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RCSINTRO(1)					      RCSINTRO(1)

NAME
       rcsintro - introduction to RCS commands

DESCRIPTION
       The  Revision  Control System (RCS) manages multiple revi-
       sions of files.	RCS  automates	the  storing,  retrieval,
       logging, identification, and merging of revisions.  RCS is
       useful for text that is revised	frequently,  for  example
       programs,  documentation,  graphics, papers, and form let-
       ters.

       The basic user interface is extremely simple.  The  novice
       only  needs  to	learn two commands: ci(1) and co(1).  ci,
       short for "check in", deposits the contents of a file into
       an archival file called an RCS file.  An RCS file contains
       all revisions of a particular file.  co, short for  "check
       out", retrieves revisions from an RCS file.

   Functions of RCS
       o      Store and retrieve multiple revisions of text.  RCS
	      saves all old revisions in a space  efficient  way.
	      Changes no longer destroy the original, because the
	      previous revisions  remain  accessible.	Revisions
	      can  be  retrieved  according to ranges of revision
	      numbers,	symbolic  names,  dates,   authors,   and
	      states.

       o      Maintain	a  complete history of changes.	 RCS logs
	      all changes automatically.   Besides  the	 text  of
	      each  revision, RCS stores the author, the date and
	      time of check-in, and a log message summarizing the
	      change.  The logging makes it easy to find out what
	      happened to a module,  without  having  to  compare
	      source listings or having to track down colleagues.

       o      Resolve access conflicts.	 When two  or  more  pro-
	      grammers	wish  to  modify  the  same revision, RCS
	      alerts the programmers and prevents  one	modifica-
	      tion from corrupting the other.

       o      Maintain	a  tree	 of  revisions.	 RCS can maintain
	      separate lines of development for each module.   It
	      stores  a tree structure that represents the ances-
	      tral relationships among revisions.

       o      Merge revisions and resolve conflicts.   Two  sepa-
	      rate  lines  of development of a module can be coa-
	      lesced by merging.  If the revisions to  be  merged
	      affect  the  same	 sections of code, RCS alerts the
	      user about the overlapping changes.

       o      Control releases and configurations.  Revisions can
	      be  assigned symbolic names and marked as released,
	      stable, experimental, etc.  With these  facilities,

GNU			     18:11:44				1

RCSINTRO(1)					      RCSINTRO(1)

	      configurations  of  modules can be described simply
	      and directly.

       o      Automatically identify  each  revision  with  name,
	      revision	number,	 creation time, author, etc.  The
	      identification is like a stamp that can be embedded
	      at  an appropriate place in the text of a revision.
	      The identification makes	it  simple  to	determine
	      which  revisions	of  which modules make up a given
	      configuration.

       o      Minimize secondary storage.  RCS needs little extra
	      space for the revisions (only the differences).  If
	      intermediate revisions are deleted, the correspond-
	      ing deltas are compressed accordingly.

   Getting Started with RCS
       Suppose	you  have  a  file f.c that you wish to put under
       control of RCS.	If you have not already done so, make  an
       RCS directory with the command

	      mkdir  RCS

       Then invoke the check-in command

	      ci  f.c

       This  command  creates  an  RCS file in the RCS directory,
       stores f.c into it as revision 1.1, and deletes	f.c.   It
       also  asks  you for a description.  The description should
       be a synopsis of the contents  of  the  file.   All  later
       check-in	 commands  will	 ask  you  for a log entry, which
       should summarize the changes that you made.

       Files in the RCS directory are called RCS files; the  oth-
       ers  are	 called	 working  files.  To get back the working
       file f.c in the previous example, use the  check-out  com-
       mand

	      co  f.c

       This  command  extracts	the  latest revision from the RCS
       file and writes it into f.c.  If you want to edit f.c, you
       must lock it as you check it out with the command

	      co  -l  f.c

       You can now edit f.c.

       Suppose	after  some editing you want to know what changes
       that you have made.  The command

	      rcsdiff  f.c

GNU			     18:11:44				2

RCSINTRO(1)					      RCSINTRO(1)

       tells  you  the	difference  between  the  most	 recently
       checked-in  version  and	 the working file.  You can check
       the file back in by invoking

	      ci  f.c

       This increments the revision number properly.

       If ci complains with the message

	      ci error: no lock set by your name

       then you have tried to check in a file even though you did
       not lock it when you checked it out.  Of course, it is too
       late now to do the check-out with locking, because another
       check-out  would	 overwrite  your modifications.	 Instead,
       invoke

	      rcs  -l  f.c

       This command will lock the latest revision for you, unless
       somebody	 else  got  ahead  of you already.  In this case,
       you'll have to negotiate with that person.

