[cvsnt] Re: Why edit -x?

[Tony Hoyle]

Jerzy Kaczorowski wrote:
> Tony,
> 
> In the recent versions there is a new option for edit command:
>  -x  Exclusive edit (Stop other users editing this file)
> 
> That doesn't seem right. Is there a way to verride it? commit -f doesn't
> work and it probably should.

No.  I can't see myself using it but for some people it's essential.  If 
you could override it that would defeat the point - an admin can still 
unedit it though.

> It's totally against the main principle of CVS (namely concurency) and it
> will cause troubles given that with CVS people don't have any indication
> that the files are exclusively edited by someone else up until the last
> moment when it's too late.

The same with -c if it's configured in the cvsrc... I'm aware of the 
problems with exclusive edits and agree with you, but there are those 
that won't work without them.  Adding the option doesn't reduce the 
concurrency for those that use it, it merely adds more options.

I would always argue strongly the a concurrent development model is the 
only truly productive one, but there are corner cases where exclusive 
edits are necessary - eg. where the development tool uses binary files 
rather than text files.

Tony