CVS Unreserved Checkouts Introduction

This section will introduce you to CVS Unreserved Checkouts and how it may be configured for use with Uniface and UD6

Introduction

When most people think of version control they think of "reserved checkouts". Whilst it is possible to force CVS to use this method of working, CVS was designed to be used in a very different way. For some organisations this is a logical and productive way to work - and for others it is not.

Reserved checkouts is where a central "read only" copy of the source code exists, and when changes need to be made the selected components are "checked out" into a working area.

The components that are checked out are now "Resreved" and until they are returned no one else may modify them other than the individual or the team who checked it out.

Unreserved checkouts is where each developer or team has their own copy of the entire source code, and they may each make changes to it without informing one another and then "merge" the results into a single product at a point in time.

CVS is an "open source" product and the "unreserved checkouts" mechanism has been very successful in that community. It seems to specifically suit large teams of geographically disparate developers working on a single project. It is also very suitable for where a project is "developer driven".

Configuration

When used with unreserved checkouts, CVS is typically used with a GUI front end. The two most popular are Tortoise CVS and WinCVS.

WinCVS provides a typical Windows application look and feel to managing a "source tree".

Tortoise CVS provides a plug in to the Windows Explorer so that when you are browsing through files you can see their status (red or green) at a glance.

Using either tool the techniques are very simple and very similar. Knowing how to use the command line client is not necessary though may prove a useful skill to acquire.