More detail on banching and tagging.

[manuel 'fmf' ferrero]

Ok, i know this is quite a FAQ, but i need an answer i cannot find on
google.
I use a gui (WinCVS) as a client on my windows pc to access to a cvs
1.12.9 on a debian machine.
I have a main trunk on a Project and i made a branch on it:

cvs -r status -v -- H\Release.h (in directory C:\temp\)
===================================================================
File: Release.h         Status: Up-to-date

   Working revision:    1.31
   Repository revision: 1.31    /usr/local/cvs/Project/H/Release.h,v
   Sticky Tag:          (none)
   Sticky Date:         (none)
   Sticky Options:      (none)

   Existing Tags:
        Ver_210                      (revision: 1.29.4.4)
        BugFixing_Ver_208      (branch: 1.29.4)
        Ver_036                      (revision: 1.24.2.2)
        Ver_208                      (revision: 1.29)
        [...]
        Start                          (revision: 1.1.1.1)
        fmf                             (branch: 1.1.1)
***** CVS exited normally with code 0 *****



I worked on the branch: the tag Ver_210 is the result of my fixes.
Now one coworker needs to work on the branch starting where i finished,
so he did checkout the Ver_210 tag:

cvs -r -d
:pserver;username=coworker;password=****;hostname=10.1.2.2:/usr/local/...
checkout -P -r Ver_210 -- Project (in directory C:\temp)
cvs checkout: cwd=C:\temp ,current=C:\temp
cvs checkout: Updating Project

[...]
***** CVS exited normally with code 0 *****


He made his fixes and then he tried to commit, but he get the infamous
error message.
Why?
We need to commit the fixes on the branch, but obviously we want to
commit them on the top of the branch, not at the fork.

I looked at the status and i understand why he got the error: the
sticky tag is not a branch (as the message told him!):
cvs -r status -v -- H\Release.h (in directory C:\temp\)
===================================================================
File: Release.h         Status: Up-to-date

   Working revision:    1.29.4.4
   Repository revision: 1.29.4.4
/usr/local/cvs/Project/H/Release.h,v
   Sticky Tag:          Ver_210       (revision: 1.29.4.4)
   Sticky Date:         (none)
   Sticky Options:      (none)

   Existing Tags:
        Ver_210                      (revision: 1.29.4.4)
        BugFixing                   (branch: 1.29.4)
        Ver_036                      (revision: 1.24.2.2)
        Ver_208                      (revision: 1.29)
        [...]
        Start                           (revision: 1.1.1.1)
        fmf                              (branch: 1.1.1)
***** CVS exited normally with code 0 *****

The question is: when i checkout a branch i get the top of the branch
or the version where it fork from the main?