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 individual commands, may have different behavior
from one cvs command to the other).
The history command
is an exception; it supports many options that conflict even with
these standard options.
-D date_spec
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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.
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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 further 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, rdiff, rtag, and
update commands. (The history command uses this
option in a slightly different way; see node ‘history
options' in the CVS manual).
A wide variety of date
formats are supported by cvs. The most standard ones are
ISO8601 (from the International Standards Organization) and the
Internet e-mail standard (specified in RFC822 as amended by
RFC1123).
ISO8601 dates have many
variants but a few examples are:
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1972-09-24
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1972-09-24 20:05
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There are a lot more
ISO8601 date formats, and cvs accepts many of them, but you
probably don't want to hear the whole long story :-).
In addition to the
dates allowed in Internet e-mail itself, cvs also allows
some of the fields to be omitted. For example:
The date is interpreted
as being in the local timezone, unless a specific timezone is
specified.
These two date formats
are preferred. However, cvs currently accepts a wide variety
of other date formats. They are intentionally not documented here
in any detail, and future versions of cvs might not accept
all of them.
One such format is
month/day/year. This may confuse
people who are accustomed to having the month and day in the other
order; 1/4/96 is January 4, not April 1.
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:
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$ cvs diff -D "1 hour ago"
cvs.texinfo
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-f
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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).
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Note that even with
-f, a tag that you specify must exist (that is, in some
file, not necessary 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
behavior for those commands. See see node ‘commit options' in
the CVS manual, and see node ‘Removing files' in the CVS
manual.
-k kflag
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Alter the default
processing of keywords. see node ‘Keyword substitution' in
the CVS manual, for the meaning of kflag. Your kflag
specification is sticky when you use it to create a private
copy of a source file; that is, when you use this option with the
checkout or update commands, cvs associates
your selected kflag with the file, and continues to use it
with future update commands on the same file until you specify
otherwise.
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The -k option is
available with the add, checkout, diff,
rdiff, import and update commands.
-l
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Local; run only in current
working directory, rather than recursing through
subdirectories.
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Available with the
following commands: annotate, checkout,
commit, diff, edit, editors,
export, log, rdiff, remove,
rtag, status, tag, unedit,
update, watch, and watchers.
-m message
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Use message as log
information, instead of invoking an editor.
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Available with the
following commands: add, commit and
import.
-n
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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).
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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, export, and rtag commands.
-P
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Prune empty directories.
See see node ‘Removing directories' in the CVS manual.
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-p
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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.
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-R
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Process directories
recursively. This is on by default.
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Available with the
following commands: annotate, checkout,
commit, diff, edit, editors,
export, rdiff, remove, rtag,
status, tag, unedit, update,
watch, and watchers.
-r tag
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Use the revision specified
by the tag argument 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, and BASE refers to the revision you last checked
out into the current working directory.
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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 see node ‘Tags' in
the CVS manual, or the name of a branch, as described in see node
‘Branching and merging' in the CVS manual. When a command
expects a specific revision, the name of a branch is interpreted as
the most recent revision on that branch.
Specifying the
-q global option along with the -r command option is
often useful, to suppress the warning messages when the rcs
file does not contain the specified tag.
This is not the same
as the overall cvs -r option, which you can specify to the left of
a cvs command!
-r is available
with the annotate, checkout, commit,
diff, history, export, rdiff,
rtag, and update commands.
-W
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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.
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admin
Administration
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Requires: repository, working directory.
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Changes: repository.
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Synonym: rcs
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This is the cvs
interface to assorted administrative facilities. Some of them have
questionable 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
extreme care should be used.
On unix, if there is a
group named cvsadmin, only members of that group can run
cvs admin (except for the cvs admin -k command, which
can be run by anybody). This 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!
-Aoldfile
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Might not work together
with cvs. Append the access list of oldfile to the
access list of the rcs file.
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-alogins
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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.
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-b[rev]
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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 vendor'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.
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-cstring
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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.
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-e[logins]
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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.
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-I
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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.
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-i
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Useless with cvs.
This creates and initializes a new rcs file, without
depositing a revision. With cvs, add files with the cvs
add command (see node ‘Adding files' in the CVS
manual).
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-ksubst
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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.
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-l[rev]
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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.
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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
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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.
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-mrev:msg
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Replace the log message of
revision rev with msg.
