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CVS(1)			    General Commands Manual			CVS(1)



NAME
       cvs - Concurrent Versions System

SYNOPSIS
       cvs [ cvs_options ]
	      cvs_command [ command_options ] [ command_args ]

NOTE
       This  manpage is a summary of some of the features of cvs.  It is auto-
       generated from an appendix of the CVS manual.  For more in-depth	 docu-
       mentation,  please consult the Cederqvist manual (via the info CVS com-
       mand or otherwise, as described in the SEE ALSO section	of  this  man-
       page).  Cross-references in this man page refer to nodes in the same.

CVS commands
   Guide to CVS commands
       This  appendix  describes  the  overall	structure of cvs commands, and
       describes some commands in detail (others are described elsewhere;  for
       a  quick	 reference to cvs commands, see node `Invoking CVS' in the CVS
       manual).


Structure
   Overall structure of CVS commands
       The overall format of all cvs commands is:


	 cvs [ cvs_options ] cvs_command [ command_options ] [ command_args ]






       cvs

	 The name of the cvs program.



       cvs_options

	 Some  options	that  affect  all  sub-commands	 of  cvs.   These  are
	 described below.



       cvs_command

	 One  of  several  different  sub-commands.  Some of the commands have
	 aliases that can be used instead; those aliases are noted in the ref-
	 erence	 manual for that command.  There are only two situations where
	 you may omit cvs_command: cvs -H elicits a  list  of  available  com-
	 mands, and cvs -v displays version information on cvs itself.



       command_options

	 Options that are specific for the command.



       command_args

	 Arguments to the commands.

	 There	is  unfortunately  some confusion between cvs_options and com-
	 mand_options.	When given as a cvs_option, some options  only	affect
	 some  of  the commands.  When given as a command_option it may have a
	 different meaning, and be accepted by more commands.  In other words,
	 do not take the above categorization too seriously.  Look at the doc-
	 umentation instead.


Exit status
   CVS's exit status
       cvs can indicate to the calling environment  whether  it	 succeeded  or
       failed  by  setting its exit status.  The exact way of testing the exit
       status will vary from one operating system to another.  For example  in
       a  unix	shell  script  the  $?	variable will be 0 if the last command
       returned a successful exit status, or greater than 0 if the exit status
       indicated failure.

       If  cvs	is  successful, it returns a successful status; if there is an
       error, it prints an error message and returns a	failure	 status.   The
       one  exception  to this is the cvs diff command.	 It will return a suc-
       cessful status if it found no differences, or a failure status if there
       were  differences or if there was an error.  Because this behavior pro-
       vides no good way to detect errors, in the future it is	possible  that
       cvs diff will be changed to behave like the other cvs commands.


~/.cvsrc
   Default options and the ~/.cvsrc file
       There  are  some	 command_options that are used so often that you might
       have set up an alias or some other means to make sure you always	 spec-
       ify that option.	 One example (the one that drove the implementation of
       the .cvsrc support, actually) is that many people find the default out-
       put  of	the diff command to be very hard to read, and that either con-
       text diffs or unidiffs are much easier to understand.

       The ~/.cvsrc file is a way that you can add default options to cvs_com-
       mands within cvs, instead of relying on aliases or other shell scripts.

       The  format of the ~/.cvsrc file is simple.  The file is searched for a
       line that begins with the same name as the cvs_command being  executed.
       If  a  match  is	 found, then the remainder of the line is split up (at
       whitespace characters) into separate options and added to  the  command
       arguments before any options from the command line.

       If  a command has two names (e.g., checkout and co), the official name,
       not necessarily the one used on the command line, will be used to match
       against	the  file.   So if this is the contents of the user's ~/.cvsrc
       file:


	 log -N
	 diff -uN
	 rdiff -u
	 update -Pd
	 checkout -P
	 release -d




       the command cvs checkout foo would have the  -P	option	added  to  the
       arguments, as well as cvs co foo.

       With the example file above, the output from cvs diff foobar will be in
       unidiff format.	cvs diff -c foobar  will  provide  context  diffs,  as
       usual.	Getting "old" format diffs would be slightly more complicated,
       because diff doesn't have an option to specify use of the "old" format,
       so you would need cvs -f diff foobar.

       In  place of the command name you can use cvs to specify global options
       (see node `Global options' in the CVS manual).  For example the follow-
       ing line in .cvsrc


	 cvs -z6




       causes cvs to use compression level 6.


Global options
       The  available  cvs_options (that are given to the left of cvs_command)
       are:



       --allow-root=rootdir

	 Specify  legal	 cvsroot  directory.   See  `Password	authentication
	 server' in the CVS manual.



       -a

	 Authenticate  all  communication  between  the client and the server.
	 Only has an effect on the cvs client.	As of this  writing,  this  is
	 only  implemented  when  using	 a GSSAPI connection (see node `GSSAPI
	 authenticated' in the CVS manual).  Authentication  prevents  certain
	 sorts	of  attacks  involving	hijacking  the	active tcp connection.
	 Enabling authentication does not enable encryption.



       -b bindir

	 In cvs 1.9.18 and older, this specified that rcs programs are in  the
	 bindir	 directory.   Current versions of cvs do not run rcs programs;
	 for compatibility this option is accepted, but it does nothing.



       -T tempdir

	 Use tempdir as the  directory	where  temporary  files	 are  located.
	 Overrides  the	 setting  of  the $TMPDIR environment variable and any
	 precompiled directory.	 This parameter	 should	 be  specified	as  an
	 absolute  pathname.  (When running client/server, -T affects only the
	 local process; specifying -T for the client  has  no  effect  on  the
	 server and vice versa.)



       -d cvs_root_directory

	 Use  cvs_root_directory as the root directory pathname of the reposi-
	 tory.	Overrides the setting of the  $CVSROOT	environment  variable.
	 See `Repository' in the CVS manual.



       -e editor

	 Use  editor to enter revision log information.	 Overrides the setting
	 of the $CVSEDITOR and $EDITOR environment variables.  For more infor-
	 mation, see `Committing your changes' in the CVS manual.



       -f

	 Do  not  read	the  ~/.cvsrc  file.   This  option is most often used
	 because of the non-orthogonality of the cvs option set.  For example,
	 the cvs log option -N (turn off display of tag names) does not have a
	 corresponding option to turn the display on.  So if you  have	-N  in
	 the  ~/.cvsrc	entry  for log, you may need to use -f to show the tag
	 names.



       -H




       --help

	 Display usage information about the specified cvs_command (but do not
	 actually  execute the command).  If you don't specify a command name,
	 cvs -H displays overall help for cvs, including a list of other  help
	 options.



       -n

	 Do  not  change  any  files.  Attempt to execute the cvs_command, but
	 only to issue reports; do not remove, update, or merge	 any  existing
	 files, or create any new files.

	 Note that cvs will not necessarily produce exactly the same output as
	 without -n.  In some cases the output will be the same, but in	 other
	 cases	cvs  will  skip	 some  of  the processing that would have been
	 required to produce the exact same output.



       -Q

	 Cause the command to be really quiet; the command will only  generate
	 output for serious problems.



       -q

	 Cause	the command to be somewhat quiet; informational messages, such
	 as reports of recursion through subdirectories, are suppressed.



       -r

	 Make new working files read-only.  Same effect	 as  if	 the  $CVSREAD
	 environment  variable is set (see node `Environment variables' in the
	 CVS manual).  The default is to make working files  writable,	unless
	 watches are on (see node `Watches' in the CVS manual).



       -s variable=value

	 Set a user variable (see node `Variables' in the CVS manual).



       -t

	 Trace	program	 execution;  display messages showing the steps of cvs
	 activity.  Particularly useful	 with  -n  to  explore	the  potential
	 impact of an unfamiliar command.



       -v




       --version

	 Display version and copyright information for cvs.



       -w

	 Make  new  working  files  read-write.	  Overrides the setting of the
	 $CVSREAD environment  variable.   Files  are  created	read-write  by
	 default, unless $CVSREAD is set or -r is given.



       -x

	 Encrypt  all  communication  between the client and the server.  Only
	 has an effect on the cvs client.  As of this writing,	this  is  only
	 implemented  when using a GSSAPI connection (see node `GSSAPI authen-
	 ticated' in the CVS manual) or a Kerberos connection (see node	 `Ker-
	 beros authenticated' in the CVS manual).  Enabling encryption implies
	 that message traffic is also authenticated.   Encryption  support  is
	 not  available by default; it must be enabled using a special config-
	 ure option, --enable-encryption, when you build cvs.



       -z gzip-level

	 Set the compression level.  Valid levels are 1 (high speed, low  com-
	 pression)  to	9  (low speed, high compression), or 0 to disable com-
	 pression (the default).  Only has an effect on the cvs client.



Common options
   Common command options
       This section describes the command_options that	are  available	across
       several	cvs  commands.	These options are always given to the right of
       cvs_command. Not all commands support all of these options; each option
       is  only	 supported for commands where it makes sense.  However, when a
       command has one of these options you can almost	always	count  on  the
       same  behavior  of  the	option	as  in other commands.	(Other command
       options, which are listed with the individual commands, may  have  dif-
       ferent behavior from one cvs command to the other).

       The history command is an exception; it supports many options that con-
       flict even with these standard options.



       -D date_spec

	 Use the most recent revision no later than date_spec.	date_spec is a
	 single argument, a date description specifying a date in the past.

	 The specification is sticky when you use it to make a private copy of
	 a source file; that is, when you get a working	 file  using  -D,  cvs
	 records  the  date you specified, so that further updates in the same
	 directory will use the same date  (for	 more  information  on	sticky
	 tags/dates, see node `Sticky tags' in the CVS manual).

	 -D  is	 available with the annotate, checkout, diff, export, history,
	 rdiff, rtag, and update commands.  (The  history  command  uses  this
	 option in a slightly different way; see node `history options' in the
	 CVS manual).

	 A wide variety of date formats are supported by cvs.  The most	 stan-
	 dard ones are ISO8601 (from the International Standards Organization)
	 and the Internet e-mail standard (specified in RFC822 as  amended  by
	 RFC1123).

	 ISO8601 dates have many variants but a few examples are:


	   1972-09-24
	   1972-09-24 20:05




	 There	are  a	lot more ISO8601 date formats, and cvs accepts many of
	 them, but you probably don't want to hear the whole long story :-).

	 In addition to the dates allowed in Internet e-mail itself, cvs  also
	 allows some of the fields to be omitted.  For example:


	   24 Sep 1972 20:05
	   24 Sep




	 The date is interpreted as being in the local timezone, unless a spe-
	 cific timezone is specified.

	 These two date formats are preferred.	However, cvs currently accepts
	 a  wide  variety  of  other date formats.  They are intentionally not
	 documented here in any detail, and future versions of cvs  might  not
	 accept all of them.

	 One  such  format is month/day/year.  This may confuse people who are
	 accustomed to having the month and day in the other order; 1/4/96  is
	 January 4, not April 1.

