Re: Checkout - do not get local copy

[David H. Thornley]

Hynek Syrovatka wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> how can I do it under CVS? I know this feature from Perforce or SourceSafe.
> Thanks,
>  Hynek
> 
The first thing we need to know is what you want to do.

In CVS, a checkout *is* getting a local copy, along with the
metadata CVS needs.  In some source control systems, a checkout
means getting exclusive permission to change something, but
not CVS.

In CVS, the default method of operation is for people to make
changes concurrently and to merge the changes, and this works
very well in some important domains, particularly the software
development environment it was created in.  If you need to
have something like reserved checkouts, you need to use the
"cvs edit" and "cvs watch" commands.

It is my experience that systems with hard locks have no
advantages over systems with soft, or advisory locks.  I've
seen changes overwritten in both.

Finally, one of the main ideas behind CVS was to give everybody
their own copy of the repository to work with, and so the system
is built around the idea of local working copies.

If a source control system that pretty much requires local working
copies and is designed for concurrent change is unacceptable for
you, you might want to investigate other options.

-- 
David H. Thornley                          Software Engineer
at CES International, Inc.:  address@hidden or (763)-694-2556
at home: (612)-623-0552 or address@hidden or
http://www.visi.com/~thornley/david/