CVS, or the Concurrent Versioning System, is a version control system. Version control systems are generally used as part of the software development cycle to track and co-ordinate source code changes among a team of developers.

For example, bugs sometimes creep in when software is modified, and you might not detect the bug until a long time after you make the modification. With CVS, you can easily retrieve old versions to see exactly which change caused the bug. This can sometimes be a big help.

You could of course save every version of every file you have ever created. This would however waste an enormous amount of disk space. CVS stores all the versions of a file in a single file in a clever way that only stores the differences between versions.

CVS also helps you if you are part of a group of people working on the same project. It is all too easy to overwrite each others' changes unless you are extremely careful. Some editors, like GNU Emacs, try to make sure that the same file is never modified by two people at the same time. Unfortunately, if someone is using another editor, that safeguard will not work. CVS solves this problem by insulating the different developers from each other. Every developer works in his own sandbox, and CVS merges the work when each developer is done.

TortoiseCVS is a front-end client to make using CVS easier and more intuitive. It allows developers to work with files controlled by CVS directly from Windows Explorer™.

One of the major drawbacks of CVS is the command-line interface that is provided. Many developers today are becoming more accustomed to the graphical integrated development environments (IDEs). TortoiseCVS aims to provide that "point-and-click" environment in a clever and intuitive way.

Note that TortoiseCVS is a CVS client, not a server. This document assumes that you either know how to set up your own server, or that you are using a server that somebody else set up. If you want to learn about setting up a CVS server, see CVS Book.

This manual is not perfect, although we try to make it better all the time. If you find something which you believe is wrong, or if you think something is missing from the manual, please let us know. (Please set the Category to Documentation; you do not need to include your OS version and CVSROOT).

CVS has a unique method of working from most other version control systems in that developers can edit the same files concurrently. First you Checkout a version of the source code from the repository into a local copy on your computer. This local copy is called a sandbox.

You then simply edit the files that you want to change. You can Add new files or remove files you no longer require. When you're done you Commit the changes to the repository.

If someone else has changed the same file while you were working on it, then the commit will fail. You must then Update all your source code files from the repository. This will automatically merge the other developers changes into your copy of the file.

Sometimes CVS cannot do this automatically, for example if you both changed the same line of code. This is called a Conflict. Conflicts happen much less often than you might expect. CVS puts both versions of the conflicting code in the file, with markings separating them. Then you manually edit the file to resolve the conflict before you can commit the changes.

This method of working has lots of advantages. Each developer lives in a sandbox. Changes that another developer makes are isolated from you until you want to check in your changes. It stops bottlenecks where people cannot do things because someone else has the file checked out. Any developer can work on files without direct access to the server, they only need to connect to update or commit.

To obtain a module from the CVS server for the first time is known as a checkout. Checking a module out from the repository creates a local sandbox of the module.

Figure 2.1. Checkout Dialog

To perform a checkout, Right-click on the folder where you would like the module placed, and pick CVS Checkout... from the pop-up menu. The Checkout Dialog will appear with the following fields:

You will need to know this information in advance. Most projects should have some documentation (often online) on how to connect and checkout their modules. Additionally, your software lead, or project manager should be able to provide this information to you.

An exception to this is the module name - depending on how your CVS server is setup, you might find the module name in the dropdown after clicking Fetch list... (for details, see How 'Fetch list...' finds the list of modules).

Note: It is much easier to choose your project checkout settings now than it is to move your project to a different server or protocol later. For example, if your server offers two different CVS protocols, make sure you pick the one that best suits your needs.

A folder named after the module will be created within the folder you checkout to, so you can keep all your checked out modules in the same folder, even if they are for different projects.

For more information see Obtaining a Working Copy: CVS Checkout....

Having checked out a module, we can now explore how TortoiseCVS works with Windows™. You will notice that your files appear in Windows Explorer with different icon overlays. Additionally, if you are using either Windows 2000™ or Windows XP™ you can also see new CVS columns in the Detail View of Windows Explorer™ (see Showing More Information: CVS Explorer Columns).

Figure 2.2. TortoiseCVS and Windows Explorer

The icon overlays indicate a file or folder's status in CVS. The following figure indicates the corresponding status for each icon^[1]:

Table 2.1. Icon Overlays

	Unmodified	The file or folder is up-to-date with the CVS repository version.
	Modified	The file or folder has been modified from the current CVS repository version.
	Added	The file or folder has been added to CVS, but not yet committed.
	Conflict	The file or folder has a conflict with the current CVS repository version.
	Not In CVS	The file or folder is not in the CVS repository.
	CVS Watch	The file or folder is controlled under CVS Watch.
	Ignored	The file or folder is being ignored by CVS.

