cvslines Distribution Kit, Version 1.6.9

Copyright 1996-1997, Network Appliance, Inc.
Copyright 2002-2005, PiroNet NDH AG.

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the "Artistic License" which comes with this
kit.

See the file NEWS for a summary of what's new in the release.


----- Introduction -------------------------------------------------------

cvslines is a "wrapper" facility that helps out with merging changes
between various cvs branches, where the branches represent different
lines of development.

cvslines takes the approach that it is often preferable to do such
merges on a file-by file basis, at the time that changes are checked
in to any line of development.

cvslines offers the following advantages:

 - Helps to solve the "you must remember to do it" problem;

 - Tends to promote "doing it now" rather than delaying (or
   procrastinating) the merging;

 - Acts as a "wizard" to guide the user through the correct sequences
   of cvs commands needed to merge changes from one line of
   development into another.

 - Can help to eliminate the creation of unnecessary RCS branches
   among different lines of development, until they're really needed.

cvslines should be viewed as a tool that helps you to use the
capabilities inherent in CVS. There's nothing about using it that
couldn't be done using "straight" cvs commands, and there's nothing to
preclude any user from deciding to use it all the time, some of the
time, or none of the time, as they prefer.

For more information about using cvslines, see cvslines(1).

Limitations:
============
 * cvslines doesn't work with binary files properly, this will be addressed
   in a future release.
 * There a are some special requirements for the Cygwin-Environment, this
   might be addressed in a future release.

----- Compatibility ------------------------------------------------------

This release of cvslines requires perl 5, and has been tested with
perl 5.6 and cvs >= 1.11.2. Older versions of cvs are no longer supported.

Thus far, cvslines has been tested with following host operating
systems:

  Sun SunOS 4.x
  Sun SunOS 5.x
  DEC OSF1 V3.x
  DEC OSF1 V4.x
  Linux 2.0.x
  Linux 2.2.x
  Linux 2.4.x
  Windows/Cygwin

Please let us know if you find that it works (or not) in other
environments, by posting to the cvslines forum at cvslines.sourceforge.net.

Note concerning Cygwin:
=======================

You need to install the cygwin environment with Unix-Linefeed (the default),
cvslines will fail to work if Cygwin is installed using DOS-Linefeeds. You
also need to use the cygwin-cvs-client, a native Windows-client will not work.
All source also need to be checked out using the cygwin client, otherwise
the CVS-Control files will have DOS-Linefeeds which cvslines can't handle.

----- Installation -------------------------------------------------------

After you have unpacked the kit, you should have all the files listed
in MANIFEST. MANIFEST is a perl script; when executed, it will tell
you if anything is missing or has been altered.

The script INSTALL will install the cvslines scripts, by copying them
from the kit into the directories specified in a CONFIG file.

MANIFEST and INSTALL expect to find perl 5 installed as
/usr/local/bin/perl5; if there is no perl 5 interpreter found at that
path in your environment, you'll have to specify the path to the perl5
interpreter explicitly when you run them, e.g.,

  % /some/other/place/perl INSTALL

INSTALL is driven by a CONFIG file. At present there are only a few
configuration parameters, which are explained by comments in the
CONFIG file. The recommended approach for running INSTALL is to copy
the CONFIG file supplied in the kit, edit the copy, and then invoke
INSTALL with the edited file:

  % cp CONFIG MYCONFIG
  % vi CONFIG
     {edit the configuration parameters as required}
  % INSTALL MYCONFIG

INSTALL will create five files and a symlink in $BINDIR
(/usr/local/bin, in the template CONFIG):

  /usr/local/bin/cvslines
  /usr/local/bin/cvslines-config
  /usr/local/bin/cvslines-check
  /usr/local/bin/cvslines-commit
  /usr/local/bin/cvslines-status
  /usr/local/bin/cvslines_check -> cvslines

It also installs the man page to $MAN1DIR (/usr/local/man/man1, in the
template CONFIG).



----- Testing ------------------------------------------------------------

This kit contains some automated tests that you can use to help verify
that cvslines is working correctly in your environment. They are in
the "test" subdirectory within the kit, and are useful for helping to
verify that cvslines will work properly with the perl interpreter and
cvs binaries installed on your system.

To run them, use:

  % cd test; runCvslines

This should run for a few minutes, producing lots of output. It all
goes well, it will end with something like:

case    : basic                    stat1.0_2                 PASS
file    :   basic                  -    72 total cases:     72 passed;     0 failed;     0 notest
summary :     runCvslines          -   406 total cases:       406 passed;     0 failed;     0 notest
summary :     runCvslines          -     7 total files:         7 passed;     0 failed;     0 notest
end     : runCvslines pass
exit    : pass

The test framework is written in perl.

If it dies promptly upon trying to run the tests, then there may be
some reason why the test framework won't run in your environment. The
bulk of it is in the perl libraries in test/ttt.



----- Configuration ------------------------------------------------------

To complete the configuration of cvslines, you'll need to add
appropriate entries in your $CVSROOT/CVSROOT/commitinfo for each cvs
module you want to use cvslines with, and create a
<repository>/cvslines.config file in the root directory of the
repository tree for each CVS module in your repository (to define the
lines of development that exist). You'll also need to create cvs
branch tags for each line of development you have defined, if they
don't already exist.

See the cvslines(1) man page for further information on how to set up
these files.



----- Support ------------------------------------------------------------

cvslines is primarily an internal tool used at Network Appliance and at
PiroNet NDH AG.
For support post your questions at the forums on cvslines.sourceforge.net.

Include as much relevant information as you can, including the output
from "cvslines version".

If you can, include a cvslines log file (which, with the default
CONFIG, will be written in /usr/adm/cvslines.log, or ~/cvslines.log).

Authors:

  Richard Geiger (Original Author)
  rmg@netapp.com (might not work any more)

  J�rgen Jatzkowski (Bugfixing and Enhancements)
  jjatzkowski@pironet-ndh.com

  Ingo Rockel (Bugfixing and Enhancements)
  irockel@pironet-ndh.com