WinCVS Basic Guide

Preparations

For information on CVS itself, see my CVS Guide.

The sspi password protocol is probably the best for use with Windows since it is more secure than the other protocols (e.g. the more traditional pserver protocol), and is well-integrated with the Windows user account system. So, create an environment variable called CVSROOT and give it the value :sspi:servername/cvsfoldername

If WinCvs can't find your Python installation, click on the Admin menu, then select the Preferences... option. Next, select the WinCvs tab. Now, in the Python DLL entry, type in the relevant path (it's in the c:\windows\system32\ folder), or use the browse button.

Starting a WinCVS Session

  1. To start working with WinCVS and the CVS repository, once in WinCVS, click Admin.
  2. Click Login.... You'll get a dialog box entitled Login settings. Here, you can enter the CVSROOT value mentioned above, or you can force WinCvs to use the environment variable mentioned above by unticking the checkbox.
  3. Once you've entered the value of CVSROOT or unticked the checkbox, click OK.
  4. Enter your password on the server (if you have selected the sspi protocol in CVSROOT)

Creating a New Module

  1. Remove any files and folders that should not go in the repository.
  2. Right-click on the folder and select Import module and follow the instructions.
  3. Quit WinCVS.
  4. Delete the folder after you have successfully imported it (it can't be deleted from within WinCVS).
  5. Re-run WinCVS.
  6. Right-click the directory that is to contain the just-imported directory.
  7. Select Checkout module...
  8. Type the name of the directory you just imported.
  9. If you want to change the name of the directory in which the module is stored, ensure the Check out into directory checkbox is checked, and enter the new name into the text box.
  10. Add the new module's name to CVS's list of modules thus:
    1. ????

Removing Files from a Module

  1. Select files to be removed.
  2. Click the Modify menu.
  3. Click Remove. Note that this does not actually remove the files, it merely tells CVS to prepare to remove them.
  4. Right-click on the directory of the module that contains the files to remove.
  5. Click Commit. Note that this still does not actually erase the files; they remain in the repository, but CVS marks them as removed. This means CVS won't include these files in future checkouts.
  6. You can now delete the removed file(s) from the working copy.

Adding a File to an Existing Module

  1. Click on the file(s) to add.
  2. Click the Modify menu.
  3. Click Add selection. Note that this does not actually add the file to the repository, but marks it for addition at the next commit.
  4. Click Commit.
  5. ???? Delete the file.
  6. ???? Check the file out.
  7. Note that you don't have to include all the files in your working copy in the CVS module. This allows you to have temporary files in the working copy without worrying that they'll be included into the module whenever you do a commit.

Sending Changed Files to an Existing Module

  1. Right-click on the directory containing the changed files. Note that this can be done on a subdirectory of the module or the module's entire directory tree.
  2. Click Commit selection...
  3. Enter a suitable log message.
  4. Click OK.

Abandoning a Working Copy of a Module

  1. Click on the module's parent directory in the left hand pane.
  2. Click on the module in the right hand pane.
  3. Click the Edit menu.
  4. Click the Release option.
  5. Click OK.
  6. Click Yes.

Obtaining an Existing Module for Development

  1. Select the directory into which the module is to be created. Note that the module will be given its own subdirectory within this directory by WinCVS.
  2. Click the Remote menu.
  3. Click the Checkout module... option.
  4. Enter the module's name in the Module name and path textbox.
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Content last updated: 2010-01-22