You interact with TortoiseCVS by right-clicking within Windows Explorer and choosing CVS operations from the context menu. Which files and folders the operation is performed on depends on what you have selected and where you have clicked:

Table 2.2. Right-Click Context

	One or more selected files: The operation is performed on those files.
	One or more selected folders: The operation is performed on these folders and the files and folders contained within.
	Anywhere else within the Explorer pane, the operation is performed on all files and folders within the view.

The popular Total Commander™ (previously known as Windows Commander) file manager also works with TortoiseCVS. We recommend that you go into the options menu and configure the right mouse button for Windows standard operation.

By default, Total Commander does not display overlay icons and custom columns. You can, however, install the third-party plugin ShellDetails™ from http://lefteous.totalcmd.net/tc/shelldetails_eng.htm to get this feature.

You need to tell ShellDetails which folders it should be active for: Open the file: c:\WINDOWS\ShellDetails.ini and insert the following two lines, where dir_1 is the location of your sandbox:

      [Directories]
      Dir_1=C:\sandbox
      

Finally, inside Total Commander go to Configuration → Options → Display and select the check box Show overlay icons, e.g. for links.

Occasionally you may want changes done by others to get incorporated in your local working copy. The process of getting changes from the server to your local copy is known as Updating. Updating may be done on single files, a set of selected files, or recursively on entire folder hierarchies. To update, highlight the files and/or folders you want, right-click and select CVS Update. The Progress Dialog will pop up displaying the progress of the update as it runs.

Figure 2.3. Updating Files and Folders

Changes done by others will be merged into your files, keeping any changes you may have done to the same files. The repository is not affected by performing an update.

If you receive reports of conflicts during the update, please read Resolving Conflicts.

For more information see Getting Other People's Changes: CVS Update.

Making local modifications available in the repository is known as committing the changes. Before committing, you should do an update to make sure there are no conflicts (see Updating your Sandbox).

To commit your changes start by selecting the file(s) or folder(s) that you want to commit. Right-click on the selection, and choose the CVS Commit... menu item.

Figure 2.4. Commit Dialog

You will then be presented with the Commit Dialog where you can enter a brief summary of what was changed. You can also exclude changed files from the commit by unchecking their checkboxes. Once you are satisfied with what you are committing, click the OK on the dialog to go ahead with the commit operation.

You can easily forget to enter a comment before selecting OK. To prevent this, TortoiseCVS has an option (set in the Preferences dialog, on the Policy tab) that, when enabled, asks for confirmation before committing without a comment.

Please note that committing changes will not automatically add new files that you have created to the repository. See Adding Files and Directories to the Repository on how to add files.

For more information see Making Your Changes Available to Others: CVS Commit....

Sometimes, the CVS server will report a conflict when you update your files from the repository. A conflict occurs when two or more developers have changed the same lines of a file. As CVS knows nothing of your project, it leaves resolving the conflicts to the developers.

Each conflicting file is marked with a "C" in the progress dialog (see Progress Dialog). When the update is complete, the Resolve Conflicts dialog is shown:

Figure 2.5. Resolve Conflicts Dialog

Right-click on the conflicting file(s) and select Merge Conflicts.... TortoiseCVS will now invoke the merge application that you have selected in Preferences/Tools/Merge application. Resolve each conflict, save the resulting file, and exit the merge application. TortoiseCVS will ask you to confirm that you want to save the result of the merge.

You can also bring up this dialog after closing the progress dialog by right-clicking in the sandbox and selecting the CVS → Resolve Conflicts... menu item.

If you have made new files or directories you will notice that they appear with the Not In CVS status icon overlay (see Windows Explorer and TortoiseCVS). To put new files or folders under CVS control select the item(s) that you want to add, right-click and choose CVS Add from context menu to schedule the addition. The Add Dialog is displayed so you can verify the file you are adding.

Figure 2.6. Add Dialog

You do not need to worry about whether a file is ASCII/Text, Unicode/Text, or Binary as TortoiseCVS automatically detects this. For more on how TortoiseCVS handles this see Binary and Unicode Detection.

