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.

1972-09-24

1972-09-24 20:05

24 Sep 1972 20:05

24 Sep

$ cvs diff -D "1 hour ago" cvs.texinfo

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).

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.

Local; run only in current working directory, rather than recursing through subdirectories.

Use message as log information, instead of invoking an editor.

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).

Prune empty directories. See see node ‘Removing directories' in the CVS manual.

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.

Process directories recursively. This is on by default.

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.

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.

•

Requires: repository, working directory.

•

Changes: repository.

•

Synonym: rcs

Might not work together with cvs. Append the access list of oldfile to the access list of the rcs file.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

Replace the log message of revision rev with msg.

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.

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.

Deletes (outdates) the revisions given by range.

rev1::rev2

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.

::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::1.4.

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 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.

: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 containing rev.

Run quietly; do not print diagnostics.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

•

Synopsis: annotate [options] files...

•

Requires: repository.

•

Changes: nothing.

Local directory only, no recursion.

Process directories recursively.

Use head revision if tag/date not found.

Annotate binary files.

Annotate file as of specified revision/tag.

Annotate file as of specified date.

$ cvs annotate ssfile

Annotations for ssfile

***************

1.1 (mary 27-Mar-96): ssfile line 1

1.2 (joe 28-Mar-96): ssfile line 2

•

Synopsis: checkout [options] modules...

•

Requires: repository.

•

Changes: working directory.

•

Synonyms: co, get

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.

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).

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.

Local; run only in current working directory.

Do not run any checkout program (as specified with the -o option in the modules file; see node ‘modules' in the CVS manual).

Prune empty directories. See see node ‘Moving directories' in the CVS manual.

Pipe files to the standard output.

Checkout directories recursively. This option is on by default.

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.

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.

Copy the module file, sorted, to the standard output, instead of creating or modifying any files or directories in your working directory.

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.

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.

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.

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.

$ cvs checkout tc

$ cvs checkout -D yesterday tc

•

Synopsis: commit [-lRf] [-m 'log_message' | -F file] [-r revision] [files...]

•

Requires: working directory, repository.

•

Changes: repository.

•

Synonym: ci

Local; run only in current working directory.

Commit directories recursively. This is on by default.

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.

Read the log message from file, instead of invoking an editor.

Note that this is not the standard behavior of the -f option as defined in see node ‘Common options' in the CVS manual.

$ cvs commit -f file

$ cvs commit -r 1.8 file

Use message as the log message, instead of invoking an editor.

$ 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

[[ hacked sources are present ]]

$ cvs tag -b EXPR1

$ cvs update -r EXPR1

$ cvs commit

[[ hacked sources are present ]]

$ cvs tag -b EXPR1

$ cvs commit -r EXPR1

$ cvs checkout -r EXPR1 whatever_module

•

Synopsis: diff [-lR] [-k kflag] [format_options] [[-r rev1 | -D date1] [-r rev2 | -D date2]] [files...]

•

Requires: working directory, repository.

•

Changes: nothing.

Use the most recent revision no later than date. See -r for how this affects the comparison.

Process keywords according to kflag. See see node ‘Keyword substitution' in the CVS manual.

Local; run only in current working directory.

Examine directories recursively. This option is on by default.

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).

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.

Treat all files as text and compare them line-by-line, even if they do not seem to be text.

Ignore trailing white space and consider all other sequences of one or more white space characters to be equivalent.

Ignore changes that just insert or delete blank lines.

Read and write data in binary mode.

Report only whether the files differ, not the details of the differences.

Use the context output format.

--context[=lines]

--changed-group-format=format

-d

-e

--ed

--expand-tabs

-f

-F regexp

--forward-ed

-H

--horizon-lines=lines

-i

-I regexp

--ifdef=name

--ignore-all-space

--ignore-blank-lines

--ignore-case

--ignore-matching-lines=regexp

--ignore-space-change

--initial-tab

-L label

--label=label

--left-column

--line-format=format

--minimal

-n

-N

--new-file

--new-group-format=format

--new-line-format=format

--old-group-format=format

--old-line-format=format

-p

--rcs

--report-identical-files

-s

--show-c-function

--show-function-line=regexp

--side-by-side

--speed-large-files

--suppress-common-lines

-t

-T

--text

-u

--unchanged-group-format=format

--unchanged-line-format=format

-U lines

--unified[=lines]

-w

-W columns

--width=columns

-y

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.

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.

Here is a more advanced example, which outputs a diff listing with headers containing line numbers in a ``plain English'' style.

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

--new-group-format=format

--changed-group-format=format

--unchanged-group-format=format

In a line group format, ordinary characters represent themselves; conversion specifications start with % and have one of the following forms.

%<

%>

%=

%%

%c'C'

%c'\O'

Fn

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)

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.

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

--new-line-format=format

--unchanged-line-format=format

--line-format=format

In a line format, ordinary characters represent themselves; conversion specifications start with % and have one of the following forms.

%l

%L

%%

%c'C'

%c'\O'

Fn

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.

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.

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:

A command like this can be used to produce a context diff between two releases:

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.

export

Export sources from CVS, similar to checkout

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)) 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 date

-f

-l

-n

-R

-r tag

In addition, these options (that are common to checkout and export) are also supported:

-d dir

-k subst

-N

history

Show status of files and users

cvs can keep a history file that tracks each use of the checkout, commit, rtag, update, and release commands. You can use history to display this information in various formats.

Logging must be enabled by creating the file $CVSROOT/CVSROOT/history.

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

-e

-m module

-o

-T

-x type

Certain commands have a single record type:

One of five record types may result from an update:

One of three record types results from commit:

The options shown as -flags constrain or expand the report without requiring option arguments:

-a

-l

-w

The options shown as -options args constrain the report based on an argument:

-b str

-D date

-f file

-n module

-p repository

-r rev

-t tag

-u name

-z timezone

import

Import sources into CVS, using vendor branches

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 specifications in that file will be treated as packages and the appropriate filtering will be performed 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 revision 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 message

There are the following additional special options.

-b branch

-k subst

-I name

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 spec

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.

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

N file

C file

I file

L file

import examples

See see node ‘Tracking sources' in the CVS manual, and see node ‘From files' in the CVS manual.

log

Print out log information for files

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 revision number, the author, the number of lines added/deleted and the log message are printed. All times are displayed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). (Other parts of cvs print times in the local timezone).

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

-d dates

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

-l

-N

-R

-rrevisions

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

-s states

-t

-wlogins

log prints the intersection of the revisions selected with the options -d, -s, and -w, intersected with the union of the revisions selected by -b and -r.

log examples

Contributed examples are gratefully accepted.

rdiff

'patch' format diffs between releases

Builds a Larry Wall format patch(1) 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 revisions or dates. If only one revision or date is specified, the patch file reflects differences 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 date

-f

-k kflag

-l

-R

-r tag

In addition to the above, these options are available:

-c

-s

-t

-u

-V vn

rdiff examples

Suppose you receive mail from foo@example.net 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:

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:

release

Indicate that a Module is no longer in use

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

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

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).

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.

The file has been removed from your private copy of the sources, but has not yet been removed from the repository, since you have not yet committed the removal. see node ‘commit' in the CVS manual.

The file is modified in your working directory. There might also be a newer revision inside the repository.

file is in your working directory, but does not correspond to anything in the source repository, and is not in the list of files for cvs to ignore (see the description of the -I option, and see node ‘cvsignore' in the CVS manual). If you remove your working sources, this file will be lost.