	 Remember  to  quote  the  argument  to the -D flag so that your shell
	 doesn't interpret spaces as argument separators.  A command using the
	 -D flag can look like this:


	   $ cvs diff -D "1 hour ago" cvs.texinfo






       -f

	 When  you specify a particular date or tag to cvs commands, they nor-
	 mally ignore files that do not contain the  tag  (or  did  not	 exist
	 prior to the date) that you specified.	 Use the -f option if you want
	 files retrieved even when there is no match  for  the	tag  or	 date.
	 (The most recent revision of the file will be used).

	 Note  that  even with -f, a tag that you specify must exist (that is,
	 in some file, not necessary in every file).  This is so that cvs will
	 continue to give an error if you mistype a tag name.

	 -f  is	 available  with  these	 commands: annotate, checkout, export,
	 rdiff, rtag, and update.

	 WARNING:  The commit and remove commands also have a -f  option,  but
	 it has a different behavior for those commands.  See `commit options'
	 in the CVS manual, and `Removing files' in the CVS manual.



       -k kflag

	 Alter the default processing of keywords.  See `Keyword substitution'
	 in  the  CVS manual, for the meaning of kflag.	 Your kflag specifica-
	 tion is sticky when you use it to create a private copy of  a	source
	 file;	that  is, when you use this option with the checkout or update
	 commands, cvs associates your selected kflag with the file, and  con-
	 tinues	 to  use it with future update commands on the same file until
	 you specify otherwise.

	 The -k option is available  with  the	add,  checkout,	 diff,	rdiff,
	 import and update commands.



       -l

	 Local;	 run  only in current working directory, rather than recursing
	 through subdirectories.

	 Available with the following commands:	 annotate,  checkout,  commit,
	 diff,	edit,  editors, export, log, rdiff, remove, rtag, status, tag,
	 unedit, update, watch, and watchers.



       -m message

	 Use message as log information, instead of invoking an editor.

	 Available with the following commands: add, commit and import.



       -n

	 Do not run any tag program.  (A program can be specified  to  run  in
	 the  modules  database	 (see  node `modules' in the CVS manual); this
	 option bypasses it).

	 This is not the same as the cvs -n  program  option,  which  you  can
	 specify to the left of a cvs command!

	 Available with the checkout, export, and rtag commands.



       -P

	 Prune	empty directories.  See `Removing directories' in the CVS man-
	 ual.



       -p

	 Pipe the files retrieved from	the  repository	 to  standard  output,
	 rather	 than  writing	them in the current directory.	Available with
	 the checkout and update commands.



       -R

	 Process directories recursively.  This is on by default.

	 Available with the following commands:	 annotate,  checkout,  commit,
	 diff,	edit,  editors,	 export,  rdiff,  remove,  rtag,  status, tag,
	 unedit, update, watch, and watchers.



       -r tag

	 Use the revision specified by the tag argument instead of the default
	 head  revision.   As  well  as arbitrary tags defined with the tag or
	 rtag command, two special tags are always available: HEAD  refers  to
	 the  most recent version available in the repository, and BASE refers
	 to the revision you last checked out into the current working	direc-
	 tory.

	 The  tag  specification  is sticky when you use this with checkout or
	 update to make your own copy of a file: cvs  remembers	 the  tag  and
	 continues to use it on future update commands, until you specify oth-
	 erwise (for more information on sticky tags/dates, see	 node  `Sticky
	 tags' in the CVS manual).

	 The  tag  can	be  either  a symbolic or numeric tag, as described in
	 `Tags' in the CVS manual, or the name of a branch,  as	 described  in
	 `Branching  and merging' in the CVS manual.  When a command expects a
	 specific revision, the name of a branch is interpreted	 as  the  most
	 recent revision on that branch.

	 Specifying  the  -q global option along with the -r command option is
	 often useful, to suppress the warning messages when the rcs file does
	 not contain the specified tag.

	 This  is  not	the  same  as the overall cvs -r option, which you can
	 specify to the left of a cvs command!

	 -r is available with the annotate, checkout, commit,  diff,  history,
	 export, rdiff, rtag, and update commands.



       -W

	 Specify  file names that should be filtered.  You can use this option
	 repeatedly.  The spec can be a file name pattern  of  the  same  type
	 that  you  can	 specify in the .cvswrappers file.  Available with the
	 following commands: import, and update.



add
   Add files and directories to the repository
       o Synopsis: add [-k rcs-kflag] [-m message] files...

       o Requires: repository, working directory.

       o Changes: repository, working directory.

	 The add command is used to present  new  files	 and  directories  for
	 addition into the cvs repository.  When add is used on a directory, a
	 new directory is created in the repository immediately.  When used on
	 a file, only the working directory is updated.	 Changes to the repos-
	 itory are not made until the commit command  is  used	on  the	 newly
	 added file.

	 The  add  command  also  resurrects  files  that have been previously
	 removed.  This can be done before or after the commit command is used
	 to  finalize  the  removal  of files.	Resurrected files are restored
	 into the working directory at the time the add command is executed.


add options
       These standard options are supported by add (see node `Common  options'
       in the CVS manual, for a complete description of them):



       -k kflag

	 Process  keywords  according to kflag.	 See `Keyword substitution' in
	 the CVS manual.  This option is sticky; future updates of  this  file
	 in  this  working directory will use the same kflag.  The status com-
	 mand can be viewed to see the sticky options.	For  more  information
	 on the status command, see node `Invoking CVS' in the CVS manual.



       -m message

	 Use message as the log message, instead of invoking an editor.


add examples
   Adding a directory
	 $ mkdir doc
	 $ cvs add doc
	 Directory /path/to/repository/doc added to the repository





   Adding a file
	 $ >TODO
	 $ cvs add TODO
	 cvs add: scheduling file `TODO' for addition
	 cvs add: use 'cvs commit' to add this file permanently





   Undoing a remove command
	 $ rm -f makefile
	 $ cvs remove makefile
	 cvs remove: scheduling `makefile' for removal
	 cvs remove: use 'cvs commit' to remove this file permanently
	 $ cvs add makefile
	 U makefile
	 cvs add: makefile, version 1.2, resurrected





admin
   Administration
       o Requires: repository, working directory.

       o Changes: repository.

       o Synonym: rcs

	 This  is  the	cvs  interface	to assorted administrative facilities.
	 Some of them have questionable usefulness for cvs but exist for  his-
	 torical  purposes.   Some  of	the questionable options are likely to
	 disappear in the future.  This	 command  does	work  recursively,  so
	 extreme care should be used.

	 On  unix,  if	there  is a group named cvsadmin, only members of that
	 group can run cvs admin (except for the cvs admin -k  command,	 which
	 can  be  run  by anybody).  This group should exist on the server, or
	 any system running the non-client/server cvs.	To disallow cvs	 admin
	 for all users, create a group with no users in it.  On NT, the cvsad-
	 min feature does not exist and all users can run cvs admin.


admin options
       Some of these options have questionable usefulness for  cvs  but	 exist
       for historical purposes.	 Some even make it impossible to use cvs until
       you undo the effect!



       -Aoldfile

	 Might not work together with cvs.  Append the access list of  oldfile
	 to the access list of the rcs file.



       -alogins

	 Might	not  work together with cvs.  Append the login names appearing
	 in the comma-separated list logins to the  access  list  of  the  rcs
	 file.



       -b[rev]

	 Set  the  default branch to rev.  In cvs, you normally do not manipu-
	 late default branches; sticky tags (see node `Sticky tags' in the CVS
	 manual)  are a better way to decide which branch you want to work on.
	 There is one reason to run cvs admin -b: to revert  to	 the  vendor's
	 version  when	using  vendor  branches	 (see  node  `Reverting	 local
	 changes' in the CVS manual).  There can be no space  between  -b  and
	 its argument.



       -cstring

	 Sets the comment leader to string.  The comment leader is not used by
	 current versions of cvs or rcs 5.7.  Therefore, you can almost surely
	 not worry about it.  See `Keyword substitution' in the CVS manual.



       -e[logins]

	 Might not work together with cvs.  Erase the login names appearing in
	 the comma-separated list logins from the access list of the RCS file.
	 If  logins is omitted, erase the entire access list.  There can be no
	 space between -e and its argument.



       -I

	 Run interactively, even if the standard  input	 is  not  a  terminal.
	 This option does not work with the client/server cvs and is likely to
	 disappear in a future release of cvs.



       -i

	 Useless with cvs.  This creates and initializes a new rcs file, with-
	 out depositing a revision.  With cvs, add files with the cvs add com-
	 mand (see node `Adding files' in the CVS manual).



       -ksubst

	 Set the default keyword substitution to subst.	 See `Keyword  substi-
	 tution'  in  the  CVS	manual.	  Giving  an explicit -k option to cvs
	 update, cvs export, or cvs checkout overrides this default.



       -l[rev]

	 Lock the revision with number rev.  If a branch is  given,  lock  the
	 latest	 revision  on that branch.  If rev is omitted, lock the latest
	 revision on the default branch.  There can be no space between -l and
	 its argument.

	 This  can  be	used  in conjunction with the rcslock.pl script in the
	 contrib directory of the cvs source distribution to provide  reserved
	 checkouts  (where  only  one  user  can  be editing a given file at a
	 time).	 See the comments in that file for details (and see the README
	 file  in  that directory for disclaimers about the unsupported nature
	 of contrib).  According to comments in that file, locking must set to
	 strict (which is the default).



       -L

	 Set locking to strict.	 Strict locking means that the owner of an RCS
	 file is not exempt from locking  for  checkin.	  For  use  with  cvs,
	 strict	 locking  must	be set; see the discussion under the -l option
	 above.



       -mrev:msg

	 Replace the log message of revision rev with msg.



       -Nname[:[rev]]

	 Act like -n, except override any previous assignment  of  name.   For
	 use  with  magic branches, see `Magic branch numbers' in the CVS man-
	 ual.



       -nname[:[rev]]

	 Associate the symbolic name name with the branch or revision rev.  It
	 is  normally  better  to use cvs tag or cvs rtag instead.  Delete the
	 symbolic name if both : and rev  are  omitted;	 otherwise,  print  an
	 error	message if name is already associated with another number.  If
	 rev is symbolic, it is expanded before association.  A rev consisting
	 of  a	branch	number	followed  by a . stands for the current latest
	 revision in the branch.  A : with an empty rev stands for the current
	 latest revision on the default branch, normally the trunk.  For exam-
	 ple, cvs admin -nname: associates name with the current latest	 revi-
	 sion  of  all	the  RCS files; this contrasts with cvs admin -nname:$
	 which associates name with the revision numbers extracted  from  key-
	 word strings in the corresponding working files.



       -orange

	 Deletes (outdates) the revisions given by range.

	 Note that this command can be quite dangerous unless you know exactly
	 what you are doing (for example see the warnings below about how  the
	 rev1:rev2 syntax is confusing).