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-Nname[:[rev]]
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Act like -n, except
override any previous assignment of name. For use with magic
branches, see see node ‘Magic branch numbers' in the CVS
manual.
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-nname[:[rev]]
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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 -nname:
associates name with the current latest revision of all the
RCS files; this contrasts with cvs admin
-nname:$ which associates name with the
revision numbers extracted from keyword strings in the
corresponding working files.
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-orange
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Deletes (outdates)
the revisions given by range.
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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 different 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:
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rev1::rev2
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Collapse all revisions
between rev1 and rev2, so that cvs only stores the
differences associated with going from rev1 to rev2, not
intermediate steps. For example, after -o 1.3::1.5 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 examples: -o 1.3::1.4 and -o
1.3::1.3 have no effect, because there are no intermediate
revisions to remove.
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::rev
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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.
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rev::
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Collapse revisions between
rev and the end of the branch containing rev.
Revision rev is left intact but the head revision is
deleted.
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rev
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Delete the revision
rev. For example, -o 1.3 is equivalent to -o
1.2::1.4.
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rev1:rev2
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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 command 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 between 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
instead.
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:rev
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Delete revisions from the
beginning of the branch containing rev up to and including
rev.
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rev:
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Delete revisions from
revision rev, including rev itself, to the end of the
branch containing rev.
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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
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Run quietly; do not print
diagnostics.
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-sstate[:rev]
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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
$State$ keywords (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.
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-t[file]
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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.
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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-string
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Similar to
-tfile. Write descriptive text from the string
into the rcs file, deleting the existing text. There can be
no space between -t and its argument.
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-U
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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.
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-u[rev]
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See the option -l
above, for a discussion of using this option with cvs.
Unlock the revision 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.
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-Vn
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In previous versions of
cvs, this option meant to write an rcs file which
would be acceptable to rcs version n, but it is now
obsolete and specifying it will produce an error.
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-xsuffixes
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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.
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annotate
What revision
modified each line of a file?
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Synopsis: annotate [options] files...
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Requires: repository.
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Changes: nothing.
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For each file in
files, print the head revision of the trunk, together with
information on the last modification for each line.
annotate options
These standard options
are supported by annotate (see node ‘Common options'
in the CVS manual, for a complete description of them):
-l
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Local directory only, no
recursion.
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-R
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Process directories
recursively.
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-f
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Use head revision if
tag/date not found.
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-F
-r revision
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Annotate file as of
specified revision/tag.
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-D date
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Annotate file as of
specified date.
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annotate example
For example:
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$ cvs annotate ssfile
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Annotations for ssfile
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***************
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1.1 (mary 27-Mar-96): ssfile line 1
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1.2 (joe 28-Mar-96): ssfile line 2
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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 see 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 see
node ‘Common options' in the CVS manual.
checkout
Check out sources
for editing
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Synopsis: checkout [options] modules...
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Requires: repository.
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Changes: working
directory.
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Synonyms: co, get
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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 populate 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 always 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 different 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 specified
(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 originally 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 see node ‘update output'
in the CVS manual.
checkout options
These standard options
are supported by checkout (see node ‘Common options'
in the CVS manual, for a complete description of them):
-D date
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Use the most recent
revision no later than date. This option is sticky, and
implies -P. See see node ‘Sticky tags' in the CVS
manual, for more information on sticky tags/dates.
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-f
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Only useful with the
-D date or -r tag flags. If no matching
revision is found, retrieve the most recent revision (instead of
ignoring the file).
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-k kflag
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Process keywords according
to kflag. See 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
see node ‘Invoking CVS' in the CVS manual, for more
information on the status command.
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-l
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Local; run only in current
working directory.
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-n
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Do not run any checkout
program (as specified with the -o option in the modules
file; see node ‘modules' in the CVS manual).
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-P
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Prune empty directories.
See see node ‘Moving directories' in the CVS manual.
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-p
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Pipe files to the standard
output.
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-R
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Checkout directories
recursively. This option is on by default.
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-r tag
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Use revision tag.
This option is sticky, and implies -P. See see node
‘Sticky tags' in the CVS manual, for more information on
sticky tags/dates.
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In addition to those,
you can use these special command options with checkout:
-A
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Reset any sticky tags,
dates, or -k options. Does not reset sticky -k
options on modified files. See see node ‘Sticky tags' in the
CVS manual, for more information on sticky tags/dates.
