Re: How to limit file revisions

[Steven W. Orr]

On Tuesday, Oct 25th 2005 at 16:51 -0200, quoth Maicon Stihler:

=>Hi, 
=>
=>I'm having some troubles with files that get too large after a certain
=>time. What I would like to do is to erase past revisions and to keep
=>only a small number of revisions. I know that there is the admin -o
=>command, but Im not too sure how do I use it. I tried using 'cvs log
=>somefile' to see how many revisions the given file has, but I get this
=>error: CVS/Entries not found (or something alike, I dont remember the
=>right spelling) I found that logging is not enabled on cvs's config
=>file.
=>
=>Could someone give me some tips and ideas of how to perform this task?
=>
=>Best regards
=>Maicon 

cvs log only works in a workspace. If you're not in a workspace then use 
rlog.

You are correct that cvs admin -o will remove revisions. I assume you read 
the manual. What part do you not understand?


`-oRANGE'
     Deletes ("outdates") the revisions given by RANGE.

     Note that this command can be quite dangerous unless you know
     _exactly_ what you are doing (for example see the warnings below
     about how the REV1:REV2 syntax is confusing).

     If you are short on disc this option might help you.  But think
     twice before using it--there is no way short of restoring the
     latest backup to undo this command!  If you delete different
     revisions than you planned, either due to carelessness or (heaven
     forbid) a CVS bug, there is no opportunity to correct the error
     before the revisions are deleted.  It probably would be a good
     idea to experiment on a copy of the repository first.

     Specify RANGE in one of the following ways:

    `REV1::REV2'
          Collapse all revisions between rev1 and rev2, so that CVS
          only stores the differences associated with going from rev1
          to rev2, not intermediate steps.  For example, after `-o
          1.3::1.5' one can retrieve revision 1.3, revision 1.5, or the
          differences to get from 1.3 to 1.5, but not the revision 1.4,
          or the differences between 1.3 and 1.4.  Other examples: `-o
          1.3::1.4' and `-o 1.3::1.3' have no effect, because there are
          no intermediate revisions to remove.

    `::REV'
          Collapse revisions between the beginning of the branch
          containing REV and REV itself.  The branchpoint and REV are
          left intact.  For example, `-o ::1.3.2.6' deletes revision
          1.3.2.1, revision 1.3.2.5, and everything in between, but
          leaves 1.3 and 1.3.2.6 intact.

    `REV::'
          Collapse revisions between REV and the end of the branch
          containing REV.  Revision REV is left intact but the head
          revision is deleted.

    `REV'
          Delete the revision REV.  For example, `-o 1.3' is equivalent
          to `-o 1.2::1.4'.

    `REV1:REV2'
          Delete the revisions from REV1 to REV2, inclusive, on the
          same branch.  One will not be able to retrieve REV1 or REV2
          or any of the revisions in between.  For example, the command
          `cvs admin -oR_1_01:R_1_02 .' is rarely useful.  It means to
          delete revisions up to, and including, the tag R_1_02.  But
          beware!  If there are files that have not changed between
          R_1_02 and R_1_03 the file will have _the same_ numerical
          revision number assigned to the tags R_1_02 and R_1_03.  So
          not only will it be impossible to retrieve R_1_02; R_1_03
          will also have to be restored from the tapes!  In most cases
          you want to specify REV1::REV2 instead.

    `:REV'
          Delete revisions from the beginning of the branch containing
          REV up to and including REV.

    `REV:'
          Delete revisions from revision REV, including REV itself, to
          the end of the branch containing REV.

     None of the revisions to be deleted may have branches or locks.

     If any of the revisions to be deleted have symbolic names, and one
     specifies one of the `::' syntaxes, then CVS will give an error
     and not delete any revisions.  If you really want to delete both
     the symbolic names and the revisions, first delete the symbolic
     names with `cvs tag -d', then run `cvs admin -o'.  If one
     specifies the non-`::' syntaxes, then CVS will delete the
     revisions but leave the symbolic names pointing to nonexistent
     revisions.  This behavior is preserved for compatibility with
     previous versions of CVS, but because it isn't very useful, in the
     future it may change to be like the `::' case.

     Due to the way CVS handles branches REV cannot be specified
     symbolically if it is a branch.  *Note Magic branch numbers::, for
     an explanation.

     Make sure that no-one has checked out a copy of the revision you
     outdate.  Strange things will happen if he starts to edit it and
     tries to check it back in.  For this reason, this option is not a
     good way to take back a bogus commit; commit a new revision
     undoing the bogus change instead (*note Merging two revisions::).


-- 
Time flies like the wind. Fruit flies like a banana. Stranger things have  .0.
happened but none stranger than this. Does your driver's license say Organ ..0
Donor?Black holes are where God divided by zero. Listen to me! We are all- 000
individuals! What if this weren't a hypothetical question?
steve_orr at guardium dot com