# man > CVS(1) > **TLDR:** Concurrent Versions System, a revision control system. > - Create a new repository (requires the `$CVSROOT` environment variable to be set externally): `cvs -d {{path/to/repository}} init` - Add a project to the repository: `cvs import -m "{{message}}" {{project_name}} {{version}} {{vendor}}` - Checkout a project: `cvs checkout {{project_name}}` - Show changes made to files: `cvs diff {{path/to/file}}` - Add a file: `cvs add {{path/to/file}}` - Commit a file: `cvs commit -m "{{message}}" {{path/to/file}}` - Update the working directory from the remote repository: `cvs update` *Source: tldr-pages* --- [_CVS_(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/CVS/1/markdown) General Commands Manual [_CVS_(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/CVS/1/markdown) ## NAME cvs - Concurrent Versions System ## SYNOPSIS **cvs **[ _cvs_options_ ] _cvs_command_ [ _command_options_ ] [ _command_args_ ] ## NOTE This manual page is a summary of parts of the **cvs **documentation and automatically generated from an appendix of the CVS manual (the _Cederqvist_), which is also the target of all cross- references found in this manual page; please refer to the full CVS manual for more in-depth documentation of the Concurrent Versions System. If you're reading this manual page as part of the MirBSD online (HTML) manual pages archive, follow the cvs(GNU) link to the Cederqvist (and the cvsclient(GNU) link to the client/server protocol description, if necessary). If you installed **cvs **via the Debian or MirPorts Framework package management systems, **/usr/mpkg/share/doc/cvs/cvs.pdf **(MirPorts Framework) or **/usr/share/doc/cvs/cvs.pdf **(Debian), respectively, are versions of the Cederqvist rendered as books, for printing and reading on screen. If you have a Texinfo reader such as **info **installed (part of the base system on MirBSD; part of the _info_ package on Debian), you can read the Cederqvist by entering: **info _**cvs_ Quick introduction to **info **so you aren't immediately lost: _arrow_ _keys_ to move on the page _Tab_ to move to the next hyperlink _Return_ to activate the hyperlink under the cursor **l _**(lowercase_ _ell)_ to go to the previously visited page _Page_ _Up/_**b, _**Page_ _Down/Space_ to move by screen pages, including advancing to the previous (or next, respectively) section at the first (last) screen page **p, n** to go to the previous (next) page on the current navigation hierarchy level **t **to go to the "Top" page, i.e. the start of the document **/_**Return_ to start a search from the current cursor position and jump to the first result **/_**Return_ to jump to the next result in an ongoing search **q **to exit the **info **viewer Other ways to read further documentation are described in the _SEE_ _ALSO_ section of this manual page. **CVS commands** ### Guide to CVS commands This appendix describes the overall structure of **cvs **commands, and describes some commands in detail (others are described elsewhere; for a quick reference to **cvs **commands, see node 'In‐ voking CVS' in the CVS manual, and for an alphabetical list of all **cvs **commands, see node 'CVS command list' in the CVS manual). ## Structure ### Overall structure of CVS commands The overall format of all **cvs **commands is: cvs [ cvs_options ] cvs_command [ command_options ] [ command_args ] ### cvs The name of the **cvs **program. ### cvs_options Some options that affect all sub-commands of **cvs**. These are described below. ### cvs_command One of several different sub-commands. Some of the commands have aliases that can be used instead; those aliases are noted in the reference manual for that command. There are only two situations where you may omit **cvs_command**: **cvs -H **elicits a list of available commands, and **cvs -v **displays version information on **cvs **itself. ### command_options Options that are specific for the command. ### command_args Arguments to the commands. There is unfortunately some confusion between **cvs_options **and **command_options**. When given as a **cvs_option**, some options only affect some of the commands. When given as a **com‐** **mand_option **it may have a different meaning, and be accepted by more commands. In other words, do not take the above categorization too seriously. Look at the documentation in‐ stead. ## Exit status ### CVS's exit status **cvs **can indicate to the calling environment whether it succeeded or failed by setting its _exit_ _status_. The exact way of testing the exit status will vary from one operating system to another. For example in a unix shell script the **$? **variable will be 0 if the last command returned a successful exit status, or greater than 0 if the exit status indicated failure. If **cvs **is successful, it returns a successful status; if there is an error, it prints an er‐ ror message and returns a failure status. The one exception to this is the **cvs diff **command. It will return a successful status if it found no differences, or a failure status if there were differences or if there was an error. Because this behavior provides no good way to de‐ tect errors, in the future it is possible that **cvs diff **will be changed to behave like the other **cvs **commands. **~/.cvsrc** ### Default options and the ~/.cvsrc file There are some **command_options **that are used so often that you might have set up an alias or some other means to make sure you always specify that option. One example (the one that drove the implementation of the **.cvsrc **support, actually) is that many people find the de‐ fault output of the **diff **command to be very hard to read, and that either context diffs or unidiffs are much easier to understand. The **~/.cvsrc **file is a way that you can add default options to **cvs_commands **within cvs, in‐ stead of relying on aliases or other shell scripts. The format of the **~/.cvsrc **file is simple. The file is searched for a line that begins with the same name as the **cvs_command **being executed. If a match is found, then the remainder of the line is split up (at whitespace characters) into separate options and added to the com‐ mand arguments _before_ any options from the command line. If a command has two names (e.g., **checkout **and **co**), the official name, not necessarily the one used on the command line, will be used to match against the file. So if this is the con‐ tents of the user's **~/.cvsrc **file: log -N diff -uN rdiff -u update -Pd checkout -P release -d the command **cvs checkout foo **would have the **-P **option added to the arguments, as well as **cvs** **co foo**. With the example file above, the output from **cvs diff foobar **will be in unidiff format. **cvs** **diff -c foobar **will provide context diffs, as usual. Getting "old" format diffs would be slightly more complicated, because **diff **doesn't have an option to specify use of the "old" format, so you would need **cvs -f diff foobar**. In place of the command name you can use **cvs **to specify global options (see node 'Global op‐ tions' in the CVS manual). For example the following line in **.cvsrc** cvs -z6 causes **cvs **to use compression level 6. ## Global options The available **cvs_options **(that are given to the left of **cvs_command**) are: **--allow-root=_**rootdir_ May be invoked multiple times to specify one legal **cvsroot **directory with each invocation. Also causes CVS to preparse the configuration file for each specified root, which can be useful when configuring write proxies, See node 'Password authentication server' in the CVS manual & node 'Write proxies' in the CVS manual. ### -a Authenticate all communication between the client and the server. Only has an effect on the **cvs **client. As of this writing, this is only implemented when using a GSSAPI connec‐ tion (see node 'GSSAPI authenticated' in the CVS manual). Authentication prevents certain sorts of attacks involving hijacking the active **tcp **connection. Enabling authentication does not enable encryption. ### -b _ In **cvs **1.9.18 and older, this specified that **rcs **programs are in the _bindir_ directory. Current versions of **cvs **do not run **rcs **programs; for compatibility this option is accepted, but it does nothing. ### -T _ Use _tempdir_ as the directory where temporary files are located. The **cvs **client and server store temporary files in a temporary directory. The path to this temporary directory is set via, in order of precedence: • The argument to the global **-T **option. • The value set for **TmpDir **in the config file (server only - see node 'config' in the CVS manual). • The contents of the **$TMPDIR **environment variable (**%TMPDIR% **on Windows - see node 'Envi‐ ronment variables' in the CVS manual). • /tmp Temporary directories should always be specified as an absolute pathname. When running a CVS client, **-T **affects only the local process; specifying **-T **for the client has no effect on the server and vice versa. ### -d _ Use _cvs_root_directory_ as the root directory pathname of the repository. Overrides the setting of the **$CVSROOT **environment variable. See node 'Repository' in the CVS manual. ### -e _ Use _editor_ to enter revision log information. Overrides the setting of the **$CVSEDITOR **and **$EDITOR **environment variables. For more information, see node 'Committing your changes' in the CVS manual. ### -f Do not read the **~/.cvsrc **file. This option is most often used because of the non-orthogo‐ nality of the **cvs **option set. For example, the **cvs log **option **-N **(turn off display of tag names) does not have a corresponding option to turn the display on. So if you have **-N **in the **~/.cvsrc **entry for **log**, you may need to use **-f **to show the tag names. ### -g Forges group-writable permissions on files in the working copy. This option is typically used when you have multiple users sharing a single checked out source tree, allowing them to operate their shells with a less dangerous umask at the expense of **cvs **security. To use this feature, create a directory to hold the checked-out source tree, set it to a private group, and set up the directory such that files created under it inherit the gid of the di‐ rectory. On BSD systems, this occurs automatically. On SYSV systems and GNU/Linux, the sgid bit must be set on the directory for this. The users who are to share the checked out tree must be placed in that group which owns the directory. Note that the sharing of a single checked-out source tree is very different from giving several users access to a common **cvs **repository. Access to a common **cvs **repository already maintains shared group-write permissions and does not require this option. Due to the security implications, setting this option globally in your **.cvsrc **file is strongly discouraged; if you must, ensure all source checkouts are "firewalled" within a private group or a private mode 0700 directory. This option is a MidnightBSD extension merged into Debian and MirBSD **cvs**. ### -H ### --help Display usage information about the specified **cvs_command **(but do not actually execute the command). If you don't specify a command name, **cvs -H **displays overall help for **cvs**, in‐ cluding a list of other help options. ### -R Turns on read-only repository mode. This allows one to check out from a read-only reposi‐ tory, such as within an anoncvs server, or from a **cd-rom **repository. Same effect as if the **CVSREADONLYFS **environment variable is set. Using **-R **can also consid‐ erably speed up checkouts over NFS. ### -n Do not change any files. Attempt to execute the **cvs_command**, but only to issue reports; do not remove, update, or merge any existing files, or create any new files. Note that **cvs **will not necessarily produce exactly the same output as without **-n**. In some cases the output will be the same, but in other cases **cvs **will skip some of the processing that would have been required to produce the exact same output. ### -Q Cause the command to be really quiet; the command will only generate output for serious problems. ### -q Cause the command to be somewhat quiet; informational messages, such as reports of recur‐ sion through subdirectories, are suppressed. ### -r Make new working files read-only. Same effect as if the **$CVSREAD **environment variable is set (see node 'Environment variables' in the CVS manual). The default is to make working files writable, unless watches are on (see node 'Watches' in the CVS manual). ### -s _ Set a user variable (see node 'Variables' in the CVS manual). ### -t Trace program execution; display messages showing the steps of **cvs **activity. Particularly useful with **-n **to explore the potential impact of an unfamiliar command. ### -v ### --version Display version and copyright information for **cvs**. ### -w Make new working files read-write. Overrides the setting of the **$CVSREAD **environment vari‐ able. Files are created read-write by default, unless **$CVSREAD **is set or **-r **is