	 If you are short on disc this option might help you.  But think twice
	 before using it--there is no way short of restoring the latest backup
	 to  undo  this	 command!   If you delete different revisions than you
	 planned, either due to carelessness or (heaven	 forbid)  a  cvs  bug,
	 there is no opportunity to correct the error before the revisions are
	 deleted.  It probably would be a good idea to experiment on a copy of
	 the repository first.

	 Specify range in one of the following ways:


	 rev1::rev2

	   Collapse  all  revisions  between  rev1  and rev2, so that cvs only
	   stores the differences associated with going from rev1 to rev2, not
	   intermediate	 steps.	  For  example,	 after	-o  1.3::1.5  one  can
	   retrieve revision 1.3, revision 1.5, or the differences to get from
	   1.3	to  1.5,  but not the revision 1.4, or the differences between
	   1.3 and 1.4.	 Other examples: -o 1.3::1.4 and -o 1.3::1.3  have  no
	   effect, because there are no intermediate revisions to remove.


	 ::rev

	   Collapse  revisions	between the beginning of the branch containing
	   rev and rev itself.	The branchpoint and rev are left intact.   For
	   example,  -o	 ::1.3.2.6 deletes revision 1.3.2.1, revision 1.3.2.5,
	   and everything in between, but leaves 1.3 and 1.3.2.6 intact.


	 rev::

	   Collapse revisions between rev and the end of the branch containing
	   rev.	 Revision rev is left intact but the head revision is deleted.


	 rev

	   Delete  the	revision rev.  For example, -o 1.3 is equivalent to -o
	   1.2::1.4.


	 rev1:rev2

	   Delete the revisions from rev1 to  rev2,  inclusive,	 on  the  same
	   branch.   One  will	not be able to retrieve rev1 or rev2 or any of
	   the revisions in between.   For  example,  the  command  cvs	 admin
	   -oR_1_01:R_1_02  .  is rarely useful.  It means to delete revisions
	   up to, and including, the tag R_1_02.  But beware!	If  there  are
	   files that have not changed between R_1_02 and R_1_03 the file will
	   have the same numerical revision number assigned to the tags R_1_02
	   and	R_1_03.	 So not only will it be impossible to retrieve R_1_02;
	   R_1_03 will also have to be restored from the tapes!	 In most cases
	   you want to specify rev1::rev2 instead.


	 :rev

	   Delete revisions from the beginning of the branch containing rev up
	   to and including rev.


	 rev:

	   Delete revisions from revision rev, including rev  itself,  to  the
	   end of the branch containing rev.

	   None of the revisions to be deleted may have branches or locks.

	   If  any of the revisions to be deleted have symbolic names, and one
	   specifies one of the :: syntaxes, then cvs will give an  error  and
	   not	delete	any  revisions.	 If you really want to delete both the
	   symbolic names and the revisions, first delete the  symbolic	 names
	   with	 cvs  tag  -d,	then  run  cvs admin -o.  If one specifies the
	   non-:: syntaxes, then cvs will delete the revisions but  leave  the
	   symbolic names pointing to nonexistent revisions.  This behavior is
	   preserved for compatibility with  previous  versions	 of  cvs,  but
	   because  it	isn't  very  useful, in the future it may change to be
	   like the :: case.

	   Due to the way cvs handles branches rev cannot be specified symbol-
	   ically  if  it  is a branch.	 See `Magic branch numbers' in the CVS
	   manual for an explanation.

	   Make sure that no-one has checked out a copy of  the	 revision  you
	   outdate.   Strange  things  will happen if he starts to edit it and
	   tries to check it back in.  For this reason, this option is	not  a
	   good way to take back a bogus commit; commit a new revision undoing
	   the bogus change instead (see node `Merging two revisions'  in  the
	   CVS manual).



       -q

	 Run quietly; do not print diagnostics.



       -sstate[:rev]

	 Useful	 with  cvs.   Set  the	state attribute of the revision rev to
	 state.	 If rev is a branch number, assume the latest revision on that
	 branch.  If rev is omitted, assume the latest revision on the default
	 branch.  Any identifier is acceptable for state.   A  useful  set  of
	 states	 is  Exp  (for	experimental), Stab (for stable), and Rel (for
	 released).  By default, the state of a new revision  is  set  to  Exp
	 when  it is created.  The state is visible in the output from cvs log
	 (see node `log' in the CVS manual), and in the $Log$ and $State$ key-
	 words (see node `Keyword substitution' in the CVS manual).  Note that
	 cvs uses the dead state for its own purposes (see node `Attic' in the
	 CVS  manual);	to  take a file to or from the dead state use commands
	 like cvs remove and cvs add (see node `Adding and  removing'  in  the
	 CVS manual), not cvs admin -s.



       -t[file]

	 Useful	 with  cvs.   Write  descriptive text from the contents of the
	 named file into the RCS file, deleting the existing text.   The  file
	 pathname  may	not begin with -.  The descriptive text can be seen in
	 the output from cvs log (see node `log' in the	 CVS  manual).	 There
	 can be no space between -t and its argument.

	 If  file  is omitted, obtain the text from standard input, terminated
	 by end-of-file or by a line containing . by itself.  Prompt  for  the
	 text if interaction is possible; see -I.



       -t-string

	 Similar  to  -tfile.  Write descriptive text from the string into the
	 rcs file, deleting the existing text.	There can be no space  between
	 -t and its argument.



       -U

	 Set  locking  to non-strict.  Non-strict locking means that the owner
	 of a file need not lock a revision for checkin.  For  use  with  cvs,
	 strict	 locking  must	be set; see the discussion under the -l option
	 above.



       -u[rev]

	 See the option -l above, for a discussion of using this  option  with
	 cvs.	Unlock	the  revision  with number rev.	 If a branch is given,
	 unlock the latest revision on that branch.  If rev is omitted, remove
	 the  latest  lock held by the caller.	Normally, only the locker of a
	 revision may unlock it; somebody else unlocking a revision breaks the
	 lock.	 This causes the original locker to be sent a commit notifica-
	 tion (see node `Getting Notified' in the CVS manual).	There  can  be
	 no space between -u and its argument.



       -Vn

	 In  previous  versions of cvs, this option meant to write an rcs file
	 which would be acceptable to rcs version n, but it  is	 now  obsolete
	 and specifying it will produce an error.



       -xsuffixes

	 In previous versions of cvs, this was documented as a way of specify-
	 ing the names of the rcs files.  However,  cvs	 has  always  required
	 that  the  rcs	 files used by cvs end in ,v, so this option has never
	 done anything useful.



annotate
   What revision modified each line of a file?
       o Synopsis: annotate [options] files...

       o Requires: repository.

       o Synonym: blame

       o Changes: nothing.

	 For each file in  files,  print  the  head  revision  of  the	trunk,
	 together with information on the last modification for each line.


annotate options
       These  standard	options	 are  supported	 by annotate (see node `Common
       options' in the CVS manual for a complete description of them):



       -l

	 Local directory only, no recursion.



       -R

	 Process directories recursively.



       -f

	 Use head revision if tag/date not found.



       -F

	 Annotate binary files.



       -r revision

	 Annotate file as of specified revision/tag.



       -D date

	 Annotate file as of specified date.


annotate example
       For example:


	 $ cvs annotate ssfile
	 Annotations for ssfile
	 ***************
	 1.1	      (mary	27-Mar-96): ssfile line 1
	 1.2	      (joe	28-Mar-96): ssfile line 2




       The file ssfile currently contains two lines.  The ssfile line  1  line
       was  checked  in	 by  mary on March 27.	Then, on March 28, joe added a
       line ssfile line 2, without modifying the ssfile	 line  1  line.	  This
       report doesn't tell you anything about lines which have been deleted or
       replaced; you need to use cvs diff for that (see node `diff' in the CVS
       manual).

       The  options  to	 cvs  annotate are listed in `Invoking CVS' in the CVS
       manual, and can be used to select the files and revisions to  annotate.
       The  options are described in more detail there and in `Common options'
       in the CVS manual.


checkout
   Check out sources for editing
       o Synopsis: checkout [options] modules...

       o Requires: repository.

       o Changes: working directory.

       o Synonyms: co, get

	 Create or update a working directory containing copies of the	source
	 files	specified  by modules.	You must execute checkout before using
	 most of the other cvs commands, since most of them  operate  on  your
	 working directory.

	 The  modules  are either symbolic names for some collection of source
	 directories and files, or paths to directories or files in the repos-
	 itory.	  The  symbolic	 names	are  defined in the modules file.  See
	 `modules' in the CVS manual.

	 Depending on the modules you specify, checkout may recursively create
	 directories and populate them with the appropriate source files.  You
	 can then edit these source files at any time (regardless  of  whether
	 other	software  developers  are  editing  their  own	copies	of the
	 sources); update them to include new changes applied by others to the
	 source	 repository;  or commit your work as a permanent change to the
	 source repository.

	 Note that checkout is used  to	 create	 directories.	The  top-level
	 directory  created is always added to the directory where checkout is
	 invoked, and usually has the same name as the specified  module.   In
	 the case of a module alias, the created sub-directory may have a dif-
	 ferent name, but you can be sure that it will be a sub-directory, and
	 that  checkout will show the relative path leading to each file as it
	 is extracted into your private work area (unless you specify  the  -Q
	 global option).

	 The  files  created by checkout are created read-write, unless the -r
	 option to cvs (see node `Global options' in the CVS manual) is speci-
	 fied,	the CVSREAD environment variable is specified (see node `Envi-
	 ronment variables' in the CVS manual), or a watch is  in  effect  for
	 that file (see node `Watches' in the CVS manual).

	 Note that running checkout on a directory that was already built by a
	 prior checkout is also permitted.  This is similar to specifying  the
	 -d  option  to	 the  update command in the sense that new directories
	 that have been created in the repository will	appear	in  your  work
	 area.	 However,  checkout takes a module name whereas update takes a
	 directory name.  Also to use checkout this way it must	 be  run  from
	 the  top level directory (where you originally ran checkout from), so
	 before you run checkout to update an existing directory, don't forget
	 to change your directory to the top level directory.

	 For  the  output  produced  by the checkout command, see node `update
	 output' in the CVS manual.


checkout options
       These standard options are supported  by	 checkout  (see	 node  `Common
       options' in the CVS manual for a complete description of them):



       -D date

	 Use  the  most	 recent	 revision  no later than date.	This option is
	 sticky, and implies -P.  See `Sticky tags' in the CVS manual for more
	 information on sticky tags/dates.



       -f

	 Only  useful  with the -D date or -r tag flags.  If no matching revi-
	 sion is found, retrieve the most recent revision (instead of ignoring
	 the file).



       -k kflag

	 Process  keywords  according to kflag.	 See `Keyword substitution' in
	 the CVS manual.  This option is sticky; future updates of  this  file
	 in  this  working directory will use the same kflag.  The status com-
	 mand can be viewed to see the sticky options.	See `Invoking CVS'  in
	 the CVS manual for more information on the status command.



       -l

	 Local; run only in current working directory.



