CVS Cheatsheet
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Concurrent Versions System (CVS) is a version control system that allows multiple developers to work on the same project without overwriting each other’s changes. It maintains a history of all changes to files in a repository, which can be retrieved and examined. CVS was developed by Dick Grune as a series of shell scripts in July 1986, and later evolved into a complete version control system used extensively in open source and commercial software development.
Repository Management
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| Command/Option | Example | Description |
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| cvs init | cvs init | Initialize a new CVS repository |
| cvs checkout (co) | cvs checkout module_name | Check out a working copy from a repository |
Working with Repositories
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| Command/Option | Example | Description |
|---|
| cvs update (up) | cvs update | Bring changes from the repository into the working copy |
| cvs commit (ci) | cvs commit -m "Commit message" | Send changes from the working copy to the repository |
| cvs add | cvs add file.txt | Schedule a file or directory for addition to the repository |
| cvs remove (rm) | cvs remove file.txt | Schedule a file or directory for removal from the repository |
| cvs tag | cvs tag TAGNAME | Tag the repository at the current file revisions |
| cvs rtag | cvs rtag TAGNAME module_name | Tag the repository at the current file revisions without checking them out |
Viewing Changes
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| Command/Option | Example | Description |
|---|
| cvs status (stat, st) | cvs status | Print the status of files in the working directory |
| cvs diff | cvs diff | Display the differences between working copy and repository |
| cvs log | cvs log | Show the log messages for a set of revisions |
Branching and Merging
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| Command/Option | Example | Description |
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| cvs tag -b | cvs tag -b branchname | Create a branch tag |
| cvs update -j | cvs update -j branchname | Merge changes from a branch into the working copy |
| cvs update -A | cvs update -A | Reset any sticky tags, dates, or options on the working copy |
Repository Maintenance
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| Command/Option | Example | Description |
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| cvs admin | cvs admin -mRev:msg file.txt | Perform repository administrative tasks |
| cvs history | cvs history | Show the history of files and users |
| cvs release | cvs release -d module_name | Safely release a checked-out module |
Miscellaneous
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| Command/Option | Example | Description |
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| cvs annotate | cvs annotate file.txt | Show the last modification for each line of a file |
| cvs watch | cvs watch add file.txt | Set a watch on a file to monitor commits |
| cvs unedit | cvs unedit file.txt | Undo an edit command |
| cvs export | cvs export -r TAG module_name | Export a clean directory tree of the module at the specified tag |
| cvs import | cvs import -m "Import message" module vendor release | Import sources into CVS, using vendor branches |
| cvs checkout -r | cvs checkout -r TAG module_name | Check out a module as it existed at the specified tag |
This cheatsheet covers the most commonly used CVS commands and options, helping you to manage repositories, commits, branches, merges, and more effectively.