given. ### -x Encrypt all communication between the client and the server. Only has an effect on the **cvs** client. As of this writing, this is only implemented when using a GSSAPI connection (see node 'GSSAPI authenticated' in the CVS manual) or a Kerberos connection (see node 'Kerberos authenticated' in the CVS manual). Enabling encryption implies that message traffic is also authenticated. Encryption support is not available by default; it must be enabled us‐ ing a special configure option, **--enable-encryption**, when you build **cvs**. ### -z _ Request compression _level_ for network traffic. **cvs **interprets _level_ identically to the **gzip **program. Valid levels are 1 (high speed, low compression) to 9 (low speed, high com‐ pression), or 0 to disable compression (the default). Data sent to the server will be com‐ pressed at the requested level and the client will request the server use the same compres‐ sion level for data returned. The server will use the closest level allowed by the server administrator to compress returned data. This option only has an effect when passed to the **cvs **client. ## Common options ### Common command options This section describes the **command_options **that are available across several **cvs **commands. These options are always given to the right of **cvs_command**. Not all commands support all of these options; each option is only supported for commands where it makes sense. However, when a command has one of these options you can almost always count on the same behavior of the option as in other commands. (Other command options, which are listed with the individ‐ ual commands, may have different behavior from one **cvs **command to the other). _Note:_ _the_ **history _**command_ _is_ _an_ _exception;_ _it_ _supports_ _many_ _options_ _that_ _conflict_ _even_ _with_ _these_ _standard_ _options._ ### -D _ Use the most recent revision no later than _date_spec_. _date_spec_ is a single argument, a date description specifying a date in the past. The specification is _sticky_ when you use it to make a private copy of a source file; that is, when you get a working file using **-D**, **cvs **records the date you specified, so that fur‐ ther updates in the same directory will use the same date (for more information on sticky tags/dates, see node 'Sticky tags' in the CVS manual). **-D **is available with the **annotate**, **checkout**, **diff**, **export**, **history**, **ls**, **rdiff**, **rls**, **rtag**, **tag**, and **update **commands. (The **history **command uses this option in a slightly different way; see node 'history options' in the CVS manual). For a complete description of the date formats accepted by **cvs**, see node 'Date input for‐ mats' in the CVS manual. Remember to quote the argument to the **-D **flag so that your shell doesn't interpret spaces as argument separators. A command using the **-D **flag can look like this: $ cvs diff -D "1 hour ago" cvs.texinfo ### -f When you specify a particular date or tag to **cvs **commands, they normally ignore files that do not contain the tag (or did not exist prior to the date) that you specified. Use the **-f** option if you want files retrieved even when there is no match for the tag or date. (The most recent revision of the file will be used). Note that even with **-f**, a tag that you specify must exist (that is, in some file, not nec‐ essary in every file). This is so that **cvs **will continue to give an error if you mistype a tag name. **-f **is available with these commands: **annotate**, **checkout**, **export**, **rdiff**, **rtag**, and **update**. _WARNING:_ _The_ **commit _**and_ **remove _**commands_ _also_ _have_ _a_ **-f _**option,_ _but_ _it_ _has_ _a_ _different_ _be‐_ _havior_ _for_ _those_ _commands._ _See_ _node_ _'commit_ _options'_ _in_ _the_ _CVS_ _manual,_ _and_ _node_ _'Removing_ _files'_ _in_ _the_ _CVS_ _manual._ ### -k _ Override the default processing of RCS keywords other than **-kb**. See node 'Keyword substi‐ tution' in the CVS manual, for the meaning of _kflag_. Used with the **checkout **and **update** commands, your _kflag_ specification is _sticky_; that is, when you use this option with a **checkout **or **update **command, **cvs **associates your selected _kflag_ with any files it operates on, and continues to use that _kflag_ with future commands on the same files until you spec‐ ify otherwise. The **-k **option is available with the **add**, **checkout**, **diff**, **export**, **import**, **rdiff**, and **update** commands. _WARNING:_ _Prior_ _to_ _CVS_ _version_ _1.12.2,_ _the_ **-k _**flag_ _overrode_ _the_ **-kb _**indication_ _for_ _a_ _binary_ _file._ _This_ _could_ _sometimes_ _corrupt_ _binary_ _files._ _See_ _node_ _'Merging_ _and_ _keywords'_ _in_ _the_ _CVS_ _manual,_ _for_ _more._ ### -l Local; run only in current working directory, rather than recursing through subdirectories. Available with the following commands: **annotate**, **checkout**, **commit**, **diff**, **edit**, **editors**, **ex‐** **port**, **log**, **rdiff**, **remove**, **rtag**, **status**, **tag**, **unedit**, **update**, **watch**, and **watchers**. ### -m _ Use _message_ as log information, instead of invoking an editor. Available with the following commands: **add**, **commit **and **import**. ### -n Do not run any tag program. (A program can be specified to run in the modules database (see node 'modules' in the CVS manual); this option bypasses it). _Note:_ _this_ _is_ _not_ _the_ _same_ _as_ _the_ **cvs -n _**program_ _option,_ _which_ _you_ _can_ _specify_ _to_ _the_ _left_ _of_ _a_ _cvs_ _command!_ Available with the **checkout**, **commit**, **export**, and **rtag **commands. ### -P Prune empty directories. See node 'Removing directories' in the CVS manual. ### -p Pipe the files retrieved from the repository to standard output, rather than writing them in the current directory. Available with the **checkout **and **update **commands. ### -R Process directories recursively. This is the default for all **cvs **commands, with the excep‐ tion of **ls **& **rls**. Available with the following commands: **annotate**, **checkout**, **commit**, **diff**, **edit**, **editors**, **ex‐** **port**, **ls**, **rdiff**, **remove**, **rls**, **rtag**, **status**, **tag**, **unedit**, **update**, **watch**, and **watchers**. ### -r _ ### -r _ Use the revision specified by the _tag_ argument (and the _date_ argument for the commands which accept it) instead of the default _head_ revision. As well as arbitrary tags defined with the **tag **or **rtag **command, two special tags are always available: **HEAD **refers to the most recent version available in the repository (also known as the tip of the **MAIN **branch, also known as trunk; the name of a branch refers to its tip; this version of **cvs **introduces **.bhead**, but only for the **diff **command, for the same), and **BASE **refers to the revision you last checked out into the current working directory. The tag specification is sticky when you use this with **checkout **or **update **to make your own copy of a file: **cvs **remembers the tag and continues to use it on future update commands, until you specify otherwise (for more information on sticky tags/dates, see node 'Sticky tags' in the CVS manual). The tag can be either a symbolic or numeric tag, as described in node 'Tags' in the CVS manual, or the name of a branch, as described in node 'Branching and merging' in the CVS manual. When _tag_ is the name of a branch, some commands accept the optional _date_ argument to specify the revision as of the given date on the branch. When a command expects a spe‐ cific revision, the name of a branch is interpreted as the most recent revision on that branch. As a Debian and MirBSD **cvs **extension, specifying **BASE **as the _date_ portion of the argument yields the _base_ _revision_ of the branch specified by the _tag_ portion of the argument, i.e. the revision on the parent branch the _tag_ branch split off, or, where both branches were the same. This option has not received very much testing, beware! Specifying the **-q **global option along with the **-r **command option is often useful, to sup‐ press the warning messages when the **rcs **file does not contain the specified tag. _Note:_ _this_ _is_ _not_ _the_ _same_ _as_ _the_ _overall_ **cvs -r _**option,_ _which_ _you_ _can_ _specify_ _to_ _the_ _left_ _of_ _a_ **cvs _**command!_ **-r _**tag_ is available with the **commit **and **history **commands. **-r _**tag_**[:_**date_**] **is available with the **annotate**, **checkout**, **diff**, **export**, **rdiff**, **rtag**, and **up‐** **date **commands. ### -W Specify file names that should be filtered. You can use this option repeatedly. The spec can be a file name pattern of the same type that you can specify in the **.cvswrappers **file. Available with the following commands: **import**, and **update**. **admin, annotate, Date input formats, CVS commands** ### admin—Administration front-end for RCS • Requires: repository, working directory. • Changes: repository. • Synonym: rcs This is the **cvs **interface to assorted administrative facilities. Some of them have ques‐ tionable usefulness for **cvs **but exist for historical purposes. Some of the questionable options are likely to disappear in the future. This command _does_ work recursively, so ex‐ treme care should be used. On unix, if there is a group named **cvsadmin**, only members of that group can run **cvs admin** commands, except for those specified using the **UserAdminOptions **configuration option in the **CVSROOT/config **file. Options specified using **UserAdminOptions **can be run by any user. See node 'config' in the CVS manual for more on **UserAdminOptions**. The **cvsadmin **group should exist on the server, or any system running the non-client/server **cvs**. To disallow **cvs admin **for all users, create a group with no users in it. On NT, the **cvsadmin **feature does not exist and all users can run **cvs admin**. **admin options** Some of these options have questionable usefulness for **cvs **but exist for historical purposes. Some even make it impossible to use **cvs **until you undo the effect! ### -A_ Might not work together with **cvs**. Append the access list of _oldfile_ to the access list of the **rcs **file. ### -a_ Might not work together with **cvs**. Append the login names appearing in the comma-separated list _logins_ to the access list of the **rcs **file. ### -b[_ Set the default branch to _rev_. In **cvs**, you normally do not manipulate default branches; sticky tags (see node 'Sticky tags' in the CVS manual) are a better way to decide which branch you want to work on. There is one reason to run **cvs admin -b**: to revert to the ven‐ dor's version when using vendor branches (see node 'Reverting local changes' in the CVS manual). There can be no space between **-b **and its argument. ### -c_ Sets the comment leader to _string_. The comment leader is not used by current versions of **cvs **or **rcs **5.7. Therefore, you can almost surely not worry about it. See node 'Keyword substitution' in the CVS manual. ### -e[_ Might not work together with **cvs**. Erase the login names appearing in the comma-separated list _logins_ from the access list of the RCS file. If _logins_ is omitted, erase the entire access list. There can be no space between **-e **and its argument. ### -I Run interactively, even if the standard input is not a terminal. This option does not work with the client/server **cvs **and is likely to disappear in a future release of **cvs**. ### -i Useless with **cvs**. This creates and initialises a new **rcs **file, without depositing a revi‐ sion. With **cvs**, add files with the **cvs add **command (see node 'Adding files' in the CVS manual). ### -k_ Set the default keyword substitution to _subst_. See node 'Keyword substitution' in the CVS manual. Giving an explicit **-k **option to **cvs update**, **cvs export**, or **cvs checkout **overrides this default. ### -l[_ Lock the revision with number _rev_. If a branch is given, lock the latest revision on that branch. If _rev_ is omitted, lock the latest revision on the default branch. There can be no space between **-l **and its argument. This can be used in conjunction with the **rcslock.pl **script in the **contrib **directory of the **cvs **source distribution to provide reserved checkouts (where only one user can be editing a given file at a time). See the comments in that file for details (and see the **README **file in that directory for disclaimers about the unsupported nature of contrib). According to comments in that file, locking must set to strict (which is the default). ### -L Set locking to strict. Strict locking means that the owner of an RCS file is not exempt from locking for checkin. For use with **cvs**, strict locking must be set; see the discussion under the **-l **option above. ### -m_ Replace the log message of revision _rev_ with _msg_. ### -N_ Act like **-n**, except override any previous assignment of _name_. For use with magic branches, see node 'Magic branch numbers' in the CVS manual. ### -n_ Associate the symbolic name _name_ with the branch or revision _rev_. It is normally better to use **cvs tag **or **cvs rtag **instead. Delete the symbolic name if both **: **and _rev_ are omitted; otherwise, print an error message if _name_ is already associated with another number. If _rev_ is symbolic, it is expanded before association. A _rev_ consisting of a branch number followed by a **. **stands for the current latest revision in the branch. A **: **with an empty _rev_ stands for the current latest revision on the default branch, normally the trunk. For example, **cvs admin -n_**name_**: **associates _name_ with the current latest revision of all the RCS files; this contrasts with **cvs admin -n_**name_**:$ **which associates _name_ with the revision num‐ bers extracted from keyword strings in the corresponding working files. ### -o_ Deletes (_outdates_) the revisions given by _range_. Note that this command can be quite dangerous unless you know _exactly_ what you are doing (for example see the warnings below about how the _rev1_:_rev2_ syntax is confusing). If you are short on disc this option might help you. But think twice before using it—there is no way short of restoring the latest backup to undo this command! If you delete differ‐ ent revisions than you planned, either due to carelessness or (heaven forbid) a **cvs **bug, there is no opportunity to correct the error before the revisions are deleted. It probably would be a good idea to experiment on a copy of the repository first. Specify _range_ in one of the following ways: _rev1_**::_**rev2_ Collapse all revisions between rev1 and rev2, so that **cvs **only stores the differences as‐ sociated with going from rev1 to rev2, not intermediate steps. For example, after **-o** **1.