       -n

	 Do  not  run any checkout program (as specified with the -o option in
	 the modules file; see node `modules' in the CVS manual).



       -P

	 Prune empty directories.  See `Moving directories' in the CVS manual.



       -p

	 Pipe files to the standard output.



       -R

	 Checkout directories recursively.  This option is on by default.



       -r tag

	 Use revision tag.  This  option  is  sticky,  and  implies  -P.   See
	 `Sticky  tags'	 in  the  CVS  manual,	for more information on sticky
	 tags/dates.

	 In addition to those, you can use these special command options  with
	 checkout:



       -A

	 Reset	any  sticky tags, dates, or -k options.	 Does not reset sticky
	 -k options on modified files.	See `Sticky tags' in  the  CVS	manual
	 for more information on sticky tags/dates.



       -c

	 Copy the module file, sorted, to the standard output, instead of cre-
	 ating or modifying any files or directories in	 your  working	direc-
	 tory.



       -d dir

	 Create a directory called dir for the working files, instead of using
	 the module name.  In general, using this flag is equivalent to	 using
	 mkdir	dir;  cd  dir  followed by the checkout command without the -d
	 flag.

	 There is an important exception, however.  It is very convenient when
	 checking  out	a single item to have the output appear in a directory
	 that doesn't contain empty intermediate directories.	In  this  case
	 only,	cvs tries to ``shorten'' pathnames to avoid those empty direc-
	 tories.

	 For example, given a module foo that contains	the  file  bar.c,  the
	 command  cvs  co -d dir foo will create directory dir and place bar.c
	 inside.  Similarly, given a module bar	 which	has  subdirectory  baz
	 wherein  there	 is  a	file quux.c, the command cvs co -d dir bar/baz
	 will create directory dir and place quux.c inside.

	 Using the -N flag will defeat this behavior.  Given the  same	module
	 definitions  above,  cvs  co  -N  -d  dir foo will create directories
	 dir/foo and place bar.c inside, while cvs co -N -d dir	 bar/baz  will
	 create directories dir/bar/baz and place quux.c inside.



       -j tag

	 With  two  -j options, merge changes from the revision specified with
	 the first -j option to the  revision  specified  with	the  second  j
	 option, into the working directory.

	 With  one  -j option, merge changes from the ancestor revision to the
	 revision specified with the -j option, into  the  working  directory.
	 The  ancestor	revision  is the common ancestor of the revision which
	 the working directory is based on, and the revision specified in  the
	 -j option.

	 In  addition,	each -j option can contain an optional date specifica-
	 tion which, when used with branches, can limit the chosen revision to
	 one  within a specific date.  An optional date is specified by adding
	 a colon (:) to the tag: -jSymbolic_Tag:Date_Specifier.

	 See `Branching and merging' in the CVS manual.



       -N

	 Only useful together with -d dir.  With this  option,	cvs  will  not
	 ``shorten'' module paths in your working directory when you check out
	 a single module.  See the -d flag for examples and a discussion.



       -s

	 Like -c, but include the status of all modules, and sort  it  by  the
	 status	 string.   See `modules' in the CVS manual, for info about the
	 -s option that is used inside the modules file to set the module sta-
	 tus.


checkout examples
       Get a copy of the module tc:


	 $ cvs checkout tc




       Get a copy of the module tc as it looked one day ago:


	 $ cvs checkout -D yesterday tc





commit
   Check files into the repository
       o Synopsis:  commit  [-lRf]  [-m 'log_message' | -F file] [-r revision]
	 [files...]

       o Requires: working directory, repository.

       o Changes: repository.

       o Synonym: ci

	 Use commit when you want to incorporate  changes  from	 your  working
	 source files into the source repository.

	 If  you don't specify particular files to commit, all of the files in
	 your working current directory are examined.  commit  is  careful  to
	 change	 in  the  repository  only  those  files  that you have really
	 changed.  By default (or if you explicitly specify  the  -R  option),
	 files	in subdirectories are also examined and committed if they have
	 changed; you can use the -l option to limit  commit  to  the  current
	 directory only.

	 commit	 verifies that the selected files are up to date with the cur-
	 rent revisions in the source repository; it will notify you, and exit
	 without  committing,  if any of the specified files must be made cur-
	 rent first with update (see node `update' in the CVS manual).	commit
	 does  not call the update command for you, but rather leaves that for
	 you to do when the time is right.

	 When all is well, an editor is invoked to allow you to	 enter	a  log
	 message  that	will  be  written to one or more logging programs (see
	 node `modules' in the CVS manual, and see node `loginfo' in  the  CVS
	 manual)  and  placed in the rcs file inside the repository.  This log
	 message can be retrieved with the log command; see node `log' in  the
	 CVS manual.  You can specify the log message on the command line with
	 the -m message option, and thus avoid the editor invocation,  or  use
	 the -F file option to specify that the argument file contains the log
	 message.


commit options
       These standard options  are  supported  by  commit  (see	 node  `Common
       options' in the CVS manual for a complete description of them):



       -l

	 Local; run only in current working directory.



       -R

	 Commit directories recursively.  This is on by default.



       -r revision

	 Commit	 to revision.  revision must be either a branch, or a revision
	 on the main trunk that is higher than any  existing  revision	number
	 (see  node `Assigning revisions' in the CVS manual).  You cannot com-
	 mit to a specific revision on a branch.

	 commit also supports these options:



       -F file

	 Read the log message from file, instead of invoking an editor.



       -f

	 Note that this is not the standard  behavior  of  the	-f  option  as
	 defined in `Common options' in the CVS manual.

	 Force	cvs  to	 commit	 a  new	 revision even if you haven't made any
	 changes to the file.  If the current revision of file	is  1.7,  then
	 the following two commands are equivalent:


	   $ cvs commit -f file
	   $ cvs commit -r 1.8 file




	 The -f option disables recursion (i.e., it implies -l).  To force cvs
	 to commit a new revision for all files	 in  all  subdirectories,  you
	 must use -f -R.



       -m message

	 Use message as the log message, instead of invoking an editor.


commit examples
   Committing to a branch
       You  can	 commit	 to  a branch revision (one that has an even number of
       dots) with the -r option.  To create a  branch  revision,  use  the  -b
       option of the rtag or tag commands (see node `Branching and merging' in
       the CVS manual).	 Then, either checkout or update can be used  to  base
       your sources on the newly created branch.  From that point on, all com-
       mit changes made within these working  sources  will  be	 automatically
       added  to  a branch revision, thereby not disturbing main-line develop-
       ment in any way.	 For example, if you had to create a patch to the  1.2
       version	of  the	 product, even though the 2.0 version is already under
       development, you might do:


	 $ cvs rtag -b -r FCS1_2 FCS1_2_Patch product_module
	 $ cvs checkout -r FCS1_2_Patch product_module
	 $ cd product_module
	 [[ hack away ]]
	 $ cvs commit




       This works automatically since the -r option is sticky.


   Creating the branch after editing
       Say you have been working  on  some  extremely  experimental  software,
       based on whatever revision you happened to checkout last week.  If oth-
       ers in your group would like to work on this  software  with  you,  but
       without	disturbing main-line development, you could commit your change
       to a new branch.	 Others can then checkout your experimental stuff  and
       utilize	the  full  benefit  of	cvs conflict resolution.  The scenario
       might look like:


	 [[ hacked sources are present ]]
	 $ cvs tag -b EXPR1
	 $ cvs update -r EXPR1
	 $ cvs commit




       The update command will make the -r EXPR1 option sticky on  all	files.
       Note that your changes to the files will never be removed by the update
       command.	 The commit will automatically commit to the  correct  branch,
       because the -r is sticky.  You could also do like this:


	 [[ hacked sources are present ]]
	 $ cvs tag -b EXPR1
	 $ cvs commit -r EXPR1




       but  then,  only	 those files that were changed by you will have the -r
       EXPR1 sticky flag.  If you hack away, and commit without specifying the
       -r EXPR1 flag, some files may accidentally end up on the main trunk.

       To work with you on the experimental change, others would simply do


	 $ cvs checkout -r EXPR1 whatever_module





diff
   Show differences between revisions
       o Synopsis:  diff  [-lR]	 [-k  kflag]  [format_options]	[[-r rev1 | -D
	 date1] [-r rev2 |  -D date2]] [files...]

       o Requires: working directory, repository.

       o Changes: nothing.

	 The diff command is used to compare  different	 revisions  of	files.
	 The  default  action  is to compare your working files with the revi-
	 sions they were based on, and report any differences that are found.

	 If any file names are given, only those files are compared.   If  any
	 directories are given, all files under them will be compared.

	 The  exit  status  for diff is different than for other cvs commands;
	 for details see node `Exit status' in the CVS manual.


diff options
       These standard options are supported by diff (see node `Common options'
       in the CVS manual for a complete description of them):



       -D date

	 Use the most recent revision no later than date.  See -r for how this
	 affects the comparison.



       -k kflag

	 Process keywords according to kflag.  See `Keyword  substitution'  in
	 the CVS manual.



       -l

	 Local; run only in current working directory.



       -R

	 Examine directories recursively.  This option is on by default.



       -r tag

	 Compare  with	revision  tag.	 Zero,	one  or	 two -r options can be
	 present.  With no -r option, the working file will be	compared  with
	 the  revision	it  was	 based on.  With one -r, that revision will be
	 compared to your current working file.	 With two -r options those two
	 revisions will be compared (and your working file will not affect the
	 outcome in any way).

	 One or both -r options can be replaced by a -D date option, described
	 above.

	 The  following	 options  specify the format of the output.  They have
	 the same meaning as in GNU diff.  Most options	 have  two  equivalent
	 names,	 one  of which is a single letter preceded by -, and the other
	 of which is a long name preceded by --.



       -lines

	 Show lines (an integer) lines of context.  This option does not spec-
	 ify  an  output  format by itself; it has no effect unless it is com-
	 bined with -c or -u.  This option is obsolete.	 For proper operation,
	 patch typically needs at least two lines of context.



       -a

	 Treat	all  files as text and compare them line-by-line, even if they
	 do not seem to be text.



       -b

	 Ignore trailing white space and consider all other sequences  of  one
	 or more white space characters to be equivalent.



       -B

	 Ignore changes that just insert or delete blank lines.



       --binary

	 Read and write data in binary mode.



       --brief

	 Report	 only whether the files differ, not the details of the differ-
	 ences.



       -c

	 Use the context output format.



       -C lines




       --context[=lines]

	 Use the context output format, showing lines (an  integer)  lines  of
	 context, or three if lines is not given.  For proper operation, patch
	 typically needs at least two lines of context.



       --changed-group-format=format

	 Use format to output a line group  containing	differing  lines  from
	 both  files  in if-then-else format.  See `Line group formats' in the
	 CVS manual.



       -d

	 Change the algorithm to perhaps find a smaller set of changes.	  This
	 makes diff slower (sometimes much slower).



       -e




       --ed

	 Make output that is a valid ed script.



