CVS Tricks/Tips

These tips are ones that I regularily use, but seldome remember the exact command line of. I've put them here to remind me whenever I need them.

Setting a tag name to a directory tree

Whenever I change the version of a certain piece of code, then I assign that project a new version number. After testing that code, I update my CVS repository with the new code, then assign my current (local) tree with a new tag to mark this snapshot with the software revision.

It goes something like this:

cvs commit
cd ..
cvs tag r_1-0-8 data2xml

1. I commit my local tree to the repository
2. I backout of my project directory
3. I apply the tag "r_1-0-8" to the directory "data2xml"

Note that I don't have any further "cvs commit" commands, since the "cvs tag" applies instantly on my CVS repository.

Retreiving a project by its version/tag number

If I need to look at a historic version of code, then I issue the following command to get all files assocated with that specific tag:

cvs checkout -r r_1-0-8 basestation/data2xml

This will get the project "basestation/data2xml" and retreieve the files that are tagged with "r_1-0-8" (release version 1.0.8).

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