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(cvsbook.info)pcl-cvs -- An Emacs Interface To CVS

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pcl-cvs - An Emacs Interface To CVS
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Depends on: Emacs, Elib

URLs:

   * `ftp://rum.cs.yale.edu/pub/monnier/pcl-cvs/'

   * `ftp://ftp.lysator.liu.se/pub/emacs/pcl-cvs-1.05.tar.gz'

   * `ftp://ftp.red-bean.com/pub/kfogel/pcl-cvs-1.05.tar.gz'

Authors: Per Cederqvist and Stefan Monnier (current maintainer)

`pcl-cvs' is one of two Emacs/CVS interfaces.  The other is the native
VC (Version Control) interface built into Emacs.  I prefer pcl-cvs
because it was written exclusively for CVS and, therefore, works
smoothly with the CVS way of doing things.  VC, on the other hand, was
designed to work with several different back-end version control systems
- RCS and SCCS, as well as CVS - and is not really "tuned" for CVS.
For example, VC presents a file-based rather than a directory-based
interface to revision control.

The advantages of pcl-cvs are strong enough that many people choose to
download and install it rather than use VC.  Unfortunately, pcl-cvs has
two disadvantages: It can be a bit tricky to install (much of this
section is devoted to overcoming possible installation hurdles), and its
recent releases are a bit unstable.

The latter problem is likely to be temporary, but it does raise the
question of which version to use.  Stefan Monnier has just recently
taken over the pcl-cvs maintainership; the latest release, 2.9.6
(available from the first URL in the preceding list), was a bit bumpy
when I tried it.  No doubt the problems will be smoothed out soon, but
in the meantime, you might want to use an older version.  Because I've
been using Version 1.05 daily for a long time now and it's performed
quite well, I'm going to document that version here.  Fortunately, the
installation procedures don't change much from version to version.  If
you decide to use pcl-cvs, I suggest that you check Monnier's download
site for a version newer than 2.9.6; if there is one, try it out before
regressing all the way to 1.05.

You'll notice that two URLs are given for Version 1.05.  The first is
Per Cederqvist's site, where he still makes available an old archive of
pcl-cvs.  However, since I'm not sure how much longer his archive will
stay around, I'm also making the 1.05 distribution available from
ftp.red-bean.com.

Although the rest of these instructions use examples from a Version 1.05
distribution, they should apply to later versions as well.

Installing pcl-cvs

Using pcl-cvs

Error Handling In pcl-cvs

The Future Of pcl-cvs