       --expand-tabs

	 Expand	 tabs  to  spaces  in the output, to preserve the alignment of
	 tabs in the input files.



       -f

	 Make output that looks vaguely like an ed script but has  changes  in
	 the order they appear in the file.



       -F regexp

	 In  context  and  unified  format, for each hunk of differences, show
	 some of the last preceding line that matches regexp.



       --forward-ed

	 Make output that looks vaguely like an ed script but has  changes  in
	 the order they appear in the file.



       -H

	 Use  heuristics  to  speed handling of large files that have numerous
	 scattered small changes.



       --horizon-lines=lines

	 Do not discard the last lines lines of	 the  common  prefix  and  the
	 first lines lines of the common suffix.



       -i

	 Ignore changes in case; consider upper- and lower-case letters equiv-
	 alent.



       -I regexp

	 Ignore changes that just insert or delete lines that match regexp.



       --ifdef=name

	 Make merged if-then-else output using name.



       --ignore-all-space

	 Ignore white space when comparing lines.



       --ignore-blank-lines

	 Ignore changes that just insert or delete blank lines.



       --ignore-case

	 Ignore changes in case; consider upper-  and  lower-case  to  be  the
	 same.



       --ignore-matching-lines=regexp

	 Ignore changes that just insert or delete lines that match regexp.



       --ignore-space-change

	 Ignore	 trailing  white space and consider all other sequences of one
	 or more white space characters to be equivalent.



       --initial-tab

	 Output a tab rather than a space before the text of a line in	normal
	 or  context format.  This causes the alignment of tabs in the line to
	 look normal.



       -L label

	 Use label instead of the file name in the context format and  unified
	 format headers.



       --label=label

	 Use  label instead of the file name in the context format and unified
	 format headers.



       --left-column

	 Print only the left column of two common lines in side by  side  for-
	 mat.



       --line-format=format

	 Use  format  to  output  all input lines in if-then-else format.  See
	 `Line formats' in the CVS manual.



       --minimal

	 Change the algorithm to perhaps find a smaller set of changes.	  This
	 makes diff slower (sometimes much slower).



       -n

	 Output	 RCS-format  diffs; like -f except that each command specifies
	 the number of lines affected.



       -N




       --new-file

	 In directory comparison, if a file is found in	 only  one  directory,
	 treat it as present but empty in the other directory.



       --new-group-format=format

	 Use format to output a group of lines taken from just the second file
	 in if-then-else format.  See `Line group formats' in the CVS manual.



       --new-line-format=format

	 Use format to output a line taken from just the second	 file  in  if-
	 then-else format.  See `Line formats' in the CVS manual.



       --old-group-format=format

	 Use  format to output a group of lines taken from just the first file
	 in if-then-else format.  See `Line group formats' in the CVS manual.



       --old-line-format=format

	 Use format to output a line taken from just the  first	 file  in  if-
	 then-else format.  See `Line formats' in the CVS manual.



       -p

	 Show which C function each change is in.



       --rcs

	 Output	 RCS-format  diffs; like -f except that each command specifies
	 the number of lines affected.



       --report-identical-files




       -s

	 Report when two files are the same.



       --show-c-function

	 Show which C function each change is in.



       --show-function-line=regexp

	 In context and unified format, for each  hunk	of  differences,  show
	 some of the last preceding line that matches regexp.



       --side-by-side

	 Use the side by side output format.



       --speed-large-files

	 Use  heuristics  to  speed handling of large files that have numerous
	 scattered small changes.



       --suppress-common-lines

	 Do not print common lines in side by side format.



       -t

	 Expand tabs to spaces in the output, to  preserve  the	 alignment  of
	 tabs in the input files.



       -T

	 Output	 a tab rather than a space before the text of a line in normal
	 or context format.  This causes the alignment of tabs in the line  to
	 look normal.



       --text

	 Treat	all  files as text and compare them line-by-line, even if they
	 do not appear to be text.



       -u

	 Use the unified output format.



       --unchanged-group-format=format

	 Use format to output a group of common lines taken from both files in
	 if-then-else  format.	 see node `Line group formats' in the CVS man-
	 ual.



       --unchanged-line-format=format

	 Use format to output a line common to both files in if-then-else for-
	 mat.  see node `Line formats' in the CVS manual.



       -U lines




       --unified[=lines]

	 Use  the  unified  output format, showing lines (an integer) lines of
	 context, or three if lines is not given.  For proper operation, patch
	 typically needs at least two lines of context.



       -w

	 Ignore white space when comparing lines.



       -W columns




       --width=columns

	 Use an output width of columns in side by side format.



       -y

	 Use the side by side output format.


Line group formats
       Line  group  formats let you specify formats suitable for many applica-
       tions that allow if-then-else input,  including	programming  languages
       and  text formatting languages.	A line group format specifies the out-
       put format for a contiguous group of similar lines.

       For example, the following command compares the TeX  file  myfile  with
       the  original version from the repository, and outputs a merged file in
       which old regions are surrounded by \begin{em}-\end{em} lines, and  new
       regions are surrounded by \begin{bf}-\end{bf} lines.


	 cvs diff \

	    --old-group-format='\begin{em}
	 %<\end{em}
	 ' \

	    --new-group-format='\begin{bf}
	 %>\end{bf}
	 ' \

	    myfile




       The  following  command is equivalent to the above example, but it is a
       little more verbose, because it spells out the default line group  for-
       mats.


	 cvs diff \

	    --old-group-format='\begin{em}
	 %<\end{em}
	 ' \

	    --new-group-format='\begin{bf}
	 %>\end{bf}
	 ' \

	    --unchanged-group-format='%=' \

	    --changed-group-format='\begin{em}
	 %<\end{em}
	 \begin{bf}
	 %>\end{bf}
	 ' \

	    myfile




       Here  is	 a  more  advanced  example, which outputs a diff listing with
       headers containing line numbers in a ``plain English'' style.


	 cvs diff \

	    --unchanged-group-format='' \

	    --old-group-format='-------- %dn line%(n=1?:s) deleted at %df:
	 %<' \

	    --new-group-format='-------- %dN line%(N=1?:s) added after %de:
	 %>' \

	    --changed-group-format='-------- %dn line%(n=1?:s) changed at %df:
	 %<-------- to:
	 %>' \

	    myfile




       To specify a line group format, use one of the  options	listed	below.
       You  can	 specify  up  to four line group formats, one for each kind of
       line group.  You should quote format,  because  it  typically  contains
       shell metacharacters.



       --old-group-format=format

	 These	line  groups  are  hunks  containing only lines from the first
	 file.	The default old group format is the same as the changed	 group
	 format	 if it is specified; otherwise it is a format that outputs the
	 line group as-is.



       --new-group-format=format

	 These line groups are hunks containing only  lines  from  the	second
	 file.	The default new group format is same as the changed group for-
	 mat if it is specified; otherwise it is a  format  that  outputs  the
	 line group as-is.



       --changed-group-format=format

	 These	line  groups  are hunks containing lines from both files.  The
	 default changed group format is the concatenation of the old and  new
	 group formats.



       --unchanged-group-format=format

	 These	line  groups  contain lines common to both files.  The default
	 unchanged group format is a format that outputs the line group as-is.

	 In a line group format,  ordinary  characters	represent  themselves;
	 conversion  specifications start with % and have one of the following
	 forms.



       %<

	 stands for the lines from the first file, including the trailing new-
	 line.	 Each  line is formatted according to the old line format (see
	 node `Line formats' in the CVS manual).



       %>

	 stands for the lines from the second  file,  including	 the  trailing
	 newline.  Each line is formatted according to the new line format.



       %=

	 stands	 for  the  lines  common to both files, including the trailing
	 newline.  Each line is formatted according to the unchanged line for-
	 mat.



       %%

	 stands for %.



       %c'C'

	 where	C  is  a single character, stands for C.  C may not be a back-
	 slash or an apostrophe.  For example, %c':' stands for a colon,  even
	 inside	 the  then-part of an if-then-else format, which a colon would
	 normally terminate.



       %c'\O'

	 where O is a string of 1, 2, or 3 octal digits, stands for the	 char-
	 acter with octal code O.  For example, %c'\0' stands for a null char-
	 acter.



       Fn

	 where F is a printf conversion specification and n is one of the fol-
	 lowing letters, stands for n's value formatted with F.


	 e

	   The line number of the line just before the group in the old file.


	 f

	   The	line  number  of  the first line in the group in the old file;
	   equals e + 1.


	 l

	   The line number of the last line in the group in the old file.


	 m

	   The line number of the line just after the group in the  old	 file;
	   equals l + 1.


	 n

	   The number of lines in the group in the old file; equals l - f + 1.


	 E, F, L, M, N

	   Likewise, for lines in the new file.


	   The printf conversion specification can be %d, %o, %x, or %X, spec-
	   ifying decimal, octal, lower case hexadecimal, or upper case	 hexa-
	   decimal output respectively.	 After the % the following options can
	   appear in sequence: a - specifying left-justification;  an  integer
	   specifying  the  minimum  field  width; and a period followed by an
	   optional integer specifying the  minimum  number  of	 digits.   For
	   example,  %5dN  prints  the	number	of new lines in the group in a
	   field of width 5 characters, using the printf format "%5d".



       (A=B?T:E)

	 If A equals B then T else E.  A and B are each either a decimal  con-
	 stant	or  a single letter interpreted as above.  This format spec is
	 equivalent to T if A's value equals B's; otherwise it	is  equivalent
	 to E.

	 For example, %(N=0?no:%dN) line%(N=1?:s) is equivalent to no lines if
	 N (the number of lines in the group in the new file) is 0, to 1  line
	 if N is 1, and to %dN lines otherwise.


Line formats
       Line  formats  control how each line taken from an input file is output
       as part of a line group in if-then-else format.

       For example, the following  command  outputs  text  with	 a  one-column
       change  indicator  to the left of the text.  The first column of output
       is - for deleted lines, | for added lines, and a	 space	for  unchanged
       lines.	The  formats  contain  newline	characters  where newlines are
       desired on output.


	 cvs diff \

	    --old-line-format='-%l
	 ' \

	    --new-line-format='|%l
	 ' \

	    --unchanged-line-format=' %l
	 ' \

	    myfile




       To specify a line format, use one of the following options.  You should
       quote format, since it often contains shell metacharacters.



       --old-line-format=format

	 formats lines just from the first file.



       --new-line-format=format

	 formats lines just from the second file.



       --unchanged-line-format=format

	 formats lines common to both files.



       --line-format=format

	 formats  all lines; in effect, it sets all three above options simul-
	 taneously.

	 In a line format, ordinary characters represent  themselves;  conver-
	 sion specifications start with % and have one of the following forms.



       %l

	 stands	 for  the contents of the line, not counting its trailing new-
	 line (if any).	 This format ignores whether the line is incomplete.



       %L

	 stands for the contents of the line, including its  trailing  newline
	 (if  any).  If a line is incomplete, this format preserves its incom-
	 pleteness.



