[plug] Using CVS to ease sys admin

[Andrew Francis]

On Mon, 27 Aug 2001, Alan Graham wrote:
> I couple of months ago I read an article in a mag about using CVS to avoid
> this sort of problem (which happens to me all the time).  The article gave
> tips and tricks, which directories to add to the repository, some helper
> scripts for a multi system environment, etc.  Can anyone help me find the
> reference?  Read the article?  I *think* it was in an aussie mag.

For a single system, unless you want something that implicitly keeps
backups on another machine, you're probably better off with something
called RCS. It should already be set up on most linux/bsd systems.

Basically, just type "ci filename" to check the file in. The first time
you do this it'll vanish - don't panic, just type "co filename" to check
it back out. From then on, you just do a "ci filename" to check in another
revision.

This will quickly result in a mess of RCS-generated files in your
directory - so create a directory called "RCS" and it'll store them in
there instead.

Oh, and I haven't used it much - I can't even recall how to checkout an
older revision off the top of my head, so I'd do a "man rcs" :)

--
Andrew Francis
locust at iinet.net.au