RE: Possible modifications to CVS.

[Thornley, David]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: address@hidden [mailto:address@hidden
> Sent: Tuesday, December 18, 2001 12:45 PM
> To: address@hidden
> Cc: address@hidden
> Subject: Re: Possible modifications to CVS.
> 
> 
> address@hidden writes:
> > 
> > Is it possible to checkout multiple files from different 
> directories within
> > the repository and put them into a single directory?  Can 
> CVS keep track of
> > where each file came from and update the repository as necessary?
> 
> No.  CVS tracks metadata at the directory level, so all files in a
> single working directory have to come from the same repository
> directory.
> 
It doesn't appear to be a problem to have sandbox subdirectories
that don't correspond to repository subdirectories, since the
subdirectories maintain their own metadata, but it's not going to
work for files.

> > If this isn't possible,  I would suggest it be added to 
> CVS.  What I would
> > like to see is a way to check out files from anywhere in 
> the repository, and
> > from any repository,  and be able to put the files anywhere 
> I want in my
> > working directory structure, and have CVS maintain the files.
> 
> That would require completely redesigning and reimplementing CVS.
> 
Anybody know how common this ability is in such systems?  Subversion,
in particular?

In any case, you can always manipulate files after you've checked
them out, so you can put varied files into one directory.  You can't
check back in from that directory, though, which is something
of a pain.

So, I figure that that would be a nice capability that isn't
going to happen in CVS.