comparison man/files.texi @ 58112:6b135de9eb2c

Rewrite the introduction about version systems, mentioning the new ones that we support. Thanks to Alex Ott, Karl Fogel, Stefan Monnier, and David Kastrup for suggestions.

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file just once.  Version control systems also record history information
such as the creation time of each version, who created it, and a
description of what was changed in that version.

  The Emacs version control interface is called VC.  Its commands work
with three version control systems---RCS, CVS, and SCCS.  The GNU
project recommends RCS and CVS, which are free software and available
from the Free Software Foundation.  We also have free software to
replace SCCS, known as CSSC; if you are using SCCS and don't want to
make the incompatible change to RCS or CVS, you can switch to CSSC.

  VC is enabled by default in Emacs.  To disable it, set the
customizable variable @code{vc-handled-backends} to @code{nil}
(@pxref{Customizing VC}).

@end menu

@node Version Systems
@subsubsection Supported Version Control Systems

@cindex RCS
@cindex back end (version control)
  VC currently works with three different version control systems or
``back ends'': RCS, CVS, and SCCS.

  RCS is a free version control system that is available from the Free
Software Foundation.  It is perhaps the most mature of the supported
back ends, and the VC commands are conceptually closest to RCS.  Almost
everything you can do with RCS can be done through VC.

@cindex CVS
  CVS is built on top of RCS, and extends the features of RCS, allowing
for more sophisticated release management, and concurrent multi-user
development.  VC supports basic editing operations under CVS, but for
some less common tasks you still need to call CVS from the command line.
Note also that before using CVS you must set up a repository, which is a
subject too complex to treat here.

@cindex SCCS
  SCCS is a proprietary but widely used version control system.  In
terms of capabilities, it is the weakest of the three that VC
supports.  VC compensates for certain features missing in SCCS
(snapshots, for example) by implementing them itself, but some other VC
features, such as multiple branches, are not available with SCCS.  You
should use SCCS only if for some reason you cannot use RCS.

@node VC Concepts
@subsubsection Concepts of Version Control

@cindex master file

58112:6b135de9eb2c

file just once.  Version control systems also record history information
such as the creation time of each version, who created it, and a
description of what was changed in that version.

  The Emacs version control interface is called VC.  Its commands work
with different version control systems---currently, it supports CVS,
GNU Arch, RCS, Meta-CVS, Subversion, and SCCS.  Of these, the GNU
project distributes CVS, GNU Arch, and RCS; we recommend that you use
either CVS or GNU Arch for your projects, and RCS for individual
files.  We also have free software to replace SCCS, known as CSSC; if
you are using SCCS and don't want to make the incompatible change to
RCS or CVS, you can switch to CSSC.

  VC is enabled by default in Emacs.  To disable it, set the
customizable variable @code{vc-handled-backends} to @code{nil}
(@pxref{Customizing VC}).

@end menu

@node Version Systems
@subsubsection Supported Version Control Systems

@cindex back end (version control)
  VC currently works with six different version control systems or
``back ends'': CVS, GNU Arch, RCS, Meta-CVS, Subversion, and SCCS.

@cindex CVS
  CVS is a free version control system that is used for the majority
of free software projects today.  It allows concurrent multi-user
development either locally or over the network.  Some of its
shortcomings, corrected by newer systems such as GNU Arch, are that it
lacks atomic commits or support for renaming files.  VC supports all
basic editing operations under CVS, but for some less common tasks you
still need to call CVS from the command line.  Note also that before
using CVS you must set up a repository, which is a subject too complex
to treat here.

@cindex GNU Arch
@cindex Arch
  GNU Arch is a new version control system that is designed for
distributed work.  It differs in many ways from old well-known
systems, such as CVS and RCS.  It supports different transports for
interoperating between users, offline operations, and it has good
branching and merging features.  It also supports atomic commits, and
history of file renaming and moving.  VC does not support all
operations provided by GNU Arch, so you must sometimes invoke it from
the command line, or use a specialized module.

@cindex RCS
  RCS is the free version control system around which VC was initially
built.  The VC commands are therefore conceptually closest to RCS.
Almost everything you can do with RCS can be done through VC.  You
cannot use RCS over the network though, and it only works at the level
of individual files, rather than projects.  You should use it if you
want a simple, yet reliable tool for handling individual files.

@cindex SVN
@cindex Subversion
  Subversion is a free version control system designed to be similar
to CVS but without CVS's problems.  Subversion supports atomic commits,
and versions directories, symbolic links, meta-data, renames, copies,
and deletes.  It can be used via http or via its own protocol.

@cindex MCVS
@cindex Meta-CVS
  Meta-CVS is another attempt to solve problems, arising in CVS.  It
supports directory structure versioning, improved branching and
merging, and use of symbolic links and meta-data in repositories.

@cindex SCCS
  SCCS is a proprietary but widely used version control system.  In
terms of capabilities, it is the weakest of the six that VC supports.
VC compensates for certain features missing in SCCS (snapshots, for
example) by implementing them itself, but some other VC features, such
as multiple branches, are not available with SCCS.  You should use
SCCS only if for some reason you cannot use RCS, or one of the
higher-level systems such as CVS or GNU Arch.

@node VC Concepts
@subsubsection Concepts of Version Control

@cindex master file