[3::1](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/3%3A%3A1/markdown).5 **one can retrieve revision 1.3, revision 1.5, or the differences to get from 1.3 to 1.5, but not the revision 1.4, or the differences between 1.3 and 1.4. Other exam‐ ples: **-o 1.[3::1](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/3%3A%3A1/markdown).4 **and **-o 1.[3::1](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/3%3A%3A1/markdown).3 **have no effect, because there are no intermediate revi‐ sions to remove. **::_**rev_ Collapse revisions between the beginning of the branch containing _rev_ and _rev_ itself. The branchpoint and _rev_ are left intact. For example, **-o ::1.3.2.6 **deletes revision 1.3.2.1, revision 1.3.2.5, and everything in between, but leaves 1.3 and 1.3.2.6 intact. _rev_**::** Collapse revisions between _rev_ and the end of the branch containing _rev_. Revision _rev_ is left intact but the head revision is deleted. _rev_ Delete the revision _rev_. For example, **-o 1.3 **is equivalent to **-o 1.[2::1](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/2%3A%3A1/markdown).4**. _rev1_**:_**rev2_ Delete the revisions from _rev1_ to _rev2_, inclusive, on the same branch. One will not be able to retrieve _rev1_ or _rev2_ or any of the revisions in between. For example, the com‐ mand **cvs admin -oR_1_01:R_1_02 . **is rarely useful. It means to delete revisions up to, and including, the tag R_1_02. But beware! If there are files that have not changed be‐ tween R_1_02 and R_1_03 the file will have _the_ _same_ numerical revision number assigned to the tags R_1_02 and R_1_03. So not only will it be impossible to retrieve R_1_02; R_1_03 will also have to be restored from the tapes! In most cases you want to specify [_rev1_::_rev2_](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/rev1%3A%3Arev2/markdown) instead. **:_**rev_ Delete revisions from the beginning of the branch containing _rev_ up to and including _rev_. _rev_**:** Delete revisions from revision _rev_, including _rev_ itself, to the end of the branch con‐ taining _rev_. None of the revisions to be deleted may have branches or locks. If any of the revisions to be deleted have symbolic names, and one specifies one of the **:: **syntaxes, then **cvs **will give an error and not delete any revisions. If you really want to delete both the symbolic names and the revisions, first delete the symbolic names with **cvs tag -d**, then run **cvs admin -o**. If one specifies the non-**:: **syntaxes, then **cvs** will delete the revisions but leave the symbolic names pointing to nonexistent revisions. This behavior is preserved for compatibility with previous versions of **cvs**, but because it isn't very useful, in the future it may change to be like the **:: **case. Due to the way **cvs **handles branches _rev_ cannot be specified symbolically if it is a branch. See node 'Magic branch numbers' in the CVS manual, for an explanation. Make sure that no-one has checked out a copy of the revision you outdate. Strange things will happen if he starts to edit it and tries to check it back in. For this reason, this option is not a good way to take back a bogus commit; commit a new revision undoing the bogus change instead (see node 'Merging two revisions' in the CVS manual). ### -q Run quietly; do not print diagnostics. ### -s_ Useful with **cvs**. Set the state attribute of the revision _rev_ to _state_. If _rev_ is a branch number, assume the latest revision on that branch. If _rev_ is omitted, assume the latest revision on the default branch. Any identifier is acceptable for _state_. A useful set of states is **Exp **(for experimental), **Stab **(for stable), and **Rel **(for released). By default, the state of a new revision is set to **Exp **when it is created. The state is visible in the output from _cvs_ _log_ (see node 'log' in the CVS manual), and in the **$Log$ **and **$State$ **key‐ words (see node 'Keyword substitution' in the CVS manual). Note that **cvs **uses the **dead** state for its own purposes (see node 'Attic' in the CVS manual); to take a file to or from the **dead **state use commands like **cvs remove **and **cvs add **(see node 'Adding and removing' in the CVS manual), not **cvs admin -s**. ### -t[_ Useful with **cvs**. Write descriptive text from the contents of the named _file_ into the RCS file, deleting the existing text. The _file_ pathname may not begin with **-**. The descriptive text can be seen in the output from **cvs log **(see node 'log' in the CVS manual). There can be no space between **-t **and its argument. If _file_ is omitted, obtain the text from standard input, terminated by end-of-file or by a line containing **. **by itself. Prompt for the text if interaction is possible; see **-I**. ### -t-_ Similar to **-t_**file_. Write descriptive text from the _string_ into the **rcs **file, deleting the existing text. There can be no space between **-t **and its argument. ### -U Set locking to non-strict. Non-strict locking means that the owner of a file need not lock a revision for checkin. For use with **cvs**, strict locking must be set; see the discussion under the **-l **option above. ### -u[_ See the option **-l **above, for a discussion of using this option with **cvs**. Unlock the revi‐ sion with number _rev_. If a branch is given, unlock the latest revision on that branch. If _rev_ is omitted, remove the latest lock held by the caller. Normally, only the locker of a revision may unlock it; somebody else unlocking a revision breaks the lock. This causes the original locker to be sent a **commit **notification (see node 'Getting Notified' in the CVS manual). There can be no space between **-u **and its argument. ### -V_ In previous versions of **cvs**, this option meant to write an **rcs **file which would be accept‐ able to **rcs **version _n_, but it is now obsolete and specifying it will produce an error. ### -x_ In previous versions of **cvs**, this was documented as a way of specifying the names of the **rcs **files. However, **cvs **has always required that the **rcs **files used by **cvs **end in **,v**, so this option has never done anything useful. **annotate, checkout, admin, CVS commands** ### annotate—What revision modified each line of a file? • Synopsis: annotate [options] files... rannotate [options] files... • Requires: repository. • Changes: nothing. For each file in _files_, print the head revision of the trunk, together with information on the last modification for each line. If backwards annotation is requested, show the first modification after the specified revision. (Backwards annotation currently appears to be broken.) **annotate options** These standard options are supported by **annotate **(see node 'Common options' in the CVS man‐ ual, for a complete description of them): ### -b Backwards, show when a line was removed. Currently appears to be broken. ### -l Local directory only, no recursion. ### -R Process directories recursively. ### -f Use head revision if tag/date not found. ### -F Annotate binary files. ### -r _ Annotate file as of specified revision/tag or, when _date_ is specified and _tag_ is a branch tag, the version from the branch _tag_ as it existed on _date_. See node 'Common options' in the CVS manual. ### -D _ Annotate file as of specified date. **annotate example** For example: $ cvs annotate ssfile Annotations for ssfile *************** 1.1 (mary 27-Mar-96): ssfile line 1 1.2 (joe 28-Mar-96): ssfile line 2 The file **ssfile **currently contains two lines. The **ssfile line 1 **line was checked in by **mary** on March 27. Then, on March 28, **joe **added a line **ssfile line 2**, without modifying the **ssfile** **line 1 **line. This report doesn't tell you anything about lines which have been deleted or replaced; you need to use **cvs diff **for that (see node 'diff' in the CVS manual). The options to **cvs annotate **are listed in node 'Invoking CVS' in the CVS manual, and can be used to select the files and revisions to annotate. The options are described in more detail there and in node 'Common options' in the CVS manual. **checkout, commit, annotate, CVS commands** ### checkout—Check out sources for editing • Synopsis: checkout [options] modules... • Requires: repository. • Changes: working directory. • Synonyms: co, get Create or update a working directory containing copies of the source files specified by _modules_. You must execute **checkout **before using most of the other **cvs **commands, since most of them operate on your working directory. The _modules_ are either symbolic names for some collection of source directories and files, or paths to directories or files in the repository. The symbolic names are defined in the **modules **file. See node 'modules' in the CVS manual. Depending on the modules you specify, **checkout **may recursively create directories and popu‐ late them with the appropriate source files. You can then edit these source files at any time (regardless of whether other software developers are editing their own copies of the sources); update them to include new changes applied by others to the source repository; or commit your work as a permanent change to the source repository. Note that **checkout **is used to create directories. The top-level directory created is al‐ ways added to the directory where **checkout **is invoked, and usually has the same name as the specified module. In the case of a module alias, the created sub-directory may have a dif‐ ferent name, but you can be sure that it will be a sub-directory, and that **checkout **will show the relative path leading to each file as it is extracted into your private work area (unless you specify the **-Q **global option). The files created by **checkout **are created read-write, unless the **-r **option to **cvs **(see node 'Global options' in the CVS manual) is specified, the **CVSREAD **environment variable is spec‐ ified (see node 'Environment variables' in the CVS manual), or a watch is in effect for that file (see node 'Watches' in the CVS manual). Note that running **checkout **on a directory that was already built by a prior **checkout **is also permitted. This is similar to specifying the **-d **option to the **update **command in the sense that new directories that have been created in the repository will appear in your work area. However, **checkout **takes a module name whereas **update **takes a directory name. Also to use **checkout **this way it must be run from the top level directory (where you origi‐ nally ran **checkout **from), so before you run **checkout **to update an existing directory, don't forget to change your directory to the top level directory. For the output produced by the **checkout **command see node 'update output' in the CVS manual. **checkout options** These standard options are supported by **checkout **(see node 'Common options' in the CVS man‐ ual, for a complete description of them): ### -D _ Use the most recent revision no later than _date_. This option is sticky, and implies **-P**. See node 'Sticky tags' in the CVS manual, for more information on sticky tags/dates. ### -f Only useful with the **-D **or **-r **flags. If no matching