Cvs?

bpat1434

I know that Linux has some really great CVS packages out there. But unfortunately I don't use Linux to develop, I use Windows. It would be a lot easier if that was the end of it. But I use my laptop all the time as well. So I work on the same project at two different locations.

So what "updates" I may do to one is not what may be on the other. So what do you guys think would be the best way to go about always having an "updated" version to edit from.

Right now I'm thinking of using a sub-domain like cvs.domain.com and always download and upload the file(s) there. Just looking for opinions and thoughts.

~Brett

pohopo

You can use CVS on windows just as well. Another option (which i think is better) would be subversion, which also works on windows.

[URL= http://subversion.tigris.org/]
http://subversion.tigris.org/[/URL]

dalecosp

And then there's perforce, over at www.perforce.com ... free for up to 2 users.

vaaaska

Originally posted by pohopo
You can use CVS on windows just as well. Another option (which i think is better) would be subversion, which also works on windows.

[URL= http://subversion.tigris.org/]
http://subversion.tigris.org/[/URL]

Ok, I looked this up on Wikipedia...it's one of these explanations that could read "defined by it's own defintion". I'm missing something here...something that doesn't allow me to completely understand what svn is all about.

Revision control is an aspect of documentation control wherein changes to documents are identified by incrementing an associated number or letter code, termed the "revision level", or simply "revision". It has been a standard practice in the maintenance of engineering drawings for as long as the generation of such drawings has been formalized. A simple form of revision control, for example, has the initial issue of a drawing assigned the revision level "A". When the first change is made, the revision level is changed to "B" and so on.

How do they decide when something is A or B? Is svn a connection to the actual files that programmers are working on or just a place where they dump a build (like a nightly build or whatever)? Why do I have to access svn via my Unix shell...is there something some complex about it that makes it impossible to use a Mac GUI for it? (Well, I do have Fink installed for something in particular, but I'm just curious).

As always...

dalecosp

Don't know much about it (svn in particular), but generally versioning is done chronologically, the idea being that you start with nothing and it gets better ....

CVS basically does diffs of a newer commit, saves this information, and then allows you to request a copy of <<somefile>> as it existed at any particular time since its inception --- patching the source file with the appropriate diffs as necessary to get "up to date" (or reverted to whenever or whatnot).

I'd have to assume that svn does it much the same way ... as you probably noted, they simply claim to have a better mousetrap due to also tracking changes in tree structure, file meta-data, etc.

I'd think many 'Nixes have had CVS built in (a client, anyway) for some time (what is it, nineteen years old now?), and if you've got native svn support, you're using a little "sexier" distro (example: FreeBSD has a cvs implementation in the "base" install --- if you want subversion you shell over to the ports tree and "make install").

As for a Mac GUI, I'd imagine that one's being worked on if it doesn't exist already. But anyone who writes a GUI to interface an existing CLI program in Apple land might just want to be paid, so I don't know about any alternative.

HTH,

Sgarissta

Originally posted by vaaaska
[B Why do I have to access svn via my Unix shell...is there something some complex about it that makes it impossible to use a Mac GUI for it? (Well, I do have Fink installed for something in particular, but I'm just curious).

[/B]

Actually, it's something so obvious, and simple, that a GUI would probably be MORE confusing for most tasks. There are several web based GUI's for viewing, and even a couple of windows based GUI's for handling checkouts. But as far as commits go the shell is about the quickest and easiest way to do it.

dalecosp

Originally posted by dalecosp
As for a Mac GUI, I'd imagine that one's being worked on if it doesn't exist already. But anyone who writes a GUI to interface an existing CLI program in Apple land might just want to be paid, so I don't know about any alternative.

HTH,

Bah, what an idiot I am this morning :rolleyes:

http://subversion.tigris.org/project_links.html

At least two of the listed projects are GUI based and have the phrase "OS X" in their descriptions, in addition to several "cross platform" packages...

I should never doubt the "openness" of the OS community ...

pohopo

How do they decide when something is A or B? Is svn a connection to the actual files that programmers are working on or just a place where they dump a build (like a nightly build or whatever)? Why do I have to access svn via my Unix shell...is there something some complex about it that makes it impossible to use a Mac GUI for it? (Well, I do have Fink installed for something in particular, but I'm just curious).

What tools like Subversion do is control the source code of a project so if you screw up you can go back to the point where everything was good. When working with cvs/svn you request the page you want to work on and the cvs/svn server will document this. When you are done you submit it back and cvs/svn will save your new version and still keep your old version before your recent changes. If two people check out the same file it will try to merge the changes, if it finds a conflict it will tell what and where it is at so you can choose what you want to keep.

Source control is real important when you have more then one person working on the same project. I would cocnsider it a requirement. And though not as useful it does have advantages for a single developer project as it keeps every version you ever made. So if I find that I made a very big mistake I can tell cvs/svn to bring me back to the version I submitted 2 weeks ago.

Subversion is more robust then CVS, so if you were to go with one I would choose Subversion. The reason why some stay on CVS is they already have everything in CVS and do not want to try converting everything over to SVN.