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(cvsbook.info)Conventions Used In This Tour

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Conventions Used In This Tour
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The tour takes place in a Unix environment.  CVS also runs on Windows
and Macintosh operating systems, and Tim Endres of Ice Engineering has
even written a Java client (see http://www.trustice.com/java/jcvs/),
which can be run anywhere Java runs.  However, I'm going to take a wild
guess and assume that the majority of CVS users - present and potential
- are most likely working in a Unix command-line environment.  If you
aren't one of these, the examples in the tour should be easy to
translate to other interfaces.  Once you understand the concepts, you
can sit down at any CVS front end and work with it (trust me, I've done
it many times).

The examples in the tour are oriented toward people who will be using
CVS to keep track of programming projects.  However, CVS operations are
applicable to all text documents, not just source code.

The tour also assumes that you already have CVS installed (it's present
by default on many of the popular free Unix systems, so you might
already have it without knowing it) and that you have access to a
repository.  Even if you are not set up, you can still benefit from
reading the tour.  In Note: Repository Administration, you'll learn
how to install CVS and set up repositories.

Assuming CVS is installed, you should take a moment to find the online
CVS manual.  Known familiarly as the "Cederqvist" (after Per Cederqvist,
its original author), it comes with the CVS source distribution and is
usually the most up-to-date reference available.  It's written in
Texinfo format and should be available on Unix systems in the "Info"
documentation hierarchy.  You can read it either with the command line
info program

     floss$ info cvs

or by pressing Ctrl+H and then typing "i" inside Emacs.  If neither of
these works for you, consult your local Unix guru (or see Note:
Repository Administration regarding installation issues).  You'll
definitely want to have the Cederqvist at your fingertips if you're
going to be using CVS regularly.