revision is found, retrieve the most recent revision (instead of ignoring the file). ### -k _ Process keywords according to _kflag_. See node 'Keyword substitution' in the CVS manual. This option is sticky; future updates of this file in this working directory will use the same _kflag_. The **status **command can be viewed to see the sticky options. See node 'Invok‐ ing CVS' in the CVS manual, for more information on the **status **command. ### -l Local; run only in current working directory. ### -n Do not run any checkout program (as specified with the **-o **option in the modules file; see node 'modules' in the CVS manual). ### -P Prune empty directories. See node 'Moving directories' in the CVS manual. ### -p Pipe files to the standard output. ### -R Checkout directories recursively. This option is on by default. ### -r _ Checkout the revision specified by _tag_ or, when _date_ is specified and _tag_ is a branch tag, the version from the branch _tag_ as it existed on _date_. This option is sticky, and implies **-P**. See node 'Sticky tags' in the CVS manual, for more information on sticky tags/dates. Also, see node 'Common options' in the CVS manual. In addition to those, you can use these special command options with **checkout**: ### -A Reset any sticky tags, dates, or **-k **options. See node 'Sticky tags' in the CVS manual, for more information on sticky tags/dates. ### -c Copy the module file, sorted, to the standard output, instead of creating or modifying any files or directories in your working directory. ### -d _ Create a directory called _dir_ for the working files, instead of using the module name. In general, using this flag is equivalent to using **mkdir _**dir_**; cd _**dir_ followed by the checkout command without the **-d **flag. There is an important exception, however. It is very convenient when checking out a single item to have the output appear in a directory that doesn't contain empty intermediate di‐ rectories. In this case _only_, **cvs **tries to ``shorten'' pathnames to avoid those empty di‐ rectories. For example, given a module **foo **that contains the file **bar.c**, the command **cvs co -d dir foo** will create directory **dir **and place **bar.c **inside. Similarly, given a module **bar **which has subdirectory **baz **wherein there is a file **quux.c**, the command **cvs co -d dir bar/baz **will create directory **dir **and place **quux.c **inside. Using the **-N **flag will defeat this behavior. Given the same module definitions above, **cvs** **co -N -d dir foo **will create directories **dir/foo **and place **bar.c **inside, while **cvs co -N -d** **dir bar/baz **will create directories **dir/bar/baz **and place **quux.c **inside. ### -j _ With two **-j **options, merge changes from the revision specified with the first **-j **option to the revision specified with the second **j **option, into the working directory. With one **-j **option, merge changes from the ancestor revision to the revision specified with the **-j **option, into the working directory. The ancestor revision is the common ancestor of the revision which the working directory is based on, and the revision specified in the **-j** option. In addition, each -j option can contain an optional date specification which, when used with branches, can limit the chosen revision to one within a specific date. An optional date is specified by adding a colon (:) to the tag: **-j_**Symbolic_Tag_**:_**Date_Specifier_. See node 'Branching and merging' in the CVS manual. ### -N Only useful together with **-d _**dir_. With this option, **cvs **will not ``shorten'' module paths in your working directory when you check out a single module. See the **-d **flag for examples and a discussion. ### -s Like **-c**, but include the status of all modules, and sort it by the status string. See node 'modules' in the CVS manual, for info about the **-s **option that is used inside the modules file to set the module status. **checkout examples** Get a copy of the module **tc**: $ cvs checkout tc Get a copy of the module **tc **as it looked one day ago: $ cvs checkout -D yesterday tc **commit, diff, checkout, CVS commands** ### commit—Check files into the repository • Synopsis: commit [-lnRf] [-m 'log_message' | -F file] [-r revision] [files...] • Requires: working directory, repository. • Changes: repository. • Synonym: ci Use **commit **when you want to incorporate changes from your working source files into the source repository. If you don't specify particular files to commit, all of the files in your working current directory are examined. **commit **is careful to change in the repository only those files that you have really changed. By default (or if you explicitly specify the **-R **option), files in subdirectories are also examined and committed if they have changed; you can use the **-l **option to limit **commit **to the current directory only. **commit **verifies that the selected files are up to date with the current revisions in the source repository; it will notify you, and exit without committing, if any of the specified files must be made current first with **update **(see node 'update' in the CVS manual). **commit** does not call the **update **command for you, but rather leaves that for you to do when the time is right. When all is well, an editor is invoked to allow you to enter a log message that will be written to one or more logging programs (see node 'modules' in the CVS manual, and see node 'loginfo' in the CVS manual) and placed in the **rcs **file inside the repository. This log message can be retrieved with the **log **command; see node 'log' in the CVS manual. You can specify the log message on the command line with the **-m _**message_ option, and thus avoid the editor invocation, or use the **-F _**file_ option to specify that the argument file contains the log message. At **commit**, a unique commitid is placed in the **rcs **file inside the repository. All files committed at once get the same commitid, a string consisting only of hexadecimal digits (usually 16 in GNU **cvs**, 19 in Debian and MirBSD **cvs**). FSF GNU **cvs **1.11 and OpenBSD OpenCVS do not support commitids yet. The commitid can be retrieved with the **log **and **status **com‐ mand; see node 'log' in the CVS manual and node 'File status' in the CVS manual. **commit options** These standard options are supported by **commit **(see node 'Common options' in the CVS manual, for a complete description of them): ### -l Local; run only in current working directory. ### -R Commit directories recursively. This is on by default. ### -r _ Commit to _revision_. _revision_ must be either a branch, or a revision on the main trunk that is higher than any existing revision number (see node 'Assigning revisions' in the CVS man‐ ual). You cannot commit to a specific revision on a branch. **commit **also supports these options: ### -c Refuse to commit files unless the user has registered a valid edit on the file via **cvs** **edit**. This is most useful when **commit -c **and **edit -c **have been placed in all **.cvsrc **files. A commit can be forced anyways by either regestering an edit retroactively via **cvs edit **(no changes to the file will be lost) or using the **-f **option to commit. Support for **commit -c** requires both client and a server versions 1.12.10 or greater. ### -F _ Read the log message from _file_, instead of invoking an editor. ### -f Note that this is not the standard behavior of the **-f **option as defined in node 'Common op‐ tions' in the CVS manual. Force **cvs **to commit a new revision even if you haven't made any changes to the file. As of **cvs **version 1.12.10, it also causes the **-c **option to be ignored. If the current revision of _file_ is 1.7, then the following two commands are equivalent: $ cvs commit -f _file_ $ cvs commit -r 1.8 _file_ The **-f **option disables recursion (i.e., it implies **-l**). To force **cvs **to commit a new revi‐ sion for all files in all subdirectories, you must use **-f -R**. ### -m _ Use _message_ as the log message, instead of invoking an editor. **commit examples** ### Committing to a branch You can commit to a branch revision (one that has an even number of dots) with the **-r **option. To create a branch revision, use the **-b **option of the **rtag **or **tag **commands (see node 'Branch‐ ing and merging' in the CVS manual). Then, either **checkout **or **update **can be used to base your sources on the newly created branch. From that point on, all **commit **changes made within these working sources will be automatically added to a branch revision, thereby not disturb‐ ing main-line development in any way. For example, if you had to create a patch to the 1.2 version of the product, even though the 2.0 version is already under development, you might do: $ cvs rtag -b -r FCS1_2 FCS1_2_Patch product_module $ cvs checkout -r FCS1_2_Patch product_module $ cd product_module [[ hack away ]] $ cvs commit This works automatically since the **-r **option is sticky. ### Creating the branch after editing Say you have been working on some extremely experimental software, based on whatever revision you happened to checkout last week. If others in your group would like to work on this soft‐ ware with you, but without disturbing main-line development, you could commit your change to a new branch. Others can then checkout your experimental stuff and utilise the full benefit of **cvs **conflict resolution. The scenario might look like: [[ hacked sources are present ]] $ cvs tag -b EXPR1 $ cvs update -r EXPR1 $ cvs commit The **update **command will make the **-r EXPR1 **option sticky on all files. Note that your changes to the files will never be removed by the **update **command. The **commit **will automatically com‐ mit to the correct branch, because the **-r **is sticky. You could also do like this: [[ hacked sources are present ]] $ cvs tag -b EXPR1 $ cvs commit -r EXPR1 but then, only those files that were changed by you will have the **-r EXPR1 **sticky flag. If you hack away, and commit without specifying the **-r EXPR1 **flag, some files may accidentally end up on the main trunk. To work with you on the experimental change, others would simply do $ cvs checkout -r EXPR1 whatever_module **diff, export, commit, CVS commands** ### diff—Show differences between revisions • Synopsis: diff [-lR] [-k kflag] [format_options] [(-r rev1[:date1] | -D date1) [-r rev2[:date2] | -D date2]] [files...] • Requires: working directory, repository. • Changes: nothing. The **diff **command is used to compare different revisions of files. The default action is to compare your working files with the revisions they were based on, and report any differ‐ ences that are found. If any file names are given, only those files are compared. If any directories are given, all files under them will be compared. The exit status for diff is different than for other **cvs **commands; for details see node 'Exit status' in the CVS manual. **diff options** These standard options are supported by **diff **(see node 'Common options' in the CVS manual, for a complete description of them): ### -D _ Use the most recent revision no later than _date_. See **-r **for how this affects the compari‐ son. ### -k _ Process keywords according to _kflag_. See node 'Keyword substitution' in the CVS manual. ### -l Local; run only in current working directory. ### -R Examine directories recursively. This option is on by default. ### -r _ Compare with revision specified by _tag_ or, when _date_ is specified and _tag_ is a branch tag, the version from the branch _tag_ as it existed on _date_. Zero, one or two **-r **options can be present. With no **-r **option, the working file will be compared with the revision it was based on. With one **-r**, that revision will be compared to your current working file. With two **-r **options those two revisions will be compared (and your working file will not affect the outcome in any way). One or both **-r **options can be replaced by a **-D _**date_ option, described above. The following options specify the format of the output. They have the same meaning as in GNU diff. Most options have two equivalent names, one of which is a single letter preceded by **-**, and the other of which is a long name preceded by **--**. ### -_ Show _lines_ (an integer) lines of context. This option does not specify an output format by itself; it has no effect unless it is combined with **-c **or **-u**. This option is obsolete. For proper operation, **patch **typically needs at least two lines of context. ### -a Treat all files as text and compare them line-by-line, even if they do not seem to be text. ### -b Ignore trailing white space and consider all other sequences of one or more white space characters to be equivalent. ### -B Ignore changes that just insert or delete blank lines. ### --binary Read and write data in binary mode. ### --brief Report only whether the files differ, not the details of the differences. ### -c Use the context output