Mac OS X in a Nutshell

Name

watch

Synopsis

                        watch

  { { on | off } | { add | remove } [ -a action ] }
  [ -l | -R ]
  file 

The watch command controls CVS’s edit-tracking mechanism. By default, CVS operates in its concurrent development mode, allowing any user to edit any file at any time. CVS includes this watch mechanism to support developers who would rather be notified of edits made by others than discover them when doing an update.

The CVSROOT/notify file determines how notifications are performed.

Table 18-39 shows the watch subcommands and their uses.

Table 18-39. watch subcommands

Subcommand	Description
add	Start watching files.
off	Turn off watching.
on	Turn on watching.
remove	Stop watching files.

The standard meanings of the common client options -l and -R apply. The only other option that can be used with the watch command is -a action. The -a option is used in conjunction with one of the actions listed in Table 18-40.

Table 18-40. watch actions

Action	Description
all	All of the following.
commit	A user has committed changes.
edit	A user ran cvs edit.
none	Don’t watch. Used by the edit command.
unedit	A user ran cvs unedit, cvs release, or deleted the file and ran cvs update, re-creating it.

See also the descriptions of the edit, editors, unedit, and watchers commands.