CVS - Concurrent Versions System

Introduction

CVS stands for Concurrent Versions Systems, and is a system for version control. It can be used for keeping track of changes made to a hierarchy of files and folders, by tagging them with version numbers as changes are made, and preserving all versions. CVS also makes it easy to keep a log of changes, and why they were made. The system simplifies projects where it is necessary for several people to cooperate, needing to access the same set of files, but it is also useful for a single person.

Clients

There is a range of different CVS clients avaliable for many different machine architectures. In Windows we reccomend TortoiseCVS, this client will also be installed on the general computer labs during the summer of 2004. CVS is also avaliable as a command line tool on login.stud.ntnu.no and login.ansatt.ntnu.no.

Advantages and disadvantages

Like any system, CVS has it's advantages and disadvantages. Using CVS from the command line is not intuitive. It can, however, be much more efficient once you get used to it, because you may execute specially tailored commands from the command line, as opposed to clicking around with a mouse in a slower environment. As a consequence of it's simple form, CVS is generally a much more stable and fast service, with which you need not be concerned about the availability. It is also worth mentioning that there exists software for visualization of CVS through a web interface.