This is CVS 1.3, RCS 5.6, GNU diff and patch for Linux. This should be everything you need to do decent version control. CVS is a frontend to RCS, which in turn uses diff and patch. pcl-cvs, an Emacs frontend to CVS is also included. If you extract this in your root directory, you need to setenv CVSROOT /home/Master (csh users, in ~/.login) or export CVSROOT=/home/Master (bash/zsh, in ~/.{,z}profile) Then get your favourite software package (e.g. Linux) and do cd /tmp tar xvzf linux-0.99.14.tar.gz cd linux cvs import -m LINUX_0_99_14 linux LINUX LINUX_0_99_14 cd .. rm -rf linux tar xvzf ALPHA-pl14a.tar.gz cd linux cvs import -m LINUX_0_99_14A linux LINUX LINUX_0_99_14A cd .. rm -rf linux tar xvzf ALPHA-pl14b.tar.gz cd linux cvs import -m LINUX_0_99_14B linux LINUX LINUX_0_99_14B cd .. rm -rf linux ... and so on. To see the diffs between LINUX_0_99_14A and LINUX_0_99_14B do cvs rdiff -u -r LINUX_0_99_14A -r LINUX_0_99_14B linux If you want to compile/hack the kernel, do cd /usr/src mv linux linux.old cvs checkout linux cd linux [ hack away ... ] If you want to see what you have changed: cvs diff -u or cvs diff -u When you feel confident that you want to commit your changes: cd /usr/src/linux cvs commit -m 'Your log message goes here' cvs tag my_hacked_version_of_pl14b Then look at your diffs: cvs rdiff -u -r LINUX_0_99_14B -r my_hacked_version_of_pl14b If you get conflicts after importing a new version (pl14c :-) ): cd /usr/src/linux cvs update -jLINUX:yesterday -jLINUX which should do the same as cvs update -j LINUX_0_99_14B -j LINUX_0_99_14C and resolve the conflicts manually. Conflicts look like this <<<< your hack version... |||| what patch expected... ==== the new stuff >>> You might want to do (in Emacs) M-x dired /usr/src/linux M-x grep -n '^<<<' `find -type f .` or M-x grep -n '^<<<' **/*(.) for zsh users to correct the conflicts. Use C-x ` to go to the next conflict. RTFM!!!! Really. CVS/RCS is *not* trivial. Read the papers about CVS and RCS in the /usr/doc directory. I also uploaded the CVS paper as cvs-paper.ps.gz Have fun, Dirk ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dirk W. Steinberg - RWTH Aachen - Internet email: steinber@ert.rwth-aachen.de Aachen University of Technology / IS2-Integrated Systems in Signal Processing Rhein.Westf.Tech.Hochsch. Aachen / Integrierte Systeme der Signalverarbeitung Templergraben 55 / D-52056 Aachen / phone:+49 241 807879 / fax:+49 241 807631 Home address: Kleikstr. 63, D-52134 Herzogenrath,Germany/phone: +49 2406 7225