Appendix A. Guide to CVS commands

Table of Contents

Overall structure of CVS commands
CVS's exit status
Default options and the ~/.cvsrc and CVSROOT/cvsrc files
Global options
Common command options
add--Add files to repository
add options
admin--Administration
admin options
annotate--find out who made changes to the files
annotate options
chacl--Change access control lists
chacl options
checkout--Check out sources for editing
checkout options
checkout examples
chown--Change directory owner
chown options
commit--Check files into the repository
commit options
commit examples
diff--Show differences between revisions
diff options
diff examples
edit--Mark files for editing
edit options
editors--Find out who is editing a file
editors options
export--Export sources from CVS, similar to checkout
export options
history--Show status of files and users
history options
import--Import sources into CVS, using vendor branches
import options
import output
import examples
init--Initialise a new repository
init options
info--Get information about the client and server
info options
log--Print out log information for files
log options
log examples
login--Cache a client password locally
login options
logout--Remove the cached entry for a password
logout options
ls--list modules, files and directories in the repository
ls options
lsacl--Show file/directory permissions
lsacl options
rlsacl--Show remote file/directory permissions
passwd--Modify a user's password or create a user
passwd options
rannotate--Show who made changes to remote files
rchacl--Change remote access control lists
rchown--Change owner of a remote directory
rdiff--'patch' format diffs between releases
rdiff options
rdiff examples
release--Indicate that a Module is no longer in use
release options
release output
release examples
remove--Remove files from the working directory
remove options
rename--Rename files in the repository
rlog--Return log history of remote file
rtag--Mark a single revision over multiple files
status--Display the state of a file in the working directory
status options
tag--Create a tag or branch
tag options
unedit--Mark edit as finished without committing
unedit options
update--Bring work tree in sync with repository
update options
update output
version--Display client and server versions.
version options
watch--Watch for changes in a file
watch options
watchers--list watched files
watchers options
xdiff--External diff
xdiff options

This appendix describes the overall structure of cvsnt commands, and describes some commands in detail

Overall structure of CVS commands

The overall format of all cvsnt commands is:

cvs [ cvs_options ] cvs_command [ command_options ] [ command_args ]
cvs

The name of the cvsnt program.

cvs_options

Some options that affect all sub-commands of cvsnt. These are described below.

cvs_command

One of several different sub-commands. Some of the commands have aliases that can be used instead; those aliases are noted in the reference manual for that command. There are only two situations where you may omit cvs_command: cvs -H elicits a list of available commands, and cvs -v displays version information on cvsnt itself.

command_options

Options that are specific for the command.

command_args

Arguments to the commands.

There is unfortunately some confusion between cvs_options and command_options. -l, when given as a cvs_option, only affects some of the commands. When it is given as a command_option is has a different meaning, and is accepted by more commands. In other words, do not take the above categorization too seriously. Look at the documentation instead.