       %%

	 stands for %.



       %c'C'

	 where C is a single character, stands for C.  C may not  be  a	 back-
	 slash or an apostrophe.  For example, %c':' stands for a colon.



       %c'\O'

	 where	O is a string of 1, 2, or 3 octal digits, stands for the char-
	 acter with octal code O.  For example, %c'\0' stands for a null char-
	 acter.



       Fn

	 where	F  is  a  printf conversion specification, stands for the line
	 number formatted with F.  For example, %.5dn prints the  line	number
	 using the printf format "%.5d".  see node `Line group formats' in the
	 CVS manual, for more about printf conversion specifications.


	 The default line format is %l followed by a newline character.

	 If the input contains tab characters and it is	 important  that  they
	 line  up  on output, you should ensure that %l or %L in a line format
	 is just after a tab stop (e.g. by preceding %l or %L with a tab char-
	 acter), or you should use the -t or --expand-tabs option.

	 Taken	together, the line and line group formats let you specify many
	 different formats.  For example, the following command uses a	format
	 similar  to diff's normal format.  You can tailor this command to get
	 fine control over diff's output.


	 cvs diff \

	    --old-line-format='< %l
	 ' \

	    --new-line-format='> %l
	 ' \

	    --old-group-format='%df%(f=l?:,%dl)d%dE
	 %<' \

	    --new-group-format='%dea%dF%(F=L?:,%dL)
	 %>' \

	    --changed-group-format='%df%(f=l?:,%dl)c%dF%(F=L?:,%dL)
	 %<--
	 %>' \

	    --unchanged-group-format='' \

	    myfile





diff examples
       The following line produces a Unidiff (-u flag) between	revision  1.14
       and  1.19  of  backend.c.   Due to the -kk flag no keywords are substi-
       tuted, so differences that only	depend	on  keyword  substitution  are
       ignored.


	 $ cvs diff -kk -u -r 1.14 -r 1.19 backend.c




       Suppose	the  experimental  branch  EXPR1  was  based on a set of files
       tagged RELEASE_1_0.  To see what has happened on that branch, the  fol-
       lowing can be used:


	 $ cvs diff -r RELEASE_1_0 -r EXPR1




       A  command  like this can be used to produce a context diff between two
       releases:


	 $ cvs diff -c -r RELEASE_1_0 -r RELEASE_1_1 > diffs




       If you are maintaining ChangeLogs, a command like  the  following  just
       before  you commit your changes may help you write the ChangeLog entry.
       All local modifications that  have  not	yet  been  committed  will  be
       printed.


	 $ cvs diff -u | less





export
   Export sources from CVS, similar to checkout
       o Synopsis:  export  [-flNnR] [-r rev|-D date] [-k subst] [-d dir] mod-
	 ule...

       o Requires: repository.

       o Changes: current directory.

	 This command is a variant of checkout; use it when you want a copy of
	 the  source  for  module  without the cvs administrative directories.
	 For example, you might use export to prepare source for shipment off-
	 site.	 This command requires that you specify a date or tag (with -D
	 or -r), so that you can count on reproducing the source you  ship  to
	 others (and thus it always prunes empty directories).

	 One  often  would  like  to use -kv with cvs export.  This causes any
	 keywords to be expanded such that an import done at some  other  site
	 will  not  lose  the keyword revision information.  But be aware that
	 doesn't handle an export containing binary files correctly.  Also  be
	 aware	that  after  having  used -kv, one can no longer use the ident
	 command (which is part of the rcs suite--see  ident(1))  which	 looks
	 for  keyword  strings.	  If you want to be able to use ident you must
	 not use -kv.


export options
       These standard options  are  supported  by  export  (see	 node  `Common
       options' in the CVS manual, for a complete description of them):



       -D date

	 Use the most recent revision no later than date.



       -f

	 If  no	 matching revision is found, retrieve the most recent revision
	 (instead of ignoring the file).



       -l

	 Local; run only in current working directory.



       -n

	 Do not run any checkout program.



       -R

	 Export directories recursively.  This is on by default.



       -r tag

	 Use revision tag.

	 In addition, these options (that are common to checkout  and  export)
	 are also supported:



       -d dir

	 Create a directory called dir for the working files, instead of using
	 the module name.  See `checkout options' in the CVS manual  for  com-
	 plete details on how cvs handles this flag.



       -k subst

	 Set  keyword expansion mode (see node `Substitution modes' in the CVS
	 manual).



       -N

	 Only useful together with -d dir.  See `checkout options' in the  CVS
	 manual for complete details on how cvs handles this flag.


history
   Show status of files and users
       o Synopsis:     history [-report] [-flags] [-options args] [files...]

       o Requires: the file $CVSROOT/CVSROOT/history

       o Changes: nothing.

	 cvs  can  keep	 a  history file that tracks each use of the checkout,
	 commit, rtag, update, and release commands.  You can use  history  to
	 display this information in various formats.

	 Logging  must	be  enabled by creating the file $CVSROOT/CVSROOT/his-
	 tory.

	 history uses -f, -l, -n, and -p in ways that conflict with the normal
	 use inside cvs (see node `Common options' in the CVS manual).


history options
       Several	options (shown above as -report)  control  what kind of report
       is generated:



       -c

	 Report on each time commit was used (i.e., each time  the  repository
	 was modified).



       -e

	 Everything  (all record types).  Equivalent to specifying -x with all
	 record types.	Of course, -e will also include record types which are
	 added	in  a future version of cvs; if you are writing a script which
	 can only handle certain record types, you'll want to specify -x.



       -m module

	 Report on a particular module.	 (You can  meaningfully	 use  -m  more
	 than once on the command line.)



       -o

	 Report on checked-out modules.	 This is the default report type.



       -T

	 Report on all tags.



       -x type

	 Extract  a  particular set of record types type from the cvs history.
	 The types are indicated by single letters, which you may  specify  in
	 combination.

	 Certain commands have a single record type:


	 F

	   release

	 O

	   checkout

	 E

	   export

	 T

	   rtag

	   One of five record types may result from an update:


	 C

	   A  merge was necessary but collisions were detected (requiring man-
	   ual merging).

	 G

	   A merge was necessary and it succeeded.

	 U

	   A working file was copied from the repository.

	 P

	   A working file was patched to match the repository.

	 W

	   The working copy of a file was deleted during  update  (because  it
	   was gone from the repository).

	   One of three record types results from commit:


	 A

	   A file was added for the first time.

	 M

	   A file was modified.

	 R

	   A file was removed.

	   The	options shown as -flags constrain or expand the report without
	   requiring option arguments:



       -a

	 Show data for all users (the default is to show  data	only  for  the
	 user executing history).



       -l

	 Show last modification only.



       -w

	 Show  only  the  records for modifications done from the same working
	 directory where history is executing.

	 The options shown as -options args constrain the report based	on  an
	 argument:



       -b str

	 Show  data  back  to a record containing  the	string str  in	either
	 the module name, the file name, or the repository path.



       -D date

	 Show data since date.	This is slightly different from the normal use
	 of -D date, which selects the newest revision older than date.



       -f file

	 Show  data  for a particular file (you can specify several -f options
	 on the same command line).  This is equivalent to specifying the file
	 on the command line.



       -n module

	 Show data for a particular module (you can specify several -n options
	 on the same command line).



       -p repository

	 Show data for a particular source repository  (you can	 specify  sev-
	 eral -p options on the same command line).



       -r rev

	 Show  records	referring to revisions since the revision or tag named
	 rev appears in individual rcs files.  Each rcs file is	 searched  for
	 the revision or tag.



       -t tag

	 Show  records since tag tag was last added to the history file.  This
	 differs from the -r flag above in that	 it  reads  only  the  history
	 file, not the rcs files, and is much faster.



       -u name

	 Show records for user name.



       -z timezone

	 Show  times  in  the  selected	 records using the specified time zone
	 instead of UTC.


import
   Import sources into CVS, using vendor branches
       o Synopsis: import [-options] repository vendortag releasetag...

       o Requires: Repository, source distribution directory.

       o Changes: repository.

	 Use import to incorporate an entire source distribution from an  out-
	 side  source  (e.g.,  a  source  vendor)  into your source repository
	 directory.  You can use this command both for initial creation	 of  a
	 repository,  and for wholesale updates to the module from the outside
	 source.  See `Tracking sources' in the CVS manual for a discussion on
	 this subject.

	 The repository argument gives a directory name (or a path to a direc-
	 tory) under the cvs root directory for repositories; if the directory
	 did not exist, import creates it.

	 When  you  use import for updates to source that has been modified in
	 your source repository (since a prior import), it will notify you  of
	 any  files  that  conflict  in	 the  two branches of development; use
	 checkout -j to reconcile the differences, as import instructs you  to
	 do.

	 If  cvs decides a file should be ignored (see node `cvsignore' in the
	 CVS manual), it does not import it and	 prints	 I   followed  by  the
	 filename  (see	 node `import output' in the CVS manual for a complete
	 description of the output).

	 If the file $CVSROOT/CVSROOT/cvswrappers exists, any file whose names
	 match the specifications in that file will be treated as packages and
	 the appropriate filtering will be  performed  on  the	file/directory
	 before being imported.	 See `Wrappers' in the CVS manual.

	 The  outside  source  is  saved  in  a first-level branch, by default
	 1.1.1.	 Updates are leaves of this branch; for	 example,  files  from
	 the  first  imported  collection  of source will be revision 1.1.1.1,
	 then files from the first imported update will be  revision  1.1.1.2,
	 and so on.

	 At least three arguments are required.	 repository is needed to iden-
	 tify the collection of source.	 vendortag is a	 tag  for  the	entire
	 branch	 (e.g.,	 for  1.1.1).	You  must  also	 specify  at least one
	 releasetag to uniquely identify the files at the leaves created  each
	 time  you  execute  import.  The releasetag should be new, not previ-
	 ously existing in the repository  file,  and  uniquely	 identify  the
	 imported release,

	 Note  that  import  does not change the directory in which you invoke
	 it.  In particular, it does not set up that directory as a cvs	 work-
	 ing directory; if you want to work with the sources import them first
	 and then check them out into a different directory (see node `Getting
	 the source' in the CVS manual).


import options
       This  standard option is supported by import (see node `Common options'
       in the CVS manual for a complete description):



       -m message

	 Use message as log information, instead of invoking an editor.

	 There are the following additional special options.



       -b branch

	 See `Multiple vendor branches' in the CVS manual.



       -d

	 Use each file's modification time as the time of import  rather  than
	 the current time.



       -k subst

	 Indicate the keyword expansion mode desired.  This setting will apply
	 to all files created during the import, but not  to  any  files  that
	 previously  existed  in  the repository.  See `Substitution modes' in
	 the CVS manual for a list of valid -k settings.



       -I name

	 Specify file names that should be ignored during import.  You can use
	 this  option  repeatedly.   To	 avoid ignoring any files at all (even
	 those ignored by default), specify `-I !'.

	 name can be a file name pattern of the same type that you can specify
	 in the .cvsignore file.  See `cvsignore' in the CVS manual.



