Re: cvs update is uploading entire sandbox to server

[Larry Jones]

Nelson Bolyard writes:
> 
> If the client and servers had different ideas of the current time, due to 
> (say) not switching daylight savings time on the same day, could that 
> cause the massive upload behavior? 

No, CVS does all timekeeping internally in UTC, which is immune to
things like DST.  However, you did say that the client is Windows, and
Microsoft's time conversions are known to be defective -- they use the
current offset between local time and UTC rather than the offset that
was (or presumably will be) in effect at the time being converted. 
Since some file systems (e.g., FAT) keep timestamps in local time and
others (e.g., NTFS) in UTC, compensating for the defect is non-trivial. 
Add in the fact that most PC's real-time clocks are set to local time
and may or may not use the same DST rules as the OS's clock and network
time synchronization protocols that may or may not include DST, and
there are myriad possibilities for timekeeping to get screwed up.  On
top of that, the problems only occur twice a year and usually aren't
noticed until after it's too late to do any real diagnosis on what went
wrong.  CVS tries to compensate as best it can, but it doesn't always
work.

-Larry Jones

Hey Doc, for 10 bucks I'll make sure you see those kids in the
waiting room again real soon! -- Calvin