settings and a minimum of extras. You'll also find:

• A full command reference that details all aspects of customizing CVS for automation, logging, branching, merging documents, and creating alerts
• Examples and descriptions of the most commonly used options for each command
• Why and when to tag or branch your project, tagging before releases, and using branching to create a bugfix version of a project
• Details on the systems used in CVS to permit multiple developers to work on the same project without loss of data

An entire section devoted to document version management and project management includes ways to import and export projects, work with remote repositories, and shows how to fix things that can go wrong when using CVS. You'll find more screenshots in this edition as well as examples of using graphical CVS clients to run CVS commands. Essential CVS also includes a FAQ that answers common queries in the CVS mailing list to get you up and running with this system quickly and painlessly.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780596527037
Publisher:	O'Reilly Media, Incorporated
Publication date:	11/28/2006
Edition description:	Second Edition
Pages:	427
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.19(h) x 1.04(d)

About the Author

Jennifer Vesperman is the author of Essential CVS. She writes for the O'Reilly Network, the Linux Documentation Project, and occasionally Linux.Com. As a programmer and system administrator, she currently works with Cybersource, an Australian IT consulting firm. She is the current Coordinator for LinuxChix, an advocacy and support group that focuses on women who use and develop open source programs (especially Linux).

Table of Contents

• Dedication
• Preface
• Part I: Introduction
  • Chapter 1: What Is CVS?
  • Chapter 2: CVS Quickstart Guide
• Part II: Using CVS
  • Chapter 3: Basic Use of CVS
  • Chapter 4: Tagging and Branching
  • Chapter 5: Multiple Users
• Part III: CVS Administration
  • Chapter 6: Repository Management
  • Chapter 7: Project Management
  • Chapter 8: Remote Repositories
  • Chapter 9: Troubleshooting
• Part IV: Reference
  • Chapter 10: Command Reference
  • Chapter 11: Miscellaneous Topics Reference
• Part V: Appendixes
  • Clients and Operating Systems
  • Administrators' Tools
  • Frequently Asked Questions
• Colophon

Editorial Reviews

The Barnes & Noble Review
Every programmer needs a source control system, and every programmer’s got one: CVS. It’s omnipresent in UNIX/Linux environments, available with GUI flavoring for Windows and Mac, and can be integrated with development environments ranging from Eclipse to CodeWarrior. Sure, the documentation can be dicey, but for that, you’ve got Essential CVS by Jennifer Vesperman.

Vesperman, who’s been writing about CVS at O’Reilly.com for years, has assembled an exceptionally clear and accessible CVS tutorial. Her one-chapter “quick start guide” covers all you need to know to get rolling: installing and building CVS from source, or with apt, rpm, or yast; building repositories and importing projects into them; access existing repositories; checking out files; working with temporary “sandboxes,” and committing changes.

You’ll find detailed coverage of tagging and branching, including techniques you can use to fix bugs in older versions without changing current code, or modify configuration sets for staging servers without modifying production servers. Next, you’ll learn how to use CVS in environments with multiple users -- including reserving files, displaying recent changes and file histories, and more.

The book’s thorough coverage on CVS administration includes a detailed chapter on repository management, structure, and backups; another on using CVS as a project management tool; and yet another on working with remote repositories. Vesperman presents dozens of troubleshooting techniques, covering everything from connectivity and permissions to filename and line-ending problems. She wraps up with complete references to CVS commands, CVSROOT files and variables, environment variables, keywords, and more. Very handy. Bill Camarda

Bill Camarda is a consultant, writer, and web/multimedia content developer. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2000 and Upgrading & Fixing Networks for Dummies, Second Edition.

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