       -W spec

	 Specify  file	names  that should be filtered during import.  You can
	 use this option repeatedly.

	 spec can be a file name pattern of the same type that you can specify
	 in the .cvswrappers file. see node `Wrappers' in the CVS manual.


import output
       import  keeps  you informed of its progress by printing a line for each
       file, preceded by one character indicating the status of the file:



       U file

	 The file already exists in the repository and has  not	 been  locally
	 modified; a new revision has been created (if necessary).



       N file

	 The file is a new file which has been added to the repository.



       C file

	 The  file already exists in the repository but has been locally modi-
	 fied; you will have to merge the changes.



       I file

	 The file is being ignored (see node `cvsignore' in the CVS manual).



       L file

	 The file is a symbolic link; cvs import ignores symbolic links.  Peo-
	 ple periodically suggest that this behavior should be changed, but if
	 there is a consensus on what it should be changed to, it doesn't seem
	 to  be apparent.  (Various options in the modules file can be used to
	 recreate symbolic links on checkout, update, etc.; see node `modules'
	 in the CVS manual.)


import examples
       See  `Tracking  sources' in the CVS manual, and `From files' in the CVS
       manual.


log
   Print out log information for files
       o Synopsis: log [options] [files...]

       o Requires: repository, working directory.

       o Changes: nothing.

	 Display log information for files.  log used to call the rcs  utility
	 rlog.	 Although  this is no longer true in the current sources, this
	 history determines the format of the output and  the  options,	 which
	 are not quite in the style of the other cvs commands.

	 The  output  includes the location of the rcs file, the head revision
	 (the latest revision on the trunk), all  symbolic  names  (tags)  and
	 some  other  things.	For  each  revision,  the revision number, the
	 author, the number of lines added/deleted and	the  log  message  are
	 printed.   All	 times	are  displayed	in  Coordinated Universal Time
	 (UTC).	 (Other parts of cvs print times in the local timezone).

	 log uses -R in a way that conflicts with the normal  use  inside  cvs
	 (see node `Common options' in the CVS manual).


log options
       By  default,  log  prints all information that is available.  All other
       options restrict the output.  Note that the revision selection  options
       (-b,  -d, -r, -s, and -w) have no effect, other than possibly causing a
       search for files in Attic directories, when used	 in  conjunction  with
       the options that restrict the output to only log header fields (-h, -R,
       and -t) unless the -S option is also specified.



       -b

	 Print information about the revisions on the default branch, normally
	 the highest branch on the trunk.



       -d dates

	 Print	information  about  revisions  with a checkin date/time in the
	 range given by the semicolon-separated list of dates.	The date  for-
	 mats  accepted	 are those accepted by the -D option to many other cvs
	 commands (see node `Common options' in the CVS manual).  Dates can be
	 combined into ranges as follows:


	 d1<d2



	 d2>d1

	   Select the revisions that were deposited between d1 and d2.


	 <d



	 d>

	   Select all revisions dated d or earlier.


	 d<



	 >d

	   Select all revisions dated d or later.


	 d

	   Select the single, latest revision dated d or earlier.

	   The > or < characters may be followed by = to indicate an inclusive
	   range rather than an exclusive one.

	   Note that the separator is a semicolon (;).



       -h

	 Print only the name of the rcs file, name of the file in the  working
	 directory,  head, default branch, access list, locks, symbolic names,
	 and suffix.



       -l

	 Local; run only in current working directory.	 (Default  is  to  run
	 recursively).



       -N

	 Do not print the list of tags for this file.  This option can be very
	 useful when your site uses a lot of tags, so rather  than  "more"'ing
	 over  3  pages	 of  tag information, the log information is presented
	 without tags at all.



       -n

	 Print the list of tags for this file. This option can be very	useful
	 when  your .cvsrc file has a log -N entry as a way to get a full list
	 of all of the tags.



       -R

	 Print only the name of the rcs file.



       -rrevisions

	 Print information about revisions given in the	 comma-separated  list
	 revisions  of revisions and ranges.  The following table explains the
	 available range formats:


	 rev1:rev2

	   Revisions rev1 to rev2 (which must be on the same branch).


	 rev1::rev2

	   The same, but excluding rev1.


	 :rev



	 ::rev

	   Revisions from the beginning of the branch up to and including rev.


	 rev:

	   Revisions starting with rev to the end  of  the  branch  containing
	   rev.


	 rev::

	   Revisions starting just after rev to the end of the branch contain-
	   ing rev.


	 branch

	   An argument that is a branch means all revisions on that branch.


	 branch1:branch2



	 branch1::branch2

	   A range of branches means all revisions on  the  branches  in  that
	   range.


	 branch.

	   The latest revision in branch.

	   A  bare  -r	with  no  revisions  means  the latest revision on the
	   default branch, normally the trunk.	There can be no space  between
	   the -r option and its argument.



       -S

	 Suppress the header if no revisions are selected.



       -s states

	 Print information about revisions whose state attributes match one of
	 the states given in  the  comma-separated  list  states.   Individual
	 states	 may  be  any  text  string, though cvs commonly only uses two
	 states, Exp and dead.	See `admin options' in the CVS manual for more
	 information.



       -t

	 Print the same as -h, plus the descriptive text.



       -wlogins

	 Print	information  about  revisions  checked	in by users with login
	 names appearing in the comma-separated list  logins.	If  logins  is
	 omitted,  the user's login is assumed.	 There can be no space between
	 the -w option and its argument.

	 log prints the	 intersection  of  the	revisions  selected  with  the
	 options  -d,  -s, and -w, intersected with the union of the revisions
	 selected by -b and -r.


log examples
       Contributed examples are gratefully accepted.


rdiff
   'patch' format diffs between releases
       o rdiff [-flags] [-V vn] [-r t|-D d [-r t2|-D d2]] modules...

       o Requires: repository.

       o Changes: nothing.

       o Synonym: patch

	 Builds a Larry Wall format patch(1) file between two  releases,  that
	 can  be  fed  directly into the patch program to bring an old release
	 up-to-date with the new release.  (This is one of the	few  cvs  com-
	 mands that operates directly from the repository, and doesn't require
	 a prior checkout.) The diff output is sent  to	 the  standard	output
	 device.

	 You  can  specify (using the standard -r and -D options) any combina-
	 tion of one or two revisions or dates.	 If only one revision or  date
	 is  specified, the patch file reflects differences between that revi-
	 sion or date and the current head revisions in the rcs file.

	 Note that if the software release affected is contained in more  than
	 one  directory,  then it may be necessary to specify the -p option to
	 the patch command when patching the old sources,  so  that  patch  is
	 able to find the files that are located in other directories.


rdiff options
       These  standard	options	 are  supported	 by  rdiff  (see  node `Common
       options' in the CVS manual for a complete description of them):



       -D date

	 Use the most recent revision no later than date.



       -f

	 If no matching revision is found, retrieve the most  recent  revision
	 (instead of ignoring the file).



       -k kflag

	 Process  keywords  according to kflag.	 See `Keyword substitution' in
	 the CVS manual.



       -l

	 Local; don't descend subdirectories.



       -R

	 Examine directories recursively.  This option is on by default.



       -r tag

	 Use revision tag.

	 In addition to the above, these options are available:



       -c

	 Use the context diff format.  This is the default format.



       -s

	 Create a summary change report	 instead  of  a	 patch.	  The  summary
	 includes  information	about files that were changed or added between
	 the releases.	It is sent to the standard  output  device.   This  is
	 useful for finding out, for example, which files have changed between
	 two dates or revisions.



       -t

	 A diff of the top two	revisions  is  sent  to	 the  standard	output
	 device.   This	 is  most  useful for seeing what the last change to a
	 file was.



       -u

	 Use the unidiff format for the context diffs.	Remember that old ver-
	 sions of the patch program can't handle the unidiff format, so if you
	 plan to post this patch to the net you should probably not use -u.



       -V vn

	 Expand keywords according to the rules current in rcs version vn (the
	 expansion  format changed with rcs version 5).	 Note that this option
	 is no longer accepted.	 cvs will always expand keywords the way  that
	 rcs version 5 does.


rdiff examples
       Suppose you receive mail from foo@example.net asking for an update from
       release 1.2 to 1.4 of the tc compiler.  You have	 no  such  patches  on
       hand,  but  with	 cvs  that  can easily be fixed with a command such as
       this:


	 $ cvs rdiff -c -r FOO1_2 -r FOO1_4 tc | \
	 > Mail -s 'The patches you asked for' foo@example.net




       Suppose you have made release 1.3, and forked a branch called  R_1_3fix
       for  bug	 fixes.	  R_1_3_1 corresponds to release 1.3.1, which was made
       some time ago.  Now, you want to see how much development has been done
       on the branch.  This command can be used:


	 $ cvs patch -s -r R_1_3_1 -r R_1_3fix module-name
	 cvs rdiff: Diffing module-name
	 File ChangeLog,v changed from revision 1.52.2.5 to 1.52.2.6
	 File foo.c,v changed from revision 1.52.2.3 to 1.52.2.4
	 File bar.h,v changed from revision 1.29.2.1 to 1.2





release
   Indicate that a Module is no longer in use
       o release [-d] directories...

       o Requires: Working directory.

       o Changes: Working directory, history log.

	 This  command	is  meant to safely cancel the effect of cvs checkout.
	 Since cvs doesn't lock files, it isn't strictly necessary to use this
	 command.  You can always simply delete your working directory, if you
	 like; but you risk losing changes you may  have  forgotten,  and  you
	 leave	no  trace  in the cvs history file (see node `history file' in
	 the CVS manual) that you've abandoned your checkout.

	 Use cvs release to avoid these problems.  This command checks that no
	 uncommitted changes are present; that you are executing it from imme-
	 diately above a  cvs  working	directory;  and	 that  the  repository
	 recorded  for your files is the same as the repository defined in the
	 module database.

	 If all these conditions are true, cvs release leaves a record of  its
	 execution  (attesting to your intentionally abandoning your checkout)
	 in the cvs history log.


release options
       The release command supports one command option:



       -d

	 Delete your working copy of the file if  the  release	succeeds.   If
	 this  flag is not given your files will remain in your working direc-
	 tory.

	 WARNING:  The release	command	 deletes  all  directories  and	 files
	 recursively.	This  has the very serious side-effect that any direc-
	 tory created inside checked-out sources, and not added to the reposi-
	 tory  (using the add command; see node `Adding files' in the CVS man-
	 ual) will be silently deleted--even if it is non-empty!


release output
       Before release releases your sources it will print a  one-line  message
       for any file that is not up-to-date.



       U file




       P file

	 There exists a newer revision of this file in the repository, and you
	 have not modified your local copy of the file (U and P mean the  same
	 thing).



       A file

	 The  file has been added to your private copy of the sources, but has
	 not yet been committed to the repository.  If you delete your copy of
	 the sources this file will be lost.



