*********************************
RCS - The Revision Control System
*********************************
------------
What is RCS?
------------
RCS is a set of tools which help you to maintain version control
over files. RCS was originally intended for software source code,
but it now can handle binary files as well. The various programs
let you check in new revisions, checkout current or previous
revisions, review revision histories, etc.
Architecture: m68k-amigaos
RCS was developed originally at Purdue University by Walter Tichy.
It is intended mainly for Unix machines, but the function it
performs is really vital for any software development environment.
For a good introduction to RCS, read the article by Bryce Nesbitt
in the last issue of Amiga World Tech Journal (RIP). The rcsintro.doc
file (in this archive) also shows some examples.
------------
This Version
------------
This is the AMIGA port of version 5.6 of RCS, which I believe is the
latest (the one that was on the Amiga World Tech Disk was 4.3).
This version has several enhancements over the previous Amiga
ports - see the RCS.README file. For the Amiga, I've added wildcard
expansion. However, two items which the Amiga port does not use:
- GMT times - RCS normally logs the GMT time rather than the local
time for across-timezone coordination. I originally had this in
but it requires keeping timezone information in an environment
variable referenced by every commmand. This didn't seem worth it
so I reverted back to local time. I can put GMT back in if anyone
cares.
- Links - Although both AmigaDOS 2.0 and RCS support links, this port
does not handle links any differently than any other file. This is
mainly because most of the Unix-like link support / resolution
routines are present in DICE or SAS yet, and I'm too lazy to come
up with my own. I'm sure something will change there - Either I will
not be so lazy, or DICE and SAS will put them in. (Actually, DICE
does have a start on this already).
------------
Requirements
------------
This version of RCS requires AmigaDOS 2.0 or later. If you try to
run it under an earlier version, you should just get an error
message, and the program will exit.
------------
Installation
------------
Just put everything in the bin directory here somewhere in your
path. Put the doc files where ever you like. Note that many of the
programs run the 'diff' program - so diff needs to also be some-
where on your path. This is the latest diff from GNU (1.15) so
is a pretty handy program by itself. Sorry, I don't have a man
page for diff.
To use most of RCS, you need to set either LOGNAME or USER environ-
ment variable to the your name (or whatever name you want RCS to
long into the revision history). Example:
setenv LOGNAME SNEVL
NOTE: You can copy env:LOGNAME to envarc:LOGNAME and it will be
set for you automatically everytime you boot.
All of the executables are pure, so you can make them resident if
you wish.
--------------
rcsfreeze.rexx
--------------
This is an ARexx script I wrote to go along with the RCS programs.
On Unix systems there is a shell script called 'rcsfreeze' which
does the same thing. This script assigns a symbolic name to the
current checked-in version of every file in the current directory.
This lets you later recreate that exact baseline using only that
symbolic name, even though all the files may have had different
version numbers. If all of that doesn't make sense to you yet,
wait 'til you work with RCS a while.
------------
Distribution
------------
RCS is free software, distributed under the GNU Public License
(GPL) from the Free Software Foundation. See the file COPYING for
details of the GPL. The important things to note are: (1) There
is no warranty for RCS, by me or FSF; (2) RCS is free; you can
distribute it all you want (and you are encouraged to) but you
can not charge except to recover your costs associated with the
distribution; (3) I have not included the source code, but the
source code is available from me. If you want it, send me a floppy
and enough postage to return it to you. The source builds under
either DICE (2.06.40) or SAS/C (5.10b).
----------------------
Bugs / Requests / Etc.
----------------------
If you find a problem with any of the RCS stuff, report it to me
as soon as you can. DO NOT report the problem to the Free Software
Foundation. If there is a bug, it's probably from me. Even if you
want to request a change or just say hi, I'd be happy to hear
from you. If you want to request the source, you'll need to mail
your disk to me. Otherwise, you can get ahold of me via EMail.
Steve Anderson BIX: snevl
1136 11th Street Compuserve: 74375,1514
Manhattan Beach, CA 90266 Genie: S.ANDERSON11
I'm also on the AmigaSerV BBS from time to time: 310-983-1600
|
aminet net>