Archive:DocsProject/CvsBranching

Branching and Tagging in Docs CVS

This section covers how to branch and tag in CVS.

Also read DocsProject/CvsTagging for information on where, when, and why to tag.

The procedure, in a nutshell, follows. Always make sure your working copy is up to date and in sync with CVS if you are following these steps:

cd /path/to/module
cvs up -C .          # wipes out any local diff
cvs tag -F -c FC-3 .
cvs tag -b -r FC-3 FC-3-patches .

The first tag command is a marker on the whole module, stating essentially, "this is the final version of this doc in its FC-3 incarnation." (At least that is the FDP meaning of that tag.) The second tag command makes a branch on which any bug fixes or errata will be issued for the FC-3 version.

When someone does a normal "cvs co module", they will not be working on this branch. The default branch, HEAD, is where work will be done for the next version (FC-4 in our example). In fact, your working copy will also not be on this branch, even after running these commands. To check out the FC-3-patches branch, use this command:

cvs co -r FC-3-patches module

Of course, when you work in this fashion, you must be aware of which branch you are working from.