Introduction to CVS

The CVS repository is accessed by setting the 'CVSROOT variable. Once set you will be able to checkout code and make updates to the repository. Complete instruction for setting up your environment including the CVSROOT variable is described in the sections Automated Quick Start and Manual Quick Start.

The CVS repository has the golden copies of our software. It is a high valued item so you need to use caution whenever you modify it. It is important to understand how CVS works and what effects CVS command have. If you are new to CVS there are many tutorials online to help you get started. Note that deleting or renaming directories in the CVS repository needs to be done by an administrator.

On Unix set CVSROOT to: /research/graphics/cvsroot/

On Windows set CVSROOT to: Y:\research\graphics\cvsroot\

One of many online tutorials:  http://kuparinen.org/martti/comp/cvs/cvs.html 
One page cheat sheet for CVS:  http://www.bravegnu.org/cvscheat/cvscheat.pdf

CAUTION FOR WINDOWS USERS: The free versions of CVS we've tried do not work reliably on Windows. Unless you understand the underlying issues involved and carefully check your work you should perform CVS operations on Unix. It is generally safe to do a read-only check out of software from CVS on Windows.

For Windows developers it is imperative that when checking in text files that they use Linux style Line Feed (LF) delimiters.

The default delimiter on Windows is Carriage Return and Line Feed (CR/LF). To create text files with line feed delimiters you can either change your editor settings or use a conversion tool. Many editors do not support end of line settings. The Cygwin vim editor installed on the standard Brown desktop creates files with Line Feed delimiters. To convert files the dos2unix command is available on Linux and with Cygwin on Windows.

You can access files in your Linux sandbox from Windows using VPN. This can be slow, unreliable, and requires you be connected to the Brown CS network. If you are working on a Windows machine in the CS department the VPN connection is automatically established.

Alternatively you can check out files on Linux and copy them over to Windows. When you are done, copy them back to a CS Linux system, optionally convert end of lines, and check them in.