Table of Contents
Abstract
This article explores some of the best practices that can be adopted while using CVS as the configuration management tool in your software projects.
Men have become the tools of their tools. | ||
| --Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) | ||
This article outlines some of the best practices that can be adopted when Concurrent Versions System is used as the configuration management tool in your software project.
Concurrent Versions System (CVS) is an Open Source configuration management tool that is now being looked at seriously by many commercial organizations as a viable alternative to other commercial Software configuration management tools.
This spotlight on CVS has led to the inevitable question of best practices for deploying CVS as the backbone SCM tool for large software development projects. Having answered this question many times verbally as a bunch of “gotchas” on CVS, it was time to put down on paper some of the best practices that will work well for CVS based projects.
![[Note]](images/note.png) | Note |
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This paper assumes that the reader is familiar with the fundamentals of software version control. Including features like branching, merging, tagging (labelling) etc., offered by modern version control tools such as CVS Further, This paper is not an introduction to CVS and its usage. There are excellent articles available on the net for the same. This paper assumes that the reader is familiar with CVS commands and is looking at deploying CVS in his or her organization. Some of the popular CVS related links that can provide CVS education are.
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This document is Copyright © 2001 Vivek Venugopalan. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license can be found in Appendix A, GNU Free Documentation License.
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You are strongly recommended to take a backup of your system before major installation and backups at regular intervals.
The version of CVS Best Practices that you are currently reading is : 0.7.
The latest version of this document can be obtained from (In the order of latest version availability)
The list of people who have provided information, ideas and corrections in no particular order are.
Jens-Uwe Mager
Jorgen Grahn
Thomas S. Urban
Cam Mayor
Sally Miller
Niels Jakob Darger
Thank you folks - your feedback has helped me keep “CVS Best Practices” as a living document with constant revisions over the years.
Feedback is most certainly welcome for this document. Without your
insight, submission and input, CVS Best Practices wouldn't exist. Please send your
additions, comments and criticisms to the following email address :
<vivekv at yahoo dot com>.