format. ### -C _ **--context**[**=_**lines_] Use the context output format, showing _lines_ (an integer) lines of context, or three if _lines_ is not given. For proper operation, **patch **typically needs at least two lines of con‐ text. **--changed-group-format=_**format_ Use _format_ to output a line group containing differing lines from both files in if-then-else format. See node 'Line group formats' in the CVS manual. ### -d Change the algorithm to perhaps find a smaller set of changes. This makes **diff **slower (sometimes much slower). ### -e ### --ed Make output that is a valid **ed **script. ### --expand-tabs Expand tabs to spaces in the output, to preserve the alignment of tabs in the input files. ### -f Make output that looks vaguely like an **ed **script but has changes in the order they appear in the file. ### -F _ In context and unified format, for each hunk of differences, show some of the last preced‐ ing line that matches _regexp_. ### --forward-ed Make output that looks vaguely like an **ed **script but has changes in the order they appear in the file. ### -H Use heuristics to speed handling of large files that have numerous scattered small changes. **--horizon-lines=_**lines_ Do not discard the last _lines_ lines of the common prefix and the first _lines_ lines of the common suffix. ### -i Ignore changes in case; consider upper- and lower-case letters equivalent. ### -I _ Ignore changes that just insert or delete lines that match _regexp_. **--ifdef=_**name_ Make merged if-then-else output using _name_. ### --ignore-all-space Ignore white space when comparing lines. ### --ignore-blank-lines Ignore changes that just insert or delete blank lines. ### --ignore-case Ignore changes in case; consider upper- and lower-case to be the same. **--ignore-matching-lines=_**regexp_ Ignore changes that just insert or delete lines that match _regexp_. ### --ignore-space-change Ignore trailing white space and consider all other sequences of one or more white space characters to be equivalent. ### --initial-tab Output a tab rather than a space before the text of a line in normal or context format. This causes the alignment of tabs in the line to look normal. ### -L _ Use _label_ instead of the file name in the context format and unified format headers. **--label=_**label_ Use _label_ instead of the file name in the context format and unified format headers. ### --left-column Print only the left column of two common lines in side by side format. **--line-format=_**format_ Use _format_ to output all input lines in if-then-else format. See node 'Line formats' in the CVS manual. ### --minimal Change the algorithm to perhaps find a smaller set of changes. This makes **diff **slower (sometimes much slower). ### -n Output RCS-format diffs; like **-f **except that each command specifies the number of lines af‐ fected. ### -N ### --new-file In directory comparison, if a file is found in only one directory, treat it as present but empty in the other directory. **--new-group-format=_**format_ Use _format_ to output a group of lines taken from just the second file in if-then-else for‐ mat. See node 'Line group formats' in the CVS manual. **--new-line-format=_**format_ Use _format_ to output a line taken from just the second file in if-then-else format. See node 'Line formats' in the CVS manual. **--old-group-format=_**format_ Use _format_ to output a group of lines taken from just the first file in if-then-else for‐ mat. See node 'Line group formats' in the CVS manual. **--old-line-format=_**format_ Use _format_ to output a line taken from just the first file in if-then-else format. See node 'Line formats' in the CVS manual. ### -p Show which C function each change is in. ### --rcs Output RCS-format diffs; like **-f **except that each command specifies the number of lines af‐ fected. ### --report-identical-files ### -s Report when two files are the same. ### --show-c-function Show which C function each change is in. **--show-function-line=_**regexp_ In context and unified format, for each hunk of differences, show some of the last preced‐ ing line that matches _regexp_. ### --side-by-side Use the side by side output format. ### --speed-large-files Use heuristics to speed handling of large files that have numerous scattered small changes. ### --suppress-common-lines Do not print common lines in side by side format. ### -t Expand tabs to spaces in the output, to preserve the alignment of tabs in the input files. ### -T Output a tab rather than a space before the text of a line in normal or context format. This causes the alignment of tabs in the line to look normal. ### --text Treat all files as text and compare them line-by-line, even if they do not appear to be text. ### -u Use the unified output format. **--unchanged-group-format=_**format_ Use _format_ to output a group of common lines taken from both files in if-then-else format. See node 'Line group formats' in the CVS manual. **--unchanged-line-format=_**format_ Use _format_ to output a line common to both files in if-then-else format. See node 'Line formats' in the CVS manual. ### -U _ **--unified**[**=_**lines_] Use the unified output format, showing _lines_ (an integer) lines of context, or three if _lines_ is not given. For proper operation, **patch **typically needs at least two lines of con‐ text. ### -w Ignore white space when comparing lines. ### -W _ **--width=_**columns_ Use an output width of _columns_ in side by side format. ### -y Use the side by side output format. ## Line group formats Line group formats let you specify formats suitable for many applications that allow if-then-else input, including programming languages and text formatting languages. A line group format specifies the output format for a contiguous group of similar lines. For example, the following command compares the TeX file **myfile **with the original version from the repository, and outputs a merged file in which old regions are surrounded by **\be‐** **gin{em}**-**\end{em} **lines, and new regions are surrounded by **\begin{bf}**-**\end{bf} **lines. cvs diff \ --old-group-format='\begin{em} %<\end{em} ' \ --new-group-format='\begin{bf} %>\end{bf} ' \ myfile The following command is equivalent to the above example, but it is a little more verbose, because it spells out the default line group formats. cvs diff \ --old-group-format='\begin{em} %<\end{em} ' \ --new-group-format='\begin{bf} %>\end{bf} ' \ --unchanged-group-format='%=' \ --changed-group-format='\begin{em} %<\end{em} \begin{bf} %>\end{bf} ' \ myfile Here is a more advanced example, which outputs a diff listing with headers containing line numbers in a ``plain English'' style. cvs diff \ --unchanged-group-format='' \ --old-group-format='-------- %dn line%(n=1?:s) deleted at %df: %<' \ --new-group-format='-------- %dN line%(N=1?:s) added after %de: %>' \ --changed-group-format='-------- %dn line%(n=1?:s) changed at %df: %<-------- to: %>' \ myfile To specify a line group format, use one of the options listed below. You can specify up to four line group formats, one for each kind of line group. You should quote _format_, because it typically contains shell metacharacters. **--old-group-format=_**format_ These line groups are hunks containing only lines from the first file. The default old group format is the same as the changed group format if it is specified; otherwise it is a format that outputs the line group as-is. **--new-group-format=_**format_ These line groups are hunks containing only lines from the second file. The default new group format is same as the changed group format if it is specified; otherwise it is a for‐ mat that outputs the line group as-is. **--changed-group-format=_**format_ These line groups are hunks containing lines from both files. The default changed group format is the concatenation of the old and new group formats. **--unchanged-group-format=_**format_ These line groups contain lines common to both files. The default unchanged group format is a format that outputs the line group as-is. In a line group format, ordinary characters represent themselves; conversion specifications start with **% **and have one of the following forms. **%<** stands for the lines from the first file, including the trailing newline. Each line is formatted according to the old line format (see node 'Line formats' in the CVS manual). **%>** stands for the lines from the second file, including the trailing newline. Each line is formatted according to the new line format. **%=** stands for the lines common to both files, including the trailing newline. Each line is formatted according to the unchanged line format. **%%** stands for **%**. **%c'_**C_**'** where _C_ is a single character, stands for _C_. _C_ may not be a backslash or an apostrophe. For example, **%c':' **stands for a colon, even inside the then-part of an if-then-else format, which a colon would normally terminate. **%c'\_**O_**'** where _O_ is a string of 1, 2, or 3 octal digits, stands for the character with octal code _O_. For example, **%c'\0' **stands for a null character. _Fn_ where _F_ is a **printf **conversion specification and _n_ is one of the following letters, stands for _n_'s value formatted with _F_. **e** The line number of the line just before the group in the old file. **f** The line number of the first line in the group in the old file; equals _e_ + 1. **l** The line number of the last line in the group in the old file. **m** The line number of the line just after the group in the old file; equals _l_ + 1. **n** The number of lines in the group in the old file; equals _l_ - _f_ + 1. **E, F, L, M, N** Likewise, for lines in the new file. The **printf **conversion specification can be **%d**, **%o**, **%x**, or **%X**, specifying decimal, octal, lower case hexadecimal, or upper case hexadecimal output respectively. After the **% **the following options can appear in sequence: a **- **specifying left-justification; an integer specifying the minimum field width; and a period followed by an optional integer specify‐ ing the minimum number of digits. For example, **%5dN **prints the number of new lines in the group in a field of width 5 characters, using the **printf **format **"%5d"**. **(_**A_**=_**B_**?_**T_**:_**E_**)** If _A_ equals _B_ then _T_ else _E_. _A_ and _B_ are each either a decimal constant or a single letter interpreted as above. This format spec is equivalent to _T_ if _A_'s value equals _B_'s; other‐ wise it is equivalent to _E_. For example, **%(N=0?no:%dN) line%(N=1?:s) **is equivalent to **no lines **if _N_ (the number of lines in the group in the new file) is 0, to **1 line **if _N_ is 1, and to **%dN lines **otherwise. ## Line formats Line formats control how each line taken from an input file is output as part of a line group in if-then-else format. For example, the following command outputs text with a one-column change indicator to the left of the text. The first column of output is **- **for deleted lines, **| **for added lines, and a space for unchanged lines. The formats contain newline characters where newlines are de‐ sired on output. cvs diff \ --old-line-format='-%l ' \ --new-line-format='|%l ' \ --unchanged-line-format=' %l ' \ myfile To specify a line format, use one of the following options. You should quote _format_, since it often contains shell metacharacters. **--old-line-format=_**format_ formats lines just from the first file. **--new-line-format=_**format_ formats lines just from the second file. **--unchanged-line-format=_**format_ formats lines common to both files. **--line-format=_**format_ formats all lines; in effect, it sets all three above options simultaneously. In a line format, ordinary characters represent themselves; conversion specifications start with **% **and have one of the following forms. **%l** stands for the contents of the line, not counting its trailing newline (if any). This for‐ mat ignores whether the line is incomplete. **%L** stands for the contents of the line, including its trailing newline (if any). If a line is incomplete, this format preserves its incompleteness. **%%** stands for **%**. **%c'_**C_**'** where _C_ is a single character, stands for _C_. _C_ may not be a backslash or an apostrophe. For example, **%c':' **stands for a colon. **%c'\_**O_**'** where _O_ is a string of 1, 2, or 3 octal digits, stands for the character with octal code _O_. For example, **%c'\0' **stands for a null character. _F_**n** where _F_ is a **printf **conversion specification, stands for the line number formatted with _F_. For example, **%.5dn **prints the line number using the **printf **format **"%.5d"**. See node 'Line group formats' in the CVS manual, for more about printf conversion specifications. The default line format is **%l **followed by a newline character. If the input contains tab characters and it is important that they line up on output, you should ensure that **%l **or **%L **in a line format is just after a tab stop (e.g. by preceding **%l** or **%L **with a tab character), or you should use