Re: What is HEAD?

[Arno Schuring]

[snip]
> > The "head" of a branch (or trunk) is also called the "tip" and refers to
> > the highest numbered revision on the branch.  The "default branch" is
> > generally the vendor branch if the file has been imported and not
> > locally modified, and the trunk otherwise.
>
> I need some clarification and confirmaton.  By "default branch", you do 
> not mean a branch created by
> cvs tag -b mybranch
> You mean either the "vendor branch" that is imported or the trunk.  Right?
> Therefore even if I am on mybranch, with diff and no sticky tag and the 
> file is not imported, or a command other than diff, HEAD does not mean the 
> tip of mybranch, but still means the tip of the trunk. With diff and a 
> sticky tag, HEAD is the tip of mybranch.  Right?

I believe the case "on mybranch and no sticky tag" is not possible. When you 
are on a branch, you will always have a sticky tag (to be precise, the 
branch name is sticky). Therefore, when you're on a branch, HEAD will always 
be the tip of your branch (mybranch ;) when using cvs diff.

$ cvs up -r xml-rewrite
[snip]
$ cvs status page.dtd
===================================================================
File: page.dtd          Status: Up-to-date

  Working revision:    1.5.2.2 Sun Sep 11 20:56:50 2005
  Repository revision: 1.5.2.2 /home/cvsroot/xml/src/page.dtd,v
  Sticky Tag:          xml-rewrite (branch: 1.5.2)
  Sticky Date:         (none)
  Sticky Options:      (none)

> address@hidden cvs update -r HEAD
[snip]
> address@hidden cvs status -v
[snip]
>   Sticky Tag:          HEAD (revision: 1.4)
[snip]
> HEAD is apparently 1.4, tip of the trunk.  And in the "update" command, 
> HEAD apparently refers to the tip of the trunk.
> But now I get a sticky tag.  Should it be there?

Yes, because you specifically requested a revision via the -r option. To get 
HEAD without a sticky tag, use update -A (which will clear all sticky tags).

$ cvs up -A
[snip]
$ cvs st page.dtd
===================================================================
File: page.dtd          Status: Up-to-date

  Working revision:    1.11    Sun Sep 11 21:01:14 2005
  Repository revision: 1.11    /home/cvsroot/xml/src/page.dtd,v
  Sticky Tag:          (none)
  Sticky Date:         (none)
  Sticky Options:      (none)


HTH,
Arno