       Locking assures that you, and only you, can check  in  the
       next  update,  and avoids nasty problems if several people
       work on the same file.  Even if a revision is  locked,  it
       can still be checked out for reading, compiling, etc.  All
       that locking prevents is a check-in  by	anybody	 but  the
       locker.

       If  your	 RCS  file  is private, i.e., if you are the only
       person who is going to deposit revisions into  it,  strict
       locking	is not needed and you can turn it off.	If strict
       locking is turned off, the owner of the RCS file need  not
       have  a	lock  for check-in; all others still do.  Turning
       strict locking off and on is done with the commands

	      rcs  -U  f.c     and     rcs  -L	f.c

       If you don't want to clutter your working  directory  with
       RCS  files, create a subdirectory called RCS in your work-
       ing directory, and move all your	 RCS  files  there.   RCS
       commands	 will  look  first  into  that	directory to find
       needed files.  All the commands discussed above will still
       work,  without  any modification.  (Actually, pairs of RCS
       and working files can be specified in three ways: (a) both
       are  given,  (b)	 only the working file is given, (c) only
       the RCS file is given.  Both RCS	 and  working  files  may
       have  arbitrary	path  prefixes; RCS commands pair them up
       intelligently.)

       To avoid the deletion of the working file during	 check-in
       (in  case  you  want  to	 continue  editing or compiling),

GNU			     18:11:44				3

RCSINTRO(1)					      RCSINTRO(1)

       invoke

	      ci  -l  f.c     or     ci	 -u  f.c

       These commands check in	f.c  as	 usual,	 but  perform  an
       implicit check-out.  The first form also locks the checked
       in revision, the second one doesn't.  Thus, these  options
       save  you one check-out operation.  The first form is use-
       ful if you want to continue editing, the second one if you
       just  want  to read the file.  Both update the identifica-
       tion markers in your working file (see below).

       You can give ci the number you want assigned to a  checked
       in revision.  Assume all your revisions were numbered 1.1,
       1.2, 1.3, etc., and you would like  to  start  release  2.
       The command

	      ci  -r2  f.c     or     ci  -r2.1	 f.c

       assigns the number 2.1 to the new revision.  From then on,
       ci will number the subsequent  revisions	 with  2.2,  2.3,
       etc.  The corresponding co commands

	      co  -r2  f.c     and     co  -r2.1  f.c

       retrieve the latest revision numbered 2.x and the revision
       2.1, respectively.  co without a revision  number  selects
       the  latest  revision on the trunk, i.e. the highest revi-
       sion with a number consisting of two fields.  Numbers with
       more  than  two fields are needed for branches.	For exam-
       ple, to start a branch at revision 1.3, invoke

	      ci  -r1.3.1  f.c

       This command starts a branch numbered 1 at  revision  1.3,
       and  assigns  the number 1.3.1.1 to the new revision.  For
       more information about branches, see rcsfile(5).

   Automatic Identification
       RCS can put special strings for identification  into  your
       source  and  object  code.  To obtain such identification,
       place the marker

	      $Id$

       into your text, for instance inside a comment.	RCS  will
       replace this marker with a string of the form

	      $Id:  filename  revision	date  time  author  state
	      $

       With such a marker on the first page of each  module,  you
       can  always  see with which revision you are working.  RCS
       keeps the markers up to date automatically.  To	propagate

GNU			     18:11:44				4

RCSINTRO(1)					      RCSINTRO(1)

       the  markers  into  your object code, simply put them into
       literal character strings.  In C, this is done as follows:

	      static char rcsid[] = "$Id$";

       The  command  ident  extracts  such markers from any file,
       even object code and dumps.  Thus, ident lets you find out
       which revisions of which modules were used in a given pro-
       gram.

       You may also find it useful to put the marker  $Log$  into
       your  text, inside a comment.  This marker accumulates the
       log messages that are requested	during	check-in.   Thus,
       you  can	 maintain  the	complete  history  of  your  file
       directly inside it.  There are several additional  identi-
       fication markers; see co(1) for details.

IDENTIFICATION
       Author: Walter F. Tichy.
       Manual  Page Revision: 1995/12/06; Release Date: 18:11:44.
       Copyright (C) 1982, 1988, 1989 Walter F. Tichy.
       Copyright (C) 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993 Paul Eggert.

SEE ALSO
       ci(1), co(1), ident(1), rcs(1),	rcsdiff(1),  rcsintro(1),
       rcsmerge(1), rlog(1)
       Walter  F.  Tichy,  RCS--A  System  for	Version	 Control,
       Software--Practice  &  Experience  15,  7   (July   1985),
       637-654.

GNU			     18:11:44				5

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