Chapter 6

The 1.2 is the revision number for the version I want to update to, which can be 

determined by looking at the output of cvs log.

Another way to use cvs update to travel into the past is to include the  D option 

to specify a date to travel back to. For example, to update the entire tree to the state 

it was in on Monday, May 28th, you'd do something like this:

$ cvs update  D "5/28/2002"

cvs update: Updating .

U Changes

U Counter.pm

U INSTALL

...

As you can see, this has the advantage of working across the entire project. Since 

revision numbers (used with the  r option) are specific to a single file, they can't be 

used with multiple files.

To get back to the most recent version, you need to use the  A option to 

cvs update:

$ cvs update  A

cvs update: Updating .

U Counter.pm

cvs update: Updating t

This allows you to begin making changes to your files and committing them. In 

CVS you can examine the past but you can't change it.

9

 Until you update with  A, CVS 

will prevent you from committing changes to files from the past.

Getting the Most out of CVS

You can get a lot out of CVS with only a little knowledge, which is fortunate since 

that's all I have space to impart. However, CVS supports many more useful features 

than I've had space to cover tags, branches, conflict resolution, and much more. 

This section has introduced you to CVS and demonstrated a few common tasks. 

Hopefully you now see what a useful tool CVS can be in your development. It can 

allow you to work with patches and changes much more intelligently, as well as 

opening the door to multideveloper projects.

9. Thus CVS has solved the age old science fiction paradox: You can neither kill Hitler nor 

prevent your own conception with CVS, for better or worse.

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