Re: Upgrading Older Version to Newer

[Mark D. Baushke]

Jake Colman <address@hidden> writes:

> The repository itself needs no conversion?

Correct. Even your $CVSROOT/CVSROOT/history file is compatible.

> The new CVS executable will simply work with the old/current
> repository? 

Yes.

> Are there any dependencies on version of the underlying rcs binaries?

Separate rcs binaries are not longer used. cvs now parses the rcs
binaries directly. The RCSBIN option and directory are now ignored.

> The jump from 1.10.7 to 1.11.6 seems fairly large, no? 

It is not a trivial upgrade. Many bug fixes and some new features are
now available. I do urge you to read the NEWS file.

> Doesn't that jump cover quite a few intermediate releases?

You have missed the following releases:

  cvs-1.10.8 cvs-1.11 cvs-1.11.1p1 cvs-1.11.2 cvs-1.11.3 cvs-1.11.4
  cvs-1.11.5 cvs-1.11.6

So, yes, there are a fair number of bug fixes between the two releases.
I would suggest that you test the new version thoroughly to convince
yourself that this is a good step. It will also be wise to ensure that
your commitinfo/verifymsg/loginfo scripts continue to work as you
expect.

> I'm sorry to be peppering you with so many questions but I have been
> tasked with this upgrade and I have to explain how I have ensured the
> integrity of the result.

For what it is worth, I recently upgraded a large user base from cvs
1.10.5 (plus some local patches) to cvs 1.11.5.1 (basically taken from
the cvs branch that lead to cvs 1.11.6, but before that release
occured). There were no problems with the underlying rcs ,v files.

If you upgrade everything, then you should not have a problem. However,
if you have a mixture of old and new clients, then you may notce the
following:

 * The cvs update -C option will only work if both the client and the
   server support it (the cvs 1.10.7 version did not).

 * If you wish to move a branch tag, then the -B option to cvs tag will
   be needed. This is an option that the client must pass to the server,
   but cvs 1.10.7 did not have this option. So, an older client will not
   be able to tell a new server to do this operation. However, a new
   client would have no problems not passing this option to an old
   server.

 * The 'cvs rlog' command is no longer deprecated and instead does a
   different thing than the 'cvs log' command.

It would probably be better to upgrade everything to the new cvs version
if at all possible.

        Enjoy!
        -- Mark