After an add operation has been performed, the file or files icons appear as "changed". This is because additions are treated as local changes and are not applied to the repository until you Commit them.

Additionally, you can add a number of files and folders to CVS using the CVS Add Contents... command. This operation recursively descends down the folder structure, and displays all unadded files in the Add Dialog. Here you can check and uncheck the files and folders you wish to add to CVS.

Figure 2.7. Add Contents Dialog

For more information see Adding New Files: CVS Add and CVS Add Contents....

Typically a System Administrator will setup the CVS repository on a remote server. TortoiseCVS, however, can configure repositories and modules either locally or remotely (if you have the correct permissions).

To create a new repository and/or module prepare the folders and files locally as a new sandbox. Right-click on the top level folder for your new module or repository and choose the CVS → Make New Module... menu item. The Make New Module Dialog will be displayed. Enter the details for the new or existing CVS repository as you would for a Checkout. Click OK to create the new module.

Figure 3.1. Make New Module Dialog

If you are using the :local: protocol, and the CVS repository does not exist, you will be presented with the following question:

Figure 3.2. Make New Repository Question

To create the new repository enable the checkbox Initialise a new repository here and click OK. If you have the right permissions on the remote server TortoiseCVS will setup the new repository.

Once TortoiseCVS has either created a new or connected an existing CVS repository the new module will be created. By default TortoiseCVS uses the name of the selected folder for the new module's name, but you can change this by modifying the Module textbox.

CVS can also follow the semantics of Lock/Unlock that most version control systems use, although CVS calls it Edit/Unedit. This feature, however, is not enabled in CVS by default so before you can begin you need to enable Watch.

You can enable Watch using TortoiseCVS when you Make a New Module by enabling the checkbox Check files read-only (on the Options tab). If you wish to enable watch on an existing module, you will need run the following command (using the Command Prompt) on the top level of the module:

         cvs watch on
      

Once Watch is enabled, when performing Checkout or Update the working files will be created as read-only. To change one or more files, select the directory, file or files that you want to modify, right-click on the selection, and choose the CVS Edit menu item. This command works slightly different depending on whether the file is text or binary. For binary files (such as .doc), TortoiseCVS performs an Update on the file and then checks if another user is already editing the file. If this is the case, you will not be allowed to edit it. For text files (such as .txt or .cpp), you may work on the file even if another user is already working on it; in this case, TortoiseCVS will notify you of that fact.

When you are done working on the file or files, Commit them as you would normally. If, however, you decide that you do not want to make changes select the file or files: Right-click on this selection and choose the CVS → Unedit menu item. TortoiseCVS will ask you if you want to revert the file to the original version (thus losing your changes).

If you would like to see which files are currently being edited and by whom, right-click anywhere in Windows Explorer and choose the CVS → Show edited files menu item.

At a given stage of development, giving one or more files a common label that refers to their revisions, is known as tagging those files. Tagging is typically used on entire modules, so that the current state of the module can be reconstructed in the future. This kind of tagging should always be done on project deliverables, and before starting major changes.

To tag one or more files or directories with a label, select the directory, file or files that you want to tag. Right-click the mouse button on the selection, and choose the CVS → Tag... menu item.

Figure 3.3. Tag Dialog

You will then be presented with the Tag Dialog. Here you can enter a label in the Tag field. CVS is quite restrictive when it comes to what characters a tag may contain. A tag must start with a letter, and may contain letters, digits, "-" (dash) and "_" (underscore) only. In particular, this means no dots, and no spaces. If you want to include version numbers in a tag, replace the dots with dashes. Two tag names are reserved, as they have special meaning in CVS: "HEAD" refers to the most recent version available in the repository, while "BASE" is the revision you last checked out into the local directory.

Once the label has been entered, press the OK button. Unlike most CVS operations, the tag is immediately applied to the repository, and no commit is required.

For more information see Making a Snapshot: CVS Tag....

Developers occasionally need to undo changes that have already been checked in. Going back to a specific file revision in TortoiseCVS is easy:

Sometimes a file may have been added to CVS with the wrong name or in the wrong location. Recent revisions of CVSNT support renaming. If your CVS server does not, you will have to copy the file to the new name and perform a CVS Add and a CVS Remove followed by a CVS Commit.

If your CVS server does support renaming, renaming a file is simple:

One of the features of version control systems, is the ability to isolate changes onto a separate line of development. This line is known as a Branch.