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-c
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Copy the module file,
sorted, to the standard output, instead of creating or modifying
any files or directories in your working directory.
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-d dir
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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.
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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 directories. In this case only,
cvs tries to ``shorten'' pathnames to avoid those empty
directories.
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 tag
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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.
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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:
-jSymbolic_Tag:Date_Specifier.
see node
‘Branching and merging' in the CVS manual.
-N
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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.
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-s
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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.
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checkout examples
Get a copy of the
module tc:
Get a copy of the
module tc as it looked one day ago:
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$ cvs checkout -D yesterday
tc
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commit
Check files into the
repository
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Synopsis: commit [-lRf] [-m 'log_message' | -F
file] [-r revision] [files...]
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Requires: working
directory, repository.
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Changes: repository.
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Synonym: ci
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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 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.
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 revision
|
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 manual). You cannot commit
to a specific revision on a branch.
|
commit also
supports these options:
-F file
|
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 see node
‘Common options' in the CVS manual.
|
Force cvs to
commit a new revision even if you haven't made any changes to the
file. 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 revision for all files in all
subdirectories, you must use -f -R.
-m message
|
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 ‘Branching 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 disturbing 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 ]]
|
|
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$ cvs commit
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|
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 software 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 utilize 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 commit
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
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|
diff
Show differences
between revisions
|
•
|
|
Synopsis: diff [-lR] [-k kflag] [format_options]
[[-r rev1 | -D date1] [-r rev2 | -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 differences 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 date
|
Use the most recent
revision no later than date. See -r for how this
affects the comparison.
|
-k kflag
|
Process keywords according
to kflag. See see node ‘Keyword substitution' in the
CVS manual.
|
-l
|
Local; run only in current
working directory.
|
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-R
|
Examine directories
recursively. This option is on by default.
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-r tag
|
Compare with revision
tag. 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 --.
-lines
|
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 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 context.
|
--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.
Change the algorithm to
perhaps find a smaller set of changes. This makes diff
slower (sometimes much slower).
Make output that is a
valid ed script.
Expand tabs to spaces
in the output, to preserve the alignment of tabs in the input
files.
Make output that looks
vaguely like an ed script but has changes in the order they
appear in the file.
In context and unified
format, for each hunk of differences, show some of the last
preceding line that matches regexp.
Make output that looks
vaguely like an ed script but has changes in the order they
appear in the file.
Use heuristics to speed
handling of large files that have numerous scattered small
changes.
Do not discard the last
lines lines of the common prefix and the first lines
lines of the common suffix.
Ignore changes in case;
consider upper- and lower-case letters equivalent.
Ignore changes that
just insert or delete lines that match regexp.
Make merged
if-then-else output using name.
Ignore white space when
comparing lines.
Ignore changes that
just insert or delete blank lines.
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 trailing white
space and consider all other sequences of one or more white space
characters to be equivalent.
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.
Use label
instead of the file name in the context format and unified format
headers.
Use label
instead of the file name in the context format and unified format
headers.
Print only the left
column of two common lines in side by side format.
Use format to
output all input lines in if-then-else format. see node ‘Line
formats' in the CVS manual.
Change the algorithm to
perhaps find a smaller set of changes. This makes diff
slower (sometimes much slower).
Output RCS-format
diffs; like -f except that each command specifies the number
of lines affected.
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 format. see node ‘Line group formats' in the CVS
manual.
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 format. see node ‘Line group formats' in the CVS
manual.
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.
Show which C function
each change is in.
Output RCS-format
diffs; like -f except that each command specifies the number
of lines affected.
|
--report-identical-files
|
|
|
-s
|
|
Report when two files
are the same.
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
preceding line that matches regexp.
Use the side by side
output format.
Use heuristics to speed
handling of large files that have numerous scattered small
changes.
Do not print common
lines in side by side format.
Expand tabs to spaces
in the output, to preserve the alignment of tabs in the input
files.
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.
Treat all files as text
and compare them line-by-line, even if they do not appear to be
text.
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 lines
|
|
|
--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 context.
Ignore white space when
comparing lines.
|
-W columns
|
|
|
--width=columns
|
|
Use an output width of
columns in side by side format.
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
\begin{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 format 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.
|
%%
%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 specifying 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; otherwise 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
desired 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
| |
