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Introduction to CVS

Concurrent Versions System (CVS) is a popular open source Software Configuration Management (SCM) system for source code version control. It can be used by individual developers or very large teams and can be configured to run across the Web or any configuration where the users have TCP/IP access to a CVS server. CVS allows users to work on the same file simultaneously without locking and provides a facility to merge changes and resolve conflicts when they arise. For these main reasons and the fact that it is free and relatively easy to install and configure, CVS has become very popular both for open source and commercial projects.

The Mircosoft Windows version of CVS-known as CVSNT-while still retaining the original functionality has split off from the original UNIX version and has been enhanced even further, to the extent that enhancements in CVSNT have been ported back to the UNIX version. It can be run on any Windows NTŪ or later system and allows clients to connect to the CVS server from many different environments.

Finally, it is important to note that CVS only implements version control and does not handle other aspects of SCM, such as requirements management, defect tracking, and build management. There are other open source projects for performing these functions, and also, the IBM Rational suite of products has a large set of tools that perform the same functions in an integrated way.

ibm.com/redbooks