Branching is useful to control changes during the lifecycle of a software project. For example, suppose you have made the first release of your software project version 1.0. You now begin adding new features in preparation for your next major release 2.0. Between your initial release and the new version it is discovered that there are bugs in the software. The current revision of the source code is in a state of flux and is not expected to be stable for at least another month and therefore there is no way to make a bugfix release based on the newest sources.

Instead of attempting to make the fix to the current version, or the HEAD branch, you would create a branch on the revision trees for all the files that made up release 1.0. You can then make modifications to the branch without disturbing the head branch. When the modifications are finished you can either incorporate them on the head branch or leave them on the release 1.0 branch.

Creating a Branch

To create a branch, select the directory or files that you want to branch. Right-click the on the selection, and choose CVS → Branch... from the context-menu.

Figure 3.4. Branch Dialog

You will then be presented with the Branch Dialog. Here you can enter a label in the Branch field. The same name restrictions that apply to Tags, apply to branches as well. Once you have entered the desired branch name click the OK. Unlike most CVS operations, the branch is immediately applied to the repository, and no commit is required. The branch, however, is only applied on the repository. To start working on the newly created branch select the branch to work on.

Selecting a Branch to Work On

To start working on a branch instead of the default development line, you have to bind your local copy to the branch. This is needed to make sure that actions such as updates, commits etc. work on the branch rather than on the main line of development.

To move your local copy to another branch, select the top level folder of the project. You can also select the exact folders and files that are part of the desired branch if you know this information. Right-click the on the selection, and choose CVS → Update Special....

Figure 3.5. Update Special Dialog

You will then be presented with the Update Special Dialog. Here you can enter the branch name in the Get Tag/Branch/Revision field you wish to select. Click the OK button, and TortoiseCVS will now do the necessary updates to move your working copy to the desired branch. The updating may also include adding or removing files depending on the state of the branch.

TortoiseCVS puts what is known as sticky tags on the files that are affected by the branch. To remove the sticky tags you must go back to the head branch.

Merging from a Branch

When you are satisfied with the changes you have done on a branch, you may want those changes to be available on the head branch of development. Incorporating changes from one branch to another, is known as merging.

To merge from a branch, move your local copy to the branch you want to merge the changes into. See Selecting a Branch to Work On or Going Back to the Head Branch. Select the top level folder of the project. You can also select the exact folders and files that are part of the desired branch if you know this information. Right-click the on the selection, and choose CVS → Merge....

Figure 3.6. Merge Dialog

You will then be presented with the Merge Dialog. Here you can enter the branch name in the Branch to merge from field you wish to merge. Click the OK button, and TortoiseCVS will now merged the branch specified into your local copy. Your changes will not be made on the server repository, until you commit your changes.

The merge given above will try to merge changes from the start of the branch. If you do the operation a second time (to merge changes done to the branch after the last merge), merging from the start of the branch is not what you want, and it will most likely get you into trouble. To get around this problem, you should give the branch a new tag after every merge, and use the new tag when naming the branch for subsequent merges.

Note: The above paragraph only applies for standard Unix CVS (aka cvshome.org CVS). If your server runs CVSNT, you can take advantage of a special feature known as merge points. This means that CVS keeps track of your last merge, so that you can effortlessly merge from the same branch repeatedly. For more information on this feature, see the CVSNT Wiki page and the CVSNT Manual.

TortoiseCVS tries to automatically detect the type of file you are adding to CVS. It can detect whether the file is Text/ASCII, Text/Unicode, or Binary. TortoiseCVS first checks the file extension to determine whether the file is Binary or Text. For example .doc and .exe, are always assumed to be Binary while other extensions, such as .cpp and .txt, are always assumed to be text. TortoiseCVS does this using a built-in list of Binary and Text extensions which includes most the common file extensions. To customize this list, you can copy the file TortoiseCVS.FileTypes from the TortoiseCVS installation directory to your HOME directory and edit it for your needs.

By default TortoiseCVS will also examine the first 4000 bytes of a file to determine the type. This is used in cases where the file extension is not known. These first few bytes are also used to determine whether the file is Text/ASCII or Text/Unicode.

TortoiseCVS also provides a sophisticated plugin mechanisim that you can implement a DLL to perform the file type detection. The details of this plugin interface is also available in the FileTypes.config.

In all cases, the Add Dialog presents the files you are about to add their file types, so that you have a chance to correct the choices made.

