Programming Jabber

CVS Watches and Notification

While CVS automatically handles most of the tedious merging process that comes about when more than one person works on a project, it also offers a facility that allows you to set a “watch” on one or more files in the project and be alerted when someone else starts to work on those watched files. This is useful if you wish to preempt any automatic merging process by contacting the other participant and coordinating your editing efforts with him.

There are two CVS commands involved in setting up watches and notifications. There are also a couple of CVS administrative files that determine how the notifications are carried out. Let’s look at these commands and files in turn.