Open Source Version Control

1. CVS: Open source version control
   CVS is a version control system, an important component of Source Configuration Management (SCM). Using it, you can record the history of sources files, and documents. It fills a similar role to the free software RCS, PRCS, and Aegis packages. While CVS stores individual file history in the same format as RCS, it offers the following significant advantages over RCS:
   * It can run scripts which you can supply to log CVS operations or enforce site-specific polices.
   * Client/server CVS enables developers scattered by geography or slow modems to function as a single team. The version history is stored on a single central server and the client machines have a copy of all the files that the developers are working on. Therefore, the network between the client and the server must be up to perform CVS operations  but need not be up to edit or manipulate the current versions of the files. Clients can perform all the same operations which are available locally. 
     
2. Free Source Code Version Control Management Software
   If you maintain software, you will probably find yourself needing to manage multiple versions of your software. The packages on this page allow you to manage them in a space efficient manner. Instead of storing the different versions of your sources in entirety, these packages store only the differences between the versions. You can then use the various programs in the package to retrieve different versions of your source code, check your change log, compare the changes made in your current source with previous versions, etc. In general, unless your program is very trivial, it is usually a good idea to put your program under a source code version control management software from the very start. The version control software not only provides you savings in storage space, it also helps you to track down earlier versions of your code should you, say, inadvertantly introduce a code change that you regret later.
     
3. Two Open-Source Version Control Programs Spring
   Critical flaws have been found in two open-source applications: Concurrent Versions System (CVS), a popular open-source application within which many developers store code, and Subversion, which was built to be a compelling replacement for CVS in the open-source community. Stefan Esser, the security researcher who discovered the flaws, released advisories Wednesday recommending that the applications be updated immediately. Esser is the chief security and technology officer at e-Matters, a German technology company. The first flaw pertains to CVS releases up to 1.11.15 and CVS feature releases up to 1.12.7. Both contain a flaw that occurs when deciding whether a CVS entry line should get a flag reading modified or unchanged. 
     
4. An Open Source Version Control Tool
   In this chapter, I will walk you through the basic use of Subversion, from creating a new repository, all the way through to more complex features such as creating and merging a branch. If you are like me, you learn best by actually sitting down at a computer and getting your feet wet. To allow you to do that, all of the examples in this chapter build on each other, one right after the other, starting with a simple Hello World project. All of the examples in this chapter assume that you are in a UNIX-like environment, such as Linux or Mac OS X. For the most part, they will all work if you are running in a Windows environment, with a few minor changes, such as turning forward slashes (/) in path names into backslashes (\).
      
   
5. Subversion Delivers Version Control 
   The designers of Subversion have created an open-source version control tool that fixes the flaws and addresses shortcomings in the popular Concurrent Versions System (CVS) version control system. The following are the most significant and visible CVS flaws that Subversion rectifies:
   * CVS lacks directory versioning. It keeps track of only files, not directories.
   * CVS has weak support for the copy, rename, and delete operations on files, a result of the lack of directory versioning.
   * CVS lacks atomic commits.
     
6. Open source version of Virtuozzo
   The company behind the virtual private server (VPS) software Virtuozzo announced yesterday it would release a "bare-bones" open source version called OpenVZ, which it expects to help drive development of the proprietary one.Virtuozzo and OpenVZ will both benefit from community development of the free, open source product, as well as OpenVZ benefiting from development on Virtuozzo, said OpenVZ project manager Kir Kolyshkin. The open source product is aimed mostly at technically oriented users who want to see the product in action before buying the proprietary one, or simply want to help drive its development. Both products allow server administrators to create up to 100 individual, isolated virtual servers within a single machine. The applications are designed to allow the management of virtual servers on one or several physical servers, and run in a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week environment, said Rufus Manning, spokesperson for SWsoft, the company that owns both.
     
7. Version Control for Source Code
   CVS is a tool which allows development teams to safely coordinate and track software source code changes. While CVS is a powerful tool for managing software changes, the SourceForge.net File Release System is a better way to distribute releases to end-users. CVS and the FRS are complementary tools; CVS allows you to distribute the latest development source code within your team, and coordinate the influx of changes to that source code. CVS is a complex tool. We encourage all new developers to practice CVS commands locally before using SourceForge.net CVS servers for the first time. Instructions on configuring a local CVS repository for testing are provided in CVS client configuration instructions. The SourceForge.net CVS service offering is segmented in to two separate services: Developer CVS (which allows write access) and anonymous read-only CVS access.
     
8. Open Source code version control with CVS
   The Concurrent Versions System (CVS) is a version control system for keeping track of all modifications to module source code files. CVS is widely used in both open source and proprietary software development modules, and is generally considered to be the best freely available, full-featured version control tool. Two special features make CVS particularly suited to collaborative development across the Internet:
   1. CVS allows multiple developers to edit their own working copies of files simultaneously, then deals with combining all the changes and notifying developers when there are conflicts.
   2. Remote access to source code file repositories. Developers who are module members can obtain and modify module files from virtually anywhere.