TortoiseCVS provides two methods of reviewing and working with the history of a file. The first is via the History Dialog.

History Dialog

You can view a file's history by selecting it and right-clicking CVS → History.

Figure 3.7. History Dialog

The History Dialog will show a log of the revisions, tags, and branches for the selected file. It will also offer you the opportunity, by right-clicking on a specific revision, tag, or branch, to diff, save the revision locally, or update with sticky tags (an advanced CVS concept; usually, the save option is preferable to a sticky update). Unless the file is an executable, you can also select view to view that revision using the default application for the file type in question. You can also edit any current or previous commit message by clicking on a revision and typing into the text area at the bottom of the window.

When you click on a revision, detailed information on that revision is shown at the top of the dialog. This includes the file format (text, binary, etc.) and the keyword expansion mode. With older CVS servers, this information will be the same for every revision of a file, but newer servers allow it to be set specifically for each revision.

The current filename is also shown; if the file has been renamed at some point, you can see what its name has been for each revision.

To simplify the view, you can deselect the Show Tags checkbox. When you do this, only branches are shown in the dialog.

Revision Graph Dialog

TortoiseCVS also provides a Revision Graph Dialog to graphically show you the history of a file. You can view a file's revision graph by selecting it and right-clicking CVS → Revision Graph.

Figure 3.8. Revision Graph Dialog

Like the History Dialog, the Revision Graph Dialog will allow you to see the details for and perform CVS operations on any revision, tag, or branch.

Revisions where a file has been removed are indicated by a red outline.

If your CVS server runs CVSNT, you will also be able to see which merge operations have been performed on the file: A purple arrow is drawn from the source revision to the destination revision (see Mergepoints).

Web Log offers much of the same functionality as the History and Revision Graph dialogs. One important difference is that Web Log is not part of TortoiseCVS itself, but depends on special software that may be installed on the CVS server you use. Two popular packages for providing Web Log functionality are ViewCVS and CVSweb — ask your CVS administrator if one of these is available.

To view the Web Log, you open a special URL using a web browser. TortoiseCVS knows the most common URLs in use for this and can in most cases detect the correct one automatically^[2]. If your configuration is nonstandard, you may have to enter the URL manually the first time - next time TortoiseCVS will remember it.

You can view Web Log for a file or folder by selecting it and right-clicking CVS → Web Log. If TortoiseCVS fails to detect the URL, the dialog below will appear.

Figure 3.9. Web Log Configuration Dialog

Enter the correct URL and click OK. If the URL of the Web Log server has changed, you may have to tell TortoiseCVS to perform the automatic scan again.

You can also force this dialog to appear by holding down the Ctrl key while clicking on Web Log. This is useful if your Web Log server has been moved to another machine.

Often you might have read access to a CVS repository or module, but not write access. Open source projects typically work this way to maintain quality control for all contributions to a project. The easiest and most reliable way to contribute changes to these projects is by creating a Patch File to submit to them.

In TortoiseCVS this is done by selecting the folders with changes that you wish to include in the patch file. Right-click on your selections and choose CVS → Make Patch... from the context menu. TortoiseCVS determines which files have been modified and lists them in the Make Patch dialog:

Figure 3.10. Make Patch Dialog

If you want to exclude some files from your patch, simply deselect them in the dialog.

Sometimes your contribution involves adding new files which are not yet in CVS. TortoiseCVS cannot guess that you would like these to be included in the patch, but in the Make Patch dialog you can click the Add files... button to bring up the familiar Add dialog. Here you can select files to be included in the patch.

When you are satisfied with your selection, click OK. You will then be prompted with a Save dialog to indicate where to save your patch file. Finally, TortoiseCVS will open the new patch file in Notepad, where you can validate your changes.

See the section called “Merging from a Branch”.

See the section called “Creating a New Repository or Module”.

See the section called “Watch, Edit and Unedit”.

When something suddenly stops working, it can be valuable to find out exactly who is to blame for the change. This is what CVS Annotate is for.

Figure 5.1. Annotate Dialog

For each line of the file, the dialog shows

If you right-click a line in the dialog, you have the option of launching various commands, including viewing an annotation for a particular revision.

The Show log messages menu item toggles display of log messages; when this is enabled, the log message for the selected line is shown in the status bar at the bottom of the dialog.

Finally, you can change the appearance of the dialog by choosing between various highlighting options. Note that when highlighting is active, the bar to the right of the scroll bar gives an overview of the entire file.

