Re: Is there a safe way to do this kind of offline CVS management?

[Doug Lee]

On Mon, Apr 04, 2005 at 01:57:22AM +0000, Pierre Asselin wrote:
> Doug Lee <address@hidden> wrote:
> 
> > Now for why...
> 
> > I write scripts for a screen-reading program called JAWS For Windows
> > (JAWS stands for Job Access With Speech).  JAWS scripts must all exist
> > and run in a specific directory, say c:\jaws510\settings\enu.  JAWS
> > scripts are named after the applications to which they apply; thus, a
> > script for WordPad will be named WordPad.jss (source code; the
> > compiled version is WordPad.jsb, and there are other associated
>   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> > WordPad.* files as well).  Every script for every application that
> > needs special handling goes in the same directory.  This is how it
> > comes to pass that I often have multiple simultaneous projects in the
> > same directory with no overlapping file names.
> 
> I see.  Well, allow me to pontificate a little.  Your files are
> scripts and require no compilation, so you make the common mistake

Just for complete accuracy:  They are indeed compiled, but both source
and binary reside in the same place.  The rest of your message is
accurate, though I hesitate to say "JAWS is not nice"; for the
situation being solved by JAWS, it makes sense to me.  In the newest
JAWS version, scripts (source and binary) go under a massively long
but more modern path like C:\Documents and
Settings\<userName>\Application Data\Freedom
Scientific\JAWS\6.0\Settings\enu ... but the problem is still the same
for CVS management.

> of confusing the *source tree* of your project (your scripts) with
> the *installed version* of your project (your scripts in
> jaws510\settings\enu with all their other script friends).  The
> source tree goes into CVS, the installed copy doesn't.  You should
> be doing a "make install" or some such to install your files...
> 
> ... except that it sucks, because you can't even *test* your scripts
> without installing them.  Which is why the above qualifies as
> pontification.  Bottom line: JAWS is not nice, and there is nothing
> you can do about it.

Doesn't stop me from trying. :-)  Seriously though, CVS just happens
to be a WONDERFUL assistant with this because of its ability to track
which of the many settings\enu files matter to a project.  It also
helps me catch modifications to configuration files that I might
otherwise make and miss accidentally:  app.jcf files are text config
files, so if I include them in a project on site, at the end I can
capture the changes I had to make there just as easily as I capture
code.

The original problem I set out to address here though was how to move
repo subtrees around without all the case-change problems this
currently can cause.  As I think I've accidentally made more of an
education about JAWS than a discussion of that question here though, I
think I'll consider the matter closed unless someone has a brainstorm.  :-)

> Or does JAWS understand shell links (aka Windows shortcuts) ? If
> yes, you could plant shortcuts from the installation directory to
> your CVS sandbox.  Is there a tool to plant shortcuts programmatically?

I don't think JAWS can compile an app.lnk that points to
c:\cvs\proj\app.jss, but even greater a problem, app.jss tends to come
with app.jsd, and app.lnk can't point to both at once...  Nice idea
though; it hadn't occurred to me.

> One other thing:  are you the only one involved that uses CVS? if
> so I guess your approach is okay, but your initial post said
> something about telling everyone else to stop committing to the
> trunk while you were away.  That negates the "C" in CVS, which is
> a shame.

I'm not the only CVS user here (though I'm sorta the one that started
it here), but I've never had a case where one person was at a client
site committing and someone else was in the office committing to the
same project.  (And I hear Jim's "Yet" echoing after me...)


-- 
Doug Lee           address@hidden        http://www.dlee.org
BART Group         address@hidden   http://www.bartsite.com
"You must let me try, for a true soldier does not admit defeat before
the battle."
--Helen Keller (in a letter to the president of Radcliffe College)