Desktop VCS FAQ

Index.

1. CMCVS
   1. Requirements
      1. Is MacCVS the same as MacCVS Pro?
   2. Commands.
      1. Checkout
         1. This is CVS! Why do I have to check out files?

CMCVS

Requirements

Q. Is MacCVS the same as MacCVS Pro or MacCVS Client?

A. No. The three are unrelated except for being CVS clients:

• MacCVS is a CVS client based on the GNU source. This is the client used by CMCVS. It was written in stages by various individuals, Strata Corporation and finally by WinCVS.org. It can be downloaded from their web site.
  
• MacCVS Pro is a CVS client written from scratch by the Mozilla team for their source control. It is maintained by MacCVS.org. CMCVS does not work with this client because it does not support the GNU command line interface.
  
• MacCVS Client is a third CVS client written by Jörg Bullman at Fontworks. It has its own home page if you are interested. CMCVS does not work with this client because it does not support the GNU command line interface.
  

Return to the Index.

Commands

Checkout

Q. This is CVS! Why do I have to check out files?

A. There are two reasons why you need to check out files: one CVS reason, and one philosophical reason.

1. The CVS reason for the Checkout command is that CVS does support exclusive locking via watched files and such files need to be reserved with a cvs edit command. Even if you don't use this feature, the module must support it.
2. The Philosophical reason is that I personally feel that leaving files unlocked is a bad practice. If you are going to make a change to a file, you should be deliberate about it. Hopefully, the time you take to make that decision swamps the short time spent checking out the file. I think that the Concurrent part of CVS is really cool, but I also appreciate the virtue of not touching everything just because you can.

While I appreciate that not everyone agrees with #2, the reason that it is not an option is because of #1. By making the module extremely baroque I could probably make everyone happy, but the time and energy involved seems like a waste. More time is saved by not having to switch to the client than is wasted by the Checkout process.

Return to the Index.