the **-t **or **--expand-tabs **option. Taken together, the line and line group formats let you specify many different formats. For example, the following command uses a format similar to **diff**'s normal format. You can tailor this command to get fine control over **diff**'s output. cvs diff \ --old-line-format='< %l ' \ --new-line-format='> %l ' \ --old-group-format='%df%(f=l?:,%dl)d%dE %<' \ --new-group-format='%dea%dF%(F=L?:,%dL) %>' \ --changed-group-format='%df%(f=l?:,%dl)c%dF%(F=L?:,%dL) %<— %>' \ --unchanged-group-format='' \ myfile **diff examples** The following line produces a Unidiff (**-u **flag) between revision 1.14 and 1.19 of **backend.c**. Due to the **-kk **flag no keywords are substituted, so differences that only depend on keyword substitution are ignored. $ cvs diff -kk -u -r 1.14 -r 1.19 backend.c Suppose the experimental branch EXPR1 was based on a set of files tagged RELEASE_1_0. To see what has happened on that branch, the following can be used: $ cvs diff -r RELEASE_1_0 -r EXPR1 A command like this can be used to produce a context diff between two releases: $ cvs diff -c -r RELEASE_1_0 -r RELEASE_1_1 > diffs If you are maintaining ChangeLogs, a command like the following just before you commit your changes may help you write the ChangeLog entry. All local modifications that have not yet been committed will be printed. $ cvs diff -u | less **export, history, diff, CVS commands** ### export—Export sources from CVS, similar to checkout • Synopsis: export [-flNnR] (-r rev[:date] | -D date) [-k subst] [-d dir] module... • Requires: repository. • Changes: current directory. This command is a variant of **checkout**; use it when you want a copy of the source for module without the **cvs **administrative directories. For example, you might use **export **to prepare source for shipment off-site. This command requires that you specify a date or tag (with **-D **or **-r**), so that you can count on reproducing the source you ship to others (and thus it always prunes empty directories). One often would like to use **-kv **with **cvs export**. This causes any keywords to be expanded such that an import done at some other site will not lose the keyword revision information. But be aware that doesn't handle an export containing binary files correctly. Also be aware that after having used **-kv**, one can no longer use the **ident **command (which is part of the **rcs **suite—see [ident(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/ident/1/markdown)) which looks for keyword strings. If you want to be able to use **ident **you must not use **-kv**. **export options** These standard options are supported by **export **(see node 'Common options' in the CVS manual, for a complete description of them): ### -D _ Use the most recent revision no later than _date_. ### -f If no matching revision is found, retrieve the most recent revision (instead of ignoring the file). ### -l Local; run only in current working directory. ### -n Do not run any checkout program. ### -R Export directories recursively. This is on by default. ### -r _ Export the revision specified by _tag_ or, when _date_ is specified and _tag_ is a branch tag, the version from the branch _tag_ as it existed on _date_. See node 'Common options' in the CVS manual. In addition, these options (that are common to **checkout **and **export**) are also supported: ### -d _ Create a directory called _dir_ for the working files, instead of using the module name. See node 'checkout options' in the CVS manual, for complete details on how **cvs **handles this flag. ### -k _ Set keyword expansion mode (see node 'Substitution modes' in the CVS manual). ### -N Only useful together with **-d _**dir_. See node 'checkout options' in the CVS manual, for com‐ plete details on how **cvs **handles this flag. **history, import, export, CVS commands** ### history—Show repository access history • Synopsis: history [-report] [-flags] [-options args] [files...] • Requires: the file **$CVSROOT/CVSROOT/history** • Changes: nothing. **cvs **can keep a history log that tracks each use of most **cvs **commands. You can use **history** to display this information in various formats. To enable logging, the **LogHistory **config option must be set to some value other than the empty string and the history file specified by the **HistoryLogPath **option must be writable by all users who may run the **cvs **executable (see node 'config' in the CVS manual). To enable the **history **command, logging must be enabled as above and the **HistorySearchPath** config option (see node 'config' in the CVS manual) must be set to specify some number of the history logs created thereby and these files must be readable by each user who might run the **history **command. Creating a repository via the **cvs init **command will enable logging of all possible events to a single history log file (**$CVSROOT/CVSROOT/history**) with read and write permissions for all users (see node 'Creating a repository' in the CVS manual). _Note:_ **history _**uses_ **-f_**,_ **-l_**,_ **-n_**,_ _and_ **-p _**in_ _ways_ _that_ _conflict_ _with_ _the_ _normal_ _use_ _inside_ **cvs** _(see_ _node_ _'Common_ _options'_ _in_ _the_ _CVS_ _manual)._ **history options** Several options (shown above as **-report**) control what kind of report is generated: ### -c Report on each time commit was used (i.e., each time the repository was modified). ### -e Everything (all record types). Equivalent to specifying **-x **with all record types. Of course, **-e **will also include record types which are added in a future version of **cvs**; if you are writing a script which can only handle certain record types, you'll want to specify **-x**. ### -m _ Report on a particular module. (You can meaningfully use **-m **more than once on the command line.) ### -o Report on checked-out modules. This is the default report type. ### -T Report on all tags. ### -x _ Extract a particular set of record types _type_ from the **cvs **history. The types are indi‐ cated by single letters, which you may specify in combination. Certain commands have a single record type: **F** release **O** checkout **E** export **T** rtag One of five record types may result from an update: **C** A merge was necessary but collisions were detected (requiring manual merging). **G** A merge was necessary and it succeeded. **U** A working file was copied from the repository. **P** A working file was patched to match the repository. **W** The working copy of a file was deleted during update (because it was gone from the repos‐ itory). One of three record types results from commit: **A** A file was added for the first time. **M** A file was modified. **R** A file was removed. The options shown as **-flags **constrain or expand the report without requiring option argu‐ ments: ### -a Show data for all users (the default is to show data only for the user executing **history**). ### -l Show last modification only. ### -w Show only the records for modifications done from the same working directory where **history** is executing. The options shown as **-options _**args_ constrain the report based on an argument: ### -b _ Show data back to a record containing the string _str_ in either the module name, the file name, or the repository path. ### -D _ Show data since _date_. This is slightly different from the normal use of **-D _**date_, which se‐ lects the newest revision older than _date_. ### -f _ Show data for a particular file (you can specify several **-f **options on the same command line). This is equivalent to specifying the file on the command line. ### -n _ Show data for a particular module (you can specify several **-n **options on the same command line). ### -p _ Show data for a particular source repository (you can specify several **-p **options on the same command line). ### -r _ Show records referring to revisions since the revision or tag named _rev_ appears in individ‐ ual **rcs **files. Each **rcs **file is searched for the revision or tag. ### -t _ Show records since tag _tag_ was last added to the history file. This differs from the **-r** flag above in that it reads only the history file, not the **rcs **files, and is much faster. ### -u _ Show records for user _name_. ### -z _ Show times in the selected records using the specified time zone instead of UTC. **import, log, history, CVS commands** ### import—Import sources into CVS, using vendor branches • Synopsis: import [-options] repository vendortag releasetag... • Requires: Repository, source distribution directory. • Changes: repository. Use **import **to incorporate an entire source distribution from an outside source (e.g., a source vendor) into your source repository directory. You can use this command both for initial creation of a repository, and for wholesale updates to the module from the outside source. See node 'Tracking sources' in the CVS manual, for a discussion on this subject. The _repository_ argument gives a directory name (or a path to a directory) under the **cvs** root directory for repositories; if the directory did not exist, import creates it. When you use import for updates to source that has been modified in your source repository (since a prior import), it will notify you of any files that conflict in the two branches of development; use **checkout -j **to reconcile the differences, as import instructs you to do. If **cvs **decides a file should be ignored (see node 'cvsignore' in the CVS manual), it does not import it and prints **I **followed by the filename (see node 'import output' in the CVS manual, for a complete description of the output). If the file **$CVSROOT/CVSROOT/cvswrappers **exists, any file whose names match the specifica‐ tions in that file will be treated as packages and the appropriate filtering will be per‐ formed on the file/directory before being imported. See node 'Wrappers' in the CVS manual. The outside source is saved in a first-level branch, by default 1.1.1. Updates are leaves of this branch; for example, files from the first imported collection of source will be re‐ vision 1.1.1.1, then files from the first imported update will be revision 1.1.1.2, and so on. At least three arguments are required. _repository_ is needed to identify the collection of source. _vendortag_ is a tag for the entire branch (e.g., for 1.1.1). You must also specify at least one _releasetag_ to uniquely identify the files at the leaves created each time you execute **import**. The _releasetag_ should be new, not previously existing in the repository file, and uniquely identify the imported release, Note that **import **does _not_ change the directory in which you invoke it. In particular, it does not set up that directory as a **cvs **working directory; if you want to work with the sources import them first and then check them out into a different directory (see node 'Getting the source' in the CVS manual). **import options** This standard option is supported by **import **(see node 'Common options' in the CVS manual, for a complete description): ### -m _ Use _message_ as log information, instead of invoking an editor. There are the following additional special options. ### -b _ See node 'Multiple vendor branches' in the CVS manual. ### -k _ Indicate the keyword expansion mode desired. This setting will apply to all files created during the import, but not to any files that previously existed in the repository. See node 'Substitution modes' in the CVS manual, for a list of valid **-k **settings. ### -I _ Specify file names that should be ignored during import. You can use this option repeat‐ edly. To avoid ignoring any files at all (even those ignored by default), specify `-I !'