The Find button allows you to search for a piece of text using the dialog shown in Find Dialog.

Figure 5.2. Find Dialog

In Details view, TortoiseCVS can show CVS-specific columns in the Explorer view (only on Windows 2000 and later). The available columns are

To select which columns to display, right-click on the header as shown in the figure below. Select More..., and you will see a dialog listing all the available columns on your system. Scroll down to find the "CVS" columns and select the ones you want.

Figure 5.3. Choosing which columns to display

TODO: This section will explain how to use TortoiseCVS without the mouse.

As mentioned in Web Log, TortoiseCVS can in many cases automatically detect the URL used by your ViewCVS or CVSweb server. It does this by using the following algorithm:

The above steps are done for each possible permutation of the different prefixes and suffixes. If a URL is found which returns HTTP status 200 (OK), the search stops. If no such URL is found, and an URL is found which returns HTTP status 401 (Denied) or 403 (Forbidden), that URL is used (based on the assumption that the user will be allowed access after authenticating to the web server).

Actually, there is also a little bit of magic done if the server name contains .sourceforge.net; SourceForge uses a non-standard mapping from CVSROOT/module to server name.

In the Checkout Dialog, there is a button named Fetch list.... Clicking this causes TortoiseCVS to attempt determining which modules exist on the selected CVS server. It does this by using the following algorithm:

Figure 6.8. Make new module Dialog - Module Tab

The main tab in this dialog is used exactly like that in the Checkout dialog; please see the detailed description on that page.

Figure 6.9. Make new module Dialog - Options Tab

The Options tab has two fields:

Figure 6.10. Progress Dialog

This dialog shows each CVS command that TortoiseCVS executes, as well as any information, errors, or warnings generated by CVS. The different types of messages are highlighted in different colours (you can customize these colours using the Appearance tab in the Preferences dialog).

During an Update, the Progress Dialog indicates whether or not each file has changed in CVS or on the local PC, using the following single-letter codes:

On the Main tab in the Preferences dialog, you can customize the closing behaviour of the dialog. This behaviour can also be overridden on a case-to-case basis using the Close on completion checkbox.

The preference dialog is divided into tabs. Each tab contains a group of related preferences.

Figure 6.12. Preferences Dialog - Main Tab

The Main tab offers access to the most basic settings.

Figure 6.13. Preferences Dialog - Iconset Chooser

The Rebuild... button rebuilds Windows™ Explorer's icon cache. This can sometimes be necessary if the overlay icons are not showing correctly.

The Policy tab...

Figure 6.14. Preferences Dialog - Policy Tab

Figure 6.15. Preferences Dialog - Edit Tab

Figure 6.16. Preferences Dialog - Tools Tab

Figure 6.17. Preferences Dialog - Advanced Tab

The Advanced tab contains settings that the typical user does not need to change.

Figure 6.18. Preferences Dialog - Appearance Tab

Figure 6.19. Preferences Dialog - Cache Tab

Figure 6.20. Preferences Dialog - Ignored Files Tab

Figure 6.24. Rename Dialog

TODO: Write

TODO: Describe and show dialog with and without CVS server version

Figure 6.25. About Dialog

The About dialog shows the version of TortoiseCVS itself as well as the CVS client it uses, and the SSH application you have configured.

When invoked in a sandbox, the About dialog shows the version of the CVS server as well.

It also has a Credits... button, which opens another dialog listing the people who have contributed to TortoiseCVS development. If you hold the mouse over a name, a tooltip will show what that person has contributed.

TortoiseCVS Client Installation Instructions

This document provides instructions for installing and using the TortoiseCVS CVS client software. These instructions are designed for SourceForge.net project developers who are using 32-bit Microsoft Windows platform. It is for developers who would like to work with the source code for a project which is hosted on SourceForge.net. For background information you may like to read the other available documents about CVS.

TortoiseCVS has advantages over WinCVS for work on SourceForge. It has a clearer interface which is integrated into Windows Explorer. WinCVS has a more complex and mature interface. For more obscure commands it may be easier or necessary to use WinCVS.

A particular benefit is that TortoiseCVS has an SSH client built into it, without special setup. Anyone can easily commit code to SourceForge.net projects using TortoiseCVS.

Installing TortoiseCVS

Checking out an existing project

If you are working on an existing project first you now need to check out the code.

Get an error?

