Linux Desktop Hacks

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Chapter 9, Administration and Automation

#87 Speed Up Compiles

HACK

Then you’ll see the code checked out to your computer, one file at a time.

To update your local copy with the latest changes from the CVS server, you

need to go into a checked-out directory (such as the kdevelop directory in

our example), and type:

foo@bar:~$ cvs update -PAd

When you run this command, only the files that were changed since your

initial checkout will be copied to your computer. This ensures that a mini-

mal amount of bandwidth is used for keeping your code current.

CVS is a powerful and competent source control system, but it is also one of

the most confounding pieces of software to use, particularly when adding

files to a server. For more information, I recommended you read the free

book Open Source Development with CVS at http://cvsbook.red-bean.com/.

New Kid on the Block: Subversion

Although CVS has been around for a long time and a lot of open source

projects use it, it has some limitations which some developers find frustrat-

ing, including not being able to store metadata (properties) associated with

files and not being able to properly version directories. An alternative sys-

tem called Subversion, which overcomes these limitations, is rapidly taking

over as a replacement for CVS, and many projects now provide access to

their source code using Subversion.

The command for accessing a Subversion repository is ...