. _name_ can be a file name pattern of the same type that you can specify in the **.cvsignore** file. See node 'cvsignore' in the CVS manual. ### -W _ Specify file names that should be filtered during import. You can use this option repeat‐ edly. _spec_ can be a file name pattern of the same type that you can specify in the **.cvswrappers** file. See node 'Wrappers' in the CVS manual. ### -X Modify the algorithm used by **cvs **when importing new files so that new files do not immedi‐ ately appear on the main trunk. Specifically, this flag causes **cvs **to mark new files as if they were deleted on the main trunk, by taking the following steps for each file in addition to those normally taken on import: creating a new revision on the main trunk indicating that the new file is **dead**, re‐ setting the new file's default branch, and placing the file in the Attic (see node 'Attic' in the CVS manual) directory. Setting the **ImportNewFilesToVendorBranchOnly **option in CVSROOT/config (see node 'config' in the CVS manual) forces use of this option on a repository-wide basis. **import output** **import **keeps you informed of its progress by printing a line for each file, preceded by one character indicating the status of the file: **U _**file_ The file already exists in the repository and has not been locally modified; a new revision has been created (if necessary). **N _**file_ The file is a new file which has been added to the repository. **C _**file_ The file already exists in the repository but has been locally modified; you will have to merge the changes. **I _**file_ The file is being ignored (see node 'cvsignore' in the CVS manual). **L _**file_ The file is a symbolic link; **cvs import **ignores symbolic links. People periodically sug‐ gest that this behavior should be changed, but if there is a consensus on what it should be changed to, it is not apparent. (Various options in the **modules **file can be used to recre‐ ate symbolic links on checkout, update, etc.; see node 'modules' in the CVS manual.) **import examples** See node 'Tracking sources' in the CVS manual, and node 'From files' in the CVS manual. **log, ls & rls, import, CVS commands** ### log—Print out history information for files • Synopsis: log [options] [files...] rlog [options] [files...] • Requires: repository, working directory. • Changes: nothing. Display log information for files. **log **used to call the **rcs **utility **rlog**. Although this is no longer true in the current sources, this history determines the format of the output and the options, which are not quite in the style of the other **cvs **commands. The output includes the location of the **rcs **file, the _head_ revision (the latest revision on the trunk), all symbolic names (tags) and some other things. For each revision, the revi‐ sion number, the date, the author, the number of lines added/deleted, the commitid and the log message are printed. All dates are displayed in local time at the client. This is typ‐ ically specified in the **$TZ **environment variable, which can be set to govern how **log **dis‐ plays dates. _Note:_ **log _**uses_ **-R _**in_ _a_ _way_ _that_ _conflicts_ _with_ _the_ _normal_ _use_ _inside_ **cvs _**(see_ _node_ _'Common_ _options'_ _in_ _the_ _CVS_ _manual)._ **log options** By default, **log **prints all information that is available. All other options restrict the output. Note that the revision selection options (**-d**, **-r**, **-s**, and **-w**) have no effect, other than possibly causing a search for files in Attic directories, when used in conjunction with the options that restrict the output to only **log **header fields (**-b**, **-h**, **-R**, and **-t**) unless the **-S **option is also specified. ### -b Print information about the revisions on the default branch, normally the highest branch on the trunk. ### -d _ Print information about revisions with a checkin date/time in the range given by the semi‐ colon-separated list of dates. The date formats accepted are those accepted by the **-D **op‐ tion to many other **cvs **commands (see node 'Common options' in the CVS manual). Dates can be combined into ranges as follows: _d1_**<_**d2_ _d2_**>_**d1_ Select the revisions that were deposited between _d1_ and _d2_. **<_**d_ _d_**>** Select all revisions dated _d_ or earlier. _d_**<** **>_**d_ Select all revisions dated _d_ or later. _d_ Select the single, latest revision dated _d_ or earlier. The **> **or **< **characters may be followed by **= **to indicate an inclusive range rather than an exclusive one. Note that the separator is a semicolon (;). ### -h Print only the name of the **rcs **file, name of the file in the working directory, head, de‐ fault branch, access list, locks, symbolic names, and suffix. ### -l Local; run only in current working directory. (Default is to run recursively). ### -N Do not print the list of tags for this file. This option can be very useful when your site uses a lot of tags, so rather than "more"'ing over 3 pages of tag information, the log in‐ formation is presented without tags at all. ### -R Print only the name of the **rcs **file. ### -r_ Print information about revisions given in the comma-separated list _revisions_ of revisions and ranges. The following table explains the available range formats: _rev1_**:_**rev2_ Revisions _rev1_ to _rev2_ (which must be on the same branch). _rev1_**::_**rev2_ The same, but excluding _rev1_. **:_**rev_ **::_**rev_ Revisions from the beginning of the branch up to and including _rev_. _rev_**:** Revisions starting with _rev_ to the end of the branch containing _rev_. _rev_**::** Revisions starting just after _rev_ to the end of the branch containing _rev_. _branch_ An argument that is a branch means all revisions on that branch. _branch1_**:_**branch2_ _branch1_**::_**branch2_ A range of branches means all revisions on the branches in that range. _branch_**.** The latest revision in _branch_. A bare **-r **with no revisions means the latest revision on the default branch, normally the trunk. There can be no space between the **-r **option and its argument. ### -S Suppress the header if no revisions are selected. ### -s _ Print information about revisions whose state attributes match one of the states given in the comma-separated list _states_. Individual states may be any text string, though **cvs **com‐ monly only uses two states, **Exp **and **dead**. See node 'admin options' in the CVS manual for more information. ### -t Print the same as **-h**, plus the descriptive text. ### -w_ Print information about revisions checked in by users with login names appearing in the comma-separated list _logins_. If _logins_ is omitted, the user's login is assumed. There can be no space between the **-w **option and its argument. **log **prints the intersection of the revisions selected with the options **-d**, **-s**, and **-w**, in‐ tersected with the union of the revisions selected by **-b **and **-r**. **log examples** Since **log **shows dates in local time, you might want to see them in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) or some other timezone. To do this you can set your **$TZ **environment variable before invoking **cvs**: $ TZ=UTC cvs log foo.c $ TZ=EST cvs log bar.c (If you are using a **csh**-style shell, like **tcsh**, you would need to prefix the examples above with **env**.) **ls & rls** ### List files in the repository • ls [-e | -l] [-RP] [-r tag[:date]] [-D date] [path...] rls [-e | -l] [-RP] [-r tag[:date]] [-D date] [path...] • Requires: repository for **rls**, repository & working directory for **ls**. • Changes: nothing. • Synonym: **dir **& **list **are synonyms for **ls **and **rdir **& **rlist **are synonyms for **rls**. The **ls **and **rls **commands are used to list files and directories in the repository. By default **ls **lists the files and directories that belong in your working directory, what would be there after an **update**. By default **rls **lists the files and directories on the tip of the trunk in the topmost di‐ rectory of the repository. Both commands accept an optional list of file and directory names, relative to the working directory for **ls **and the topmost directory of the repository for **rls**. Neither is recursive by default. **ls & rls options** These standard options are supported by **ls **& **rls**: ### -d Show dead revisions (with tag when specified). ### -e Display in CVS/Entries format. This format is meant to remain easily parsable by automa‐ tion. ### -l Display all details. ### -P Don't list contents of empty directories when recursing. ### -R List recursively. ### -r _ Show files specified by _tag_ or, when _date_ is specified and _tag_ is a branch tag, the version from the branch _tag_ as it existed on _date_. See node 'Common options' in the CVS manual. ### -D _ Show files from date. **rls examples** $ cvs rls cvs rls: Listing module: `.' CVSROOT first-dir $ cvs rls CVSROOT cvs rls: Listing module: `CVSROOT' checkoutlist commitinfo config cvswrappers loginfo modules notify rcsinfo taginfo verifymsg **rdiff, release, ls & rls, CVS commands** ### rdiff—Create 'patch' format diffs between revisions • rdiff [-flags] [-V vn] (-r tag1[:date1] | -D date1) [-r tag2[:date2] | -D date2] modules... • Requires: repository. • Changes: nothing. • Synonym: patch Builds a Larry Wall format [patch(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/patch/1/markdown) file between two releases, that can be fed directly into the **patch **program to bring an old release up-to-date with the new release. (This is one of the few **cvs **commands that operates directly from the repository, and doesn't require a prior checkout.) The diff output is sent to the standard output device. You can specify (using the standard **-r **and **-D **options) any combination of one or two revi‐ sions or dates. If only one revision or date is specified, the patch file reflects differ‐ ences between that revision or date and the current head revisions in the **rcs **file. Note that if the software release affected is contained in more than one directory, then it may be necessary to specify the **-p **option to the **patch **command when patching the old sources, so that **patch **is able to find the files that are located in other directories. **rdiff options** These standard options are supported by **rdiff **(see node 'Common options' in the CVS manual, for a complete description of them): ### -D _ Use the most recent revision no later than _date_. ### -f If no matching revision is found, retrieve the most recent revision (instead of ignoring the file). ### -k _ Process keywords according to _kflag_. See node 'Keyword substitution' in the CVS manual. ### -l Local; don't descend subdirectories. ### -R Examine directories recursively. This option is on by default. ### -r _ Use the revision specified by _tag_, or when _date_ is specified and _tag_ is a branch tag, the version from the branch _tag_ as it existed on _date_. See node 'Common options' in the CVS manual. In addition to the above, these options are available: ### -c Use the context diff format. This is the default format. ### -p Show which C function each change is in. ### -s Create a summary change report instead of a patch. The summary includes information about files that were changed or added between the releases. It is sent to the standard output device. This is useful for finding out, for example, which files have changed between two dates or revisions. ### -t A diff of the top two revisions is sent to the standard output device. This is most useful for seeing what the last change to a file was. ### -u Use the unidiff format for the context diffs. Remember that old versions of the **patch **pro‐ gram can't handle the unidiff format, so if you plan to post this patch to the net you should probably not use **-u**. ### -V _ Expand keywords according to the rules current in **rcs **version _vn_ (the expansion format changed with **rcs **version 5). Note that this option is no longer accepted. **cvs **will always expand keywords the way that **rcs **version 5 does. **rdiff examples** Suppose you receive mail from asking for an update from release 1.2 to 1.4 of the tc compiler. You have no such patches on hand, but with **cvs **that can easily be fixed with a command such as this: $ cvs rdiff -c -r FOO1_2 -r FOO1_4 tc | \ $$ Mail -s 'The patches you asked for' Suppose you have made release 1.3, and forked a branch called **R_1_3fix **for bug fixes. **R_1_3_1 **corresponds to release 1.3.1, which was made some time ago. Now, you want to see how much development has been done on the branch. This command can be used: $ cvs patch -s -r R_1_3_1 -r R_1_3fix module-name cvs rdiff: Diffing module-name File ChangeLog,v changed from revision 1.52.2.5 to 1.52.2.6 File foo.c,v changed from revision 1.52.2.3 to 1.52.2.4 File bar.h,v changed from revision 1.29.2.1 to 1.2 **release, server & pserver, rdiff, CVS commands** ### release—Indicate that a directory is no longer in use • release [-d] directories... • Requires: Working directory. • Changes: Working directory, history log. This command is meant to safely cancel the effect of **cvs checkout**. Since **cvs **doesn't lock files, it isn't strictly necessary to use this command. You can always simply delete your working directory, if you like; but you risk losing changes you may have forgotten, and you leave no trace in the **cvs **history file (see node 'history file' in the CVS manual) that you've abandoned your checkout. Use **cvs release **to avoid these problems. This command checks that no uncommitted changes are present; that you are executing it from immediately above a **cvs **working directory; and that the repository recorded for your files is the same as the repository defined in the module database. If all these conditions are true, **cvs release **leaves a record of its execution (attesting to your intentionally abandoning your checkout) in the **cvs **history log. **release options** The **release **command supports one command option: ### -d Delete your working copy of the file if the release succeeds. If this flag is not given your files will remain in your working directory. _WARNING:_ _The_ **release _**command_ _deletes_ _all_ _directories_ _and_ _files_ _recursively._ _This_ _has_ _the_ _very_ _serious_ _side-effect_ _that_ _any_ _directory_ _that_ _you_ _have_ _created_ _inside_ _your_ _checked-out_ _sources,_ _and_ _not_ _added_ _to_ _the_ _repository_ _(using_ _the_ **add _**command;_ _see_ _node_ _'Adding_ _files'_ _in_ _the_ _CVS_ _manual)_ _will_ _be_ _silently_ _deleted—even_ _if_ _it_ _is_ _non-empty!