If you get an error saying something like Could not chdir to home folder /home/users/r/rd/rdonkin: No such file or folder then you need to log into the server with SSH to force creation of your home folder. Do this by connecting to username@cvs.sf.net either with Putty or a command line SSH.

Working on a new project

If you are working on a new project then you first need to create a new module in the repository.

Tired of entering your password all the time?

You need to make a public/private key pair. The public key goes on the server, and the private key sits on your hard drive. Now, when you connect the server can verify who you are because only you have your private key.

To further protect your private key it is encrypted on your hard disk with a passphrase. You can however choose an empty passphrase, in which case you never have to enter a password but anyone with access to your computer can access your SSH CVS account. Or you can use an SSH Agent (such as Pageant) which will remember your passphrase for the duration of one session, so you only have to enter it once.

TortoiseCVS uses a version of Plink as its SSH client. This means you can use PuTTYgen to make a public/private key pair, and you can use Pageant to point to where the private key is. First of all download them both from the PuTTY web site.

For information on how to use them read the PuTTY documentation on PuTTYgen and Pageant. In particular, make sure you read the sections "8.2: Using PuTTYgen, the PuTTY key generator" and "9.3.1 Making Pageant automatically load keys on startup".

After making your public key with PuTTYgen you need to upload it using the SourceForge.net web interface. Log into the SourceForge web site, and go to your Account Preferences page. Down at the bottom is a section "Shell Account Information" with an entry "CVS/SSH Shared Authorized Keys". You need to add your public key there.

TortoiseCVS differs from Visual Source Safe™ (VSS) in many ways. The most apparent difference may be that TortoiseCVS does not require users to lock the files they are working on, as VSS does by default. In fact, the CVS documentation even encourages users not to use file locking. In the rare occasion where several people have changed the same file at the same time, CVS will normally be able to merge their changes. If two or more developers have changed the same few lines, TortoiseCVS will report a conflict, insert directives in the file, and leave it to the developers to decide what to do. Such conflicts are very rare, as they normally occur as a result of lacking communication between the developers (eg. two people trying to fix the same problem).

Another important difference is that VSS gives you a server view, while TortoiseCVS shows a client view. In practice this means that, unlike VSS, TortoiseCVS will not tell you about changes in the repository until you do an update, or explicitly query the status of selected files. Changes reported by TortoiseCVS reflect modifications done by you after the last checkout, update or commit.

TortoiseCVS icons are Windows icon files that are overlaid on top of source code file icons in Explorer to show their status in CVS. The reason this technique works is that most of the area in a TortoiseCVS icon is transparent, allowing the source icon to show through. If you are designing your own TortoiseCVS icon set, you'll need to strike a careful balance between visibility of the original file and easy viewing of CVS states. Some icon sets achieve this balance by adding a distinctive colour or shape to one corner of each icon; others achieve the illusion of shading the entire icon by alternating transparent pixels with coloured ones. You can even combine these two ideas of unique shapes and semitransparent shading: see the "NG" icon set that ships with TortoiseCVS for an example.

If you need different SSH parameters for different hosts, you can do so by using a feature of the PuTTY suite called sessions.

When using SSH, you normally have to enter your password every time you do a CVS operation. To avoid this, while maintaining a reasonable level of security, you can use an SSH Agent. The SSH Agent in the PuTTY suite is known as Pageant.

TortoiseCVS looks at the line endings of the CVS/Root file. This file is created when the module is first checked out, and is usually not changed afterwards. So when you check the UNIX line endings checkbox in the Checkout dialog, CVS creates the Root file with UNIX line endings, and this again causes TortoiseCVS to force CVS to use UNIX line endings on all subsequent CVS operations.

See also Sandbox DOS/UNIX preference setting.

You can use other CVS front ends, such as WinCVS, Eclipse, etc. in the same sandbox as TortoiseCVS. Bear in mind that different CVS front ends may have different limitations; refer to the documentation for the particular front end if in doubt.

You can of course also use the command line client directly. We recommend that you do not use the CVS client included with Cygwin (see the TortoiseCVS FAQ). The TortoiseCVS installation includes an appropriate version of the CVSNT command line client; you just need to add the TortoiseCVS installation folder to your PATH.

Using SSH from the command line needs slightly more: If you want the command line client to use the user-friendly TortoisePlink SSH client, you must set an additional environment variable, CVS_EXT. The variable should be set to tortoiseplink.exe -l "%u" "%h".