Re: branching / cvs question

[Larry Jones]

Ronald Petty writes:
> 
> I am also interested in a more detailed explanation of the rcs files.  I
> am making a cvsweb replacement (adding security etc), but I am not sure
> how to use the symbols/magic/branches.  I am diffing/patching the rcs
> files myself and need to know how to follow a version history so I can
> recreate the file so it can be viewed in a browser.  I do not want to
> use r tools before someone tells me too :)

See the rcsfile man page (from the unmentionable r tools) for basic
info.  The only thing CVS does differently is the "magic" revision
numbers for branch tags.  RCS can't create a branch without immediately
creating revisions on the branch.  CVS adopted a lazy approach instead
where no revisions are created on the branch until real changes are
checked in.  So, when you create a branch in CVS, all it does is create
a tag for the branch defined as a magic revision number.  The magic
revision number is the revision number of the branch point followed by a
zero and the branch number (where even numbers are user branches and odd
numbers are vendor branch numbers).  So, if the base revision is 1.12,
the first user branch would be 1.12.2 which CVS represents as the magic
revision 1.12.0.2.

-Larry Jones

Talk about someone easy to exploit! -- Calvin