_ **release output** Before **release **releases your sources it will print a one-line message for any file that is not up-to-date. **U _**file_ **P _**file_ There exists a newer revision of this file in the repository, and you have not modified your local copy of the file (**U **and **P **mean the same thing). **A _**file_ The file has been added to your private copy of the sources, but has not yet been committed to the repository. If you delete your copy of the sources this file will be lost. **R _**file_ The file has been removed from your private copy of the sources, but has not yet been re‐ moved from the repository, since you have not yet committed the removal. See node 'commit' in the CVS manual. **M _**file_ The file is modified in your working directory. There might also be a newer revision in‐ side the repository. **? _**file_ _file_ is in your working directory, but does not correspond to anything in the source repos‐ itory, and is not in the list of files for **cvs **to ignore (see the description of the **-I **op‐ tion, and see node 'cvsignore' in the CVS manual). If you remove your working sources, this file will be lost. **release examples** Release the **tc **directory, and delete your local working copy of the files. $ cd .. # You must stand immediately above the # sources when you issue **cvs release**. $ cvs release -d tc You have [0] altered files in this repository. Are you sure you want to release (and delete) directory `tc': y $ **server & pserver** ### Act as a server for a client on stdin/stdout • pserver [-c path] server [-c path] • Requires: repository, client conversation on stdin/stdout • Changes: Repository or, indirectly, client working directory. The **cvs server **and **pserver **commands are used to provide repository access to remote clients and expect a client conversation on stdin & stdout. Typically these commands are launched from **inetd **or via **ssh **(see node 'Remote repositories' in the CVS manual). **server **expects that the client has already been authenticated somehow, typically via **ssh**, and **pserver **attempts to authenticate the client itself. Only one option is available with the **server **and **pserver **commands: ### -c path Load configuration from the given _path_ rather than from the default location **$CVSROOT/CVS‐** **ROOT/config **(see node 'config' in the CVS manual). _path_ must be **/etc/cvs.conf **or prefixed by **/etc/cvs/**. This option is supported beginning with **cvs **release 1.12.13. **suck, update, server & pserver, CVS commands** ### suck—Download RCS ,v file raw • suck module/pa/th • Requires: repository Locates the file module/pa/th,v or module/pa/Attic/th,v and downloads it raw as RCS comma-v file. Output consists of the real pathname of the comma-v file, relative to the CVS repository, followed by a newline and the binary file content immediately thereafter. **update, , suck, CVS commands** ### update—Bring work tree in sync with repository • update [-ACdflPpR] [-I name] [-j rev [-j rev]] [-k kflag] [-r tag[:date] | -D date] [-W spec] files... • Requires: repository, working directory. • Changes: working directory. After you've run checkout to create your private copy of source from the common repository, other developers will continue changing the central source. From time to time, when it is convenient in your development process, you can use the **update **command from within your working directory to reconcile your work with any revisions applied to the source reposi‐ tory since your last checkout or update. Without the **-C **option, **update **will also merge any differences between the local copy of files and their base revisions into any destination revisions specified with **-r**, **-D**, or **-A**. **update options** These standard options are available with **update **(see node 'Common options' in the CVS man‐ ual, for a complete description of them): ### -D date Use the most recent revision no later than _date_. This option is sticky, and implies **-P**. See node 'Sticky tags' in the CVS manual, for more information on sticky tags/dates. ### -f Only useful with the **-D **or **-r **flags. If no matching revision is found, retrieve the most recent revision (instead of ignoring the file). ### -k _ Process keywords according to _kflag_. See node 'Keyword substitution' in the CVS manual. This option is sticky; future updates of this file in this working directory will use the same _kflag_. The **status **command can be viewed to see the sticky options. See node 'Invok‐ ing CVS' in the CVS manual, for more information on the **status **command. ### -l Local; run only in current working directory. See node 'Recursive behavior' in the CVS manual. ### -P Prune empty directories. See node 'Moving directories' in the CVS manual. ### -p Pipe files to the standard output. ### -R Update directories recursively (default). See node 'Recursive behavior' in the CVS manual. ### -r _ Retrieve the revisions specified by _tag_ or, when _date_ is specified and _tag_ is a branch tag, the version from the branch _tag_ as it existed on _date_. This option is sticky, and implies **-P**. See node 'Sticky tags' in the CVS manual, for more information on sticky tags/dates. Also see node 'Common options' in the CVS manual. These special options are also available with **update**. ### -A Reset any sticky tags, dates, or **-k **options. See node 'Sticky tags' in the CVS manual, for more information on sticky tags/dates. ### -C Overwrite locally modified files with clean copies from the repository (the modified file is saved in **.#_**file_**._**revision_, however). ### -d Create any directories that exist in the repository if they're missing from the working di‐ rectory. Normally, **update **acts only on directories and files that were already enrolled in your working directory. This is useful for updating directories that were created in the repository since the ini‐ tial checkout; but it has an unfortunate side effect. If you deliberately avoided certain directories in the repository when you created your working directory (either through use of a module name or by listing explicitly the files and directories you wanted on the com‐ mand line), then updating with **-d **will create those directories, which may not be what you want. ### -I _ Ignore files whose names match _name_ (in your working directory) during the update. You can specify **-I **more than once on the command line to specify several files to ignore. Use **-I !** to avoid ignoring any files at all. See node 'cvsignore' in the CVS manual, for other ways to make **cvs **ignore some files. ### -W_ Specify file names that should be filtered during update. You can use this option repeat‐ edly. _spec_ can be a file name pattern of the same type that you can specify in the **.cvswrappers** file. See node 'Wrappers' in the CVS manual. ### -j_ With two **-j **options, merge changes from the revision specified with the first **-j **option to the revision specified with the second **j **option, into the working directory. With one **-j **option, merge changes from the ancestor revision to the revision specified with the **-j **option, into the working directory. The ancestor revision is the common ancestor of the revision which the working directory is based on, and the revision specified in the **-j** option. Note that using a single **-j _**tagname_ option rather than **-j _**branchname_ to merge changes from a branch will often not remove files which were removed on the branch. See node 'Merging adds and removals' in the CVS manual, for more. In addition, each **-j **option can contain an optional date specification which, when used with branches, can limit the chosen revision to one within a specific date. An optional date is specified by adding a colon (:) to the tag: **-j_**Symbolic_Tag_**:_**Date_Specifier_. See node 'Branching and merging' in the CVS manual. **update output** **update **and **checkout **keep you informed of their progress by printing a line for each file, preceded by one character indicating the status of the file: **U _**file_ The file was brought up to date with respect to the repository. This is done for any file that exists in the repository but not in your working directory, and for files that you haven't changed but are not the most recent versions available in the repository. **P _**file_ Like **U**, but the **cvs **server sends a patch instead of an entire file. This accomplishes the same thing as **U **using less bandwidth. **A _**file_ The file has been added to your private copy of the sources, and will be added to the source repository when you run **commit **on the file. This is a reminder to you that the file needs to be committed. **R _**file_ The file has been removed from your private copy of the sources, and will be removed from the source repository when you run **commit **on the file. This is a reminder to you that the file needs to be committed. **M _**file_ The file is modified in your working directory. **M **can indicate one of two states for a file you're working on: either there were no modifi‐ cations to the same file in the repository, so that your file remains as you last saw it; or there were modifications in the repository as well as in your copy, but they were merged successfully, without conflict, in your working directory. **cvs **will print some messages if it merges your work, and a backup copy of your working file (as it looked before you ran **update**) will be made. The exact name of that file is printed while **update **runs. **C _**file_ A conflict was detected while trying to merge your changes to _file_ with changes from the source repository. _file_ (the copy in your working directory) is now the result of attempt‐ ing to merge the two revisions; an unmodified copy of your file is also in your working di‐ rectory, with the name **.#_**file_**._**revision_ where _revision_ is the revision that your modified file started from. Resolve the conflict as described in node 'Conflicts example' in the CVS manual. (Note that some systems automatically purge files that begin with **.# **if they have not been accessed for a few days. If you intend to keep a copy of your original file, it is a very good idea to rename it.) Under **vms**, the file name starts with **__ **rather than **.#**. **? _**file_ _file_ is in your working directory, but does not correspond to anything in the source repos‐ itory, and is not in the list of files for **cvs **to ignore (see the description of the **-I **op‐ tion, and see node 'cvsignore' in the CVS manual). ## AUTHORS Dick Grune Original author of the **cvs **shell script version posted to **comp.sources.unix **in the volume6 release of December, 1986. Credited with much of the **cvs **conflict resolution algorithms. Brian Berliner Coder and designer of the **cvs **program itself in April, 1989, based on the original work done by Dick. Jeff Polk Helped Brian with the design of the **cvs **module and vendor branch support and author of the [**checkin**(**1**)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/checkin/1/markdown) shell script (the ancestor of **cvs import**). Larry Jones, Derek R. Price, and Mark D. Baushke Have helped maintain **cvs **for many years. And many others too numerous to mention here. ## SEE ALSO The most comprehensive manual for CVS is Version Management with CVS by Per Cederqvist et al. (see _NOTE_ at top). For CVS updates, more information on documentation, software related to CVS, development of CVS, and more, see: **** [**ci**(**1**)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/ci/1/markdown), [**co**(**1**)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/co/1/markdown), [**cvs**(**5**)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/cvs/5/markdown), [**cvsbug**(**8**)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/cvsbug/8/markdown), [**diff**(**1**)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/diff/1/markdown), [**grep**(**1**)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/grep/1/markdown), [**patch**(**1**)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/patch/1/markdown), [**rcs**(**1**)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/rcs/1/markdown), [**rcsdiff**(**1**)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/rcsdiff/1/markdown), **rcsin‐** [**tro**(**1**)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/tro/1/markdown), [**rcsmerge**(**1**)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/rcsmerge/1/markdown), [**rlog**(**1**)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/rlog/1/markdown), [**re_format**(**7**)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/reformat/7/markdown). [_CVS_(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/CVS/1/markdown)