1 Introduction

The following document helps explain how to use CVS in a number of common scenarios. This document isn't meant to replace the standard CVS documentation, but rather it serves to introduce CVS.

For users familiar with other version control systems like RCS, the most difficult concept to come to grips with is that CVS does not support file locking. However, this in fact is not a limitation; file locking does not adequately support concurrent development by multiple developers. This limitation of RCS-style file locking is precisely the reason CVS was developed.

In order to get the full value of this tutorial, it is recommended that you repeat the examples as you follow along, using a locally installed copy of CVS. Access to a Unix-style shell is also assumed. While programming knowledge isn't required to follow the tutorial, it will help to be familiar with programming concepts in order to fully appreciate the tutorial examples.

In addition, you'll also need access to a text editor (e.g. vi) to make changes to the samples. Alternatively, you can duplicate the changes by using the patch files included in the tutorial distribution. These patches can be applied to the files using the patch utility. If you're not familiar with patch, you can still view the patch files to see the changes, and then make the changes manually using a text editor.

The shell commands presented in these examples can be used from any shell unless otherwise noted.

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