CVS-Basics/Rules

The probably best documentation of cvs is called ``Cederqvist''. You can find it on the web^1.1. There is an online version and a printable one. We advise you to read it carefully. You will be able to use cvs much more efficiently if you do.

1. After the check-out, all files are write protected. You are not supposed to change the permissions with the chmod command!
2. To get write access to a file, you have to announce this with cvs edit filename. cvs editors filename will show you all current editors of filename. Checking in a file (see below) will remove you from the list of editors for the file in question. You will have to ``apply'' for write access again if you want to change a file after you checked it in.
3. Adding a file: If you want to add a file you register the new file with cvs add filename. This has to be done once after creating the file. Think twice before adding files to the repository since once added they cannot be completely removed.
4. Make your changes visible in the repository with cvs commit filename. This process is called ``checkin''. IF all is well, an editor is invoked and you are asked to enter a change comment. We urge you to take the change comments seriously. Tracking changes (Who did what and when) is only possible if the change comments are meaningful and complete.
   You have to do this whenever you want to publish your changes to the rest of the team.

Emacs has a lot of useful features for cvs. In GNU/Emacs you can access Emacs' cvs support functions via the Menu Tools $\rightarrow$Version Control.

If you have any problems, just ask!