       R file

	 The  file has been removed from your private copy of the sources, but
	 has not yet been removed from the repository, since you have not  yet
	 committed the removal.	 See `commit' in the CVS manual.



       M file

	 The  file is modified in your working directory.  There might also be
	 a newer revision inside the repository.



       ? file

	 file is in your working directory, but does not  correspond  to  any-
	 thing	in  the source repository, and is not in the list of files for
	 cvs to ignore (see the description of the -I  option,	and  see  node
	 `cvsignore'  in the CVS manual).  If you remove your working sources,
	 this file will be lost.


release examples
       Release the tc directory, and delete your local	working	 copy  of  the
       files.


	 $ cd ..	 # You must stand immediately above the

			 # sources when you issue cvs release.
	 $ cvs release -d tc
	 You have [0] altered files in this repository.
	 Are you sure you want to release (and delete) directory `tc': y
	 $





remove
   Remove files from active use
       o Synopsis: remove [-flR] [files...]

       o Requires: repository, working directory.

       o Changes: working directory.

	 The  remove command is used to remove unwanted files from active use.
	 The user normally deletes the files from the working directory	 prior
	 to  invocation	 of the remove command.	 Only the working directory is
	 updated.  Changes to the repository are not  made  until  the	commit
	 command is run.

	 The  remove  command  does not delete files from from the repository.
	 cvs keeps all historical data in the repository so that it is	possi-
	 ble  to  reconstruct  previous	 states of the projects under revision
	 control.

	 To undo cvs  remove  or  to  resurrect	 files	that  were  previously
	 removed, see node `add' in the CVS manual.


remove options
       These  standard	options	 are  supported	 by  remove  (see node `Common
       options' in the CVS manual for a complete description of them):



       -l

	 Local; run only in current working directory.	See `Recursive	behav-
	 ior' in the CVS manual.



       -R

	 Process directories recursively.  See `Recursive behavior' in the CVS
	 manual.


	 In addition, these options are also supported:



       -f

	 Note that this is not the standard  behavior  of  the	-f  option  as
	 defined in `Common options' in the CVS manual.

	 Delete files before removing them.

	 Entire	 directory  hierarchies	 are easily removed using -f, but take
	 note that it is not as easy to resurrect directory hierarchies as  it
	 is to remove them.



remove examples
   Removing a file
	 $ cvs remove remove.me
	 cvs remove: file `remove.me' still in working directory
	 cvs remove: 1 file exists; remove it first
	 $ rm -f remove.me
	 $ cvs remove remove.me
	 cvs remove: scheduling `remove.me' for removal
	 cvs remove: use 'cvs commit' to remove this file permanently

	 $ ls remove.it
	 remove.it
	 $ cvs remove -f remove.it
	 cvs remove: scheduling `remove.it' for removal
	 cvs remove: use 'cvs commit' to remove this file permanently





   Removing entire directories
	 $ tree -d a
	 a
	 |-- CVS
	 `-- b

	     `-- CVS

	 3 directories
	 $ cvs remove -f a
	 cvs remove: Removing a
	 cvs remove: Removing a/b
	 cvs remove: scheduling `a/b/c' for removal
	 cvs remove: use 'cvs commit' to remove this file permanently





update
   Bring work tree in sync with repository
       o update	 [-ACdflPpR] [-I name] [-j rev [-j rev]] [-k kflag] [-r tag|-D
	 date] [-W spec] files...

       o Requires: repository, working directory.

       o Changes: working directory.

	 After you've run checkout to create your private copy of source  from
	 the  common  repository,  other developers will continue changing the
	 central source.  From time to time, when it  is  convenient  in  your
	 development  process, you can use the update command from within your
	 working directory to reconcile your work with any  revisions  applied
	 to the source repository since your last checkout or update.


update options
       These  standard	options	 are  available	 with update (see node `Common
       options' in the CVS manual for a complete description of them):



       -D date

	 Use the most recent revision no later	than  date.   This  option  is
	 sticky, and implies -P.  See `Sticky tags' in the CVS manual for more
	 information on sticky tags/dates.



       -f

	 Only useful with the -D date or -r tag flags.	If no  matching	 revi-
	 sion is found, retrieve the most recent revision (instead of ignoring
	 the file).



       -k kflag

	 Process keywords according to kflag.  See `Keyword  substitution'  in
	 the  CVS  manual.  This option is sticky; future updates of this file
	 in this working directory will use the same kflag.  The  status  com-
	 mand  can be viewed to see the sticky options.	 See `Invoking CVS' in
	 the CVS manual for more information on the status command.



       -l

	 Local; run only in current working directory.	See `Recursive	behav-
	 ior' in the CVS manual.



       -P

	 Prune empty directories.  See `Moving directories' in the CVS manual.



       -p

	 Pipe files to the standard output.



       -R

	 Update	 directories  recursively (default).  See `Recursive behavior'
	 in the CVS manual.



       -r rev

	 Retrieve revision/tag rev.  This option is sticky,  and  implies  -P.
	 See  `Sticky  tags' in the CVS manual, for more information on sticky
	 tags/dates.

	 These special options are also available with update.



       -A

	 Reset any sticky tags, dates, or -k options.  Does not	 reset	sticky
	 -k  options  on  modified files.  See `Sticky tags' in the CVS manual
	 for more information on sticky tags/dates.



       -C

	 Overwrite locally modified files with clean copies from  the  reposi-
	 tory (the modified file is saved in .#file.revision, however).



       -d

	 Create	 any directories that exist in the repository if they're miss-
	 ing from the working directory.  Normally, update acts only on direc-
	 tories	 and  files  that were already enrolled in your working direc-
	 tory.

	 This is useful for updating directories  that	were  created  in  the
	 repository since the initial checkout; but it has an unfortunate side
	 effect.  If you  deliberately	avoided	 certain  directories  in  the
	 repository  when  you	created your working directory (either through
	 use of a module name or by listing explicitly the files and  directo-
	 ries you wanted on the command line), then updating with -d will cre-
	 ate those directories, which may not be what you want.



       -I name

	 Ignore files whose names match name (in your working directory)  dur-
	 ing  the  update.   You  can specify -I more than once on the command
	 line to specify several files to ignore.  Use -I ! to avoid  ignoring
	 any  files  at all.  See `cvsignore' in the CVS manual for other ways
	 to make cvs ignore some files.



       -Wspec

	 Specify file names that should be filtered during  update.   You  can
	 use this option repeatedly.

	 spec can be a file name pattern of the same type that you can specify
	 in the .cvswrappers file.  See `Wrappers' in the CVS manual.



       -jrevision

	 With two -j options, merge changes from the revision  specified  with
	 the  first  -j	 option	 to  the  revision specified with the second j
	 option, into the working directory.

	 With one -j option, merge changes from the ancestor revision  to  the
	 revision  specified  with  the -j option, into the working directory.
	 The ancestor revision is the common ancestor of  the  revision	 which
	 the  working directory is based on, and the revision specified in the
	 -j option.

	 Note that using a single -j tagname option rather than -j  branchname
	 to merge changes from a branch will often not remove files which were
	 removed on the branch.	 See `Merging adds and removals'  in  the  CVS
	 manual for more information.

	 In  addition,	each -j option can contain an optional date specifica-
	 tion which, when used with branches, can limit the chosen revision to
	 one  within a specific date.  An optional date is specified by adding
	 a colon (:) to the tag: -jSymbolic_Tag:Date_Specifier.

	 See `Branching and merging' in the CVS manual.



update output
       update and checkout keep you informed of their progress by  printing  a
       line  for each file, preceded by one character indicating the status of
       the file:



       U file

	 The file was brought up to date with respect to the repository.  This
	 is  done  for	any file that exists in the repository but not in your
	 working directory, and for files that you haven't changed but are not
	 the most recent versions available in the repository.



       P file

	 Like  U,  but the cvs server sends a patch instead of an entire file.
	 This accomplishes the same thing as U using less bandwidth.



       A file

	 The file has been added to your private copy of the sources, and will
	 be  added  to	the source repository when you run commit on the file.
	 This is a reminder to you that the file needs to be committed.



       R file

	 The file has been removed from your private copy of the sources,  and
	 will be removed from the source repository when you run commit on the
	 file.	This is a reminder to you that the file needs to be committed.



       M file

	 The file is modified in  your	working	 directory.

	 M can indicate one of two states for a file you're working on: either
	 there	were  no  modifications to the same file in the repository, so
	 that your file remains as you last saw it; or	there  were  modifica-
	 tions in the repository as well as in your copy, but they were merged
	 successfully, without conflict, in your working directory.

	 cvs will print some messages if it merges your	 work,	and  a	backup
	 copy  of  your working file (as it looked before you ran update) will
	 be made.  The exact name of that file is printed while update runs.



       C file

	 A conflict was detected while trying to merge your  changes  to  file
	 with  changes	from  the  source  repository.	file (the copy in your
	 working directory) is now the result of attempting to merge  the  two
	 revisions;  an	 unmodified  copy of your file is also in your working
	 directory, with the name .#file.revision where revision is the	 revi-
	 sion  that  your modified file started from.  Resolve the conflict as
	 described in `Conflicts example' in the CVS manual.  (Note that  some
	 systems automatically purge files that begin with .# if they have not
	 been accessed for a few days.	If you intend to keep a copy  of  your
	 original  file, it is a very good idea to rename it.)	Under vms, the
	 file name starts with __ rather than .#.



       ? file

	 file is in your working directory, but does not  correspond  to  any-
	 thing	in  the source repository, and is not in the list of files for
	 cvs to ignore (see the description of the -I  option,	and  see  node
	 `cvsignore' in the CVS manual).

AUTHORS
       Dick Grune
	      Original	author	of  the	 cvs  shell  script  version posted to
	      comp.sources.unix in the	volume6	 release  of  December,	 1986.
	      Credited with much of the cvs conflict resolution algorithms.

       Brian Berliner
	      Coder  and  designer  of	the cvs program itself in April, 1989,
	      based on the original work done by Dick.

       Jeff Polk
	      Helped Brian with the design of the cvs module and vendor branch
	      support  and author of the checkin(1) shell script (the ancestor
	      of cvs import).

       Larry Jones, Derek R. Price, and Mark D. Baushke
	      Have helped maintain cvs for many years.

       And many others too numerous to mention here.

SEE ALSO
       The most comprehensive manual for CVS is Version Management with CVS by
       Per Cederqvist et al.  Depending on your system, you may be able to get
       it with the info CVS command or it may be available as cvs.pdf  (Porta-
       ble   Document	Format),  cvs.ps  (PostScript),	 cvs.texinfo  (Texinfo
       source), or cvs.html.

       For CVS updates, more information on documentation, software related to
       CVS, development of CVS, and more, see:

	   http://cvs.nongnu.org

 ci(1),	 co(1),	 cvs(5),  cvsbug(8), diff(1), grep(1), patch(1), rcs(1), rcsd-
 iff(1), rcsmerge(1), rlog(1).



									CVS(1)