diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'contrib/cvs/doc/cvs-paper.ms')
-rw-r--r-- | contrib/cvs/doc/cvs-paper.ms | 1069 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 1069 deletions
diff --git a/contrib/cvs/doc/cvs-paper.ms b/contrib/cvs/doc/cvs-paper.ms deleted file mode 100644 index ea9445a..0000000 --- a/contrib/cvs/doc/cvs-paper.ms +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1069 +0,0 @@ -.\" soelim cvs.ms | pic | tbl | troff -ms -.\" @(#)cvs.ms 1.2 92/01/30 -.\" -.\" troff source to the cvs USENIX article, Winter 1990, Washington, D.C. -.\" Copyright (c) 1989, Brian Berliner -.\" -.\" This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify -.\" it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by -.\" the Free Software Foundation; either version 1, or (at your option) -.\" any later version. -.\" -.\" This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, -.\" but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of -.\" MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the -.\" GNU General Public License for more details. -.\" -.\" The author can be reached at: berliner@prisma.com -.\" -.de SP -.if n .sp -.if t .sp .5 -.. -.de hl -.br -.in +0.5i -\l'\\n(LLu-1i' -.in -0.5i -.sp -.. -.OH "" -.nr PS 11 -.nr PO 1.25i -.pl -0.2i -.TL -.ps 14 -.ft B -.nf -CVS II: -Parallelizing Software Development -.fi -.ft -.ps -.AU -.ps 12 -.ft I -Brian Berliner -.ft -.ps -.AI -.ps 12 -.ft I -Prisma, Inc. -5465 Mark Dabling Blvd. -Colorado Springs, CO 80918 -berliner@prisma.com -.ft -.ps -.AB -The program described in this paper fills a need in the UNIX -community for a freely available tool to manage software revision and -release control in a multi-developer, multi-directory, multi-group -environment. -This tool also addresses the increasing need for tracking third-party vendor -source distributions while trying to maintain local modifications to -earlier releases. -.AE -.NH -Background -.PP -In large software development projects, it is usually necessary for more -than one software developer to be modifying (usually different) modules of the -code at the same time. -Some of these code modifications are done in an -experimental sense, at least until the code functions correctly, and some -testing of the entire program is usually necessary. -Then, the modifications are returned to a master source repository -so that others in the project can -enjoy the new bug-fix or functionality. -In order to manage such a project, some sort of revision control system is -necessary. -.PP -Specifically, UNIX\** -.FS -UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T. -.FE -kernel development is an excellent example of the -problems that an adequate revision control system must address. -The SunOS\** -.FS -SunOS is a trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc. -.FE -kernel is composed of over a thousand files spread across a -hierarchy of dozens of directories.\** -.FS -Yes, the SunOS 4.0 kernel is composed of over a \fIthousand\fP files! -.FE -Pieces of the kernel must be edited -by many software developers within an organization. -While undesirable in -theory, it is not uncommon to have two or more people making -modifications to the same file within the kernel sources in -order to facilitate a desired change. -Existing revision control systems like -.SM -RCS -.LG -[Tichy] or -.SM -SCCS -.LG -[Bell] serialize file modifications by -allowing only one developer to have a writable copy of a particular file at -any one point in time. -That developer is said to -have \*Qlocked\*U the file for his exclusive use, and no other developer is -allowed to check out a writable copy of the file until the locking -developer has finished impeding others' productivity. -Development pressures of productivity and deadlines -often force organizations to require that multiple developers be able to -simultaneously edit -copies of the same revision controlled file. -.PP -The necessity for multiple developers to modify the same file concurrently -questions the value of serialization-based policies in traditional revision -control. -This paper discusses the approach that -Prisma took in adapting a standard revision control system, -.SM -RCS\c -.LG -, along with an existing public-domain collection of shell scripts that sits -atop -.SM -RCS -.LG -and provides the basic conflict-resolution algorithms. -The resulting -program, \fBcvs\fP, addresses not only the issue of conflict-resolution in -a multi-developer open-editing environment, but also the issues of -software release control and vendor source support and integration. -.NH -The CVS Program -.PP -\fBcvs\fP -(Concurrent Versions System) -is a front end to the -.SM -RCS -.LG -revision control system which extends -the notion of revision control from a collection of files in a single -directory to a hierarchical collection of directories each containing -revision controlled files. -Directories and files in the \fBcvs\fP system can be combined together in -many ways to form a software release. -\fBcvs\fP -provides the functions necessary to manage these software releases and to -control the concurrent editing of source files among multiple software -developers. -.PP -The six major features of \fBcvs\fP are listed below, and will be -described in more detail in the following sections: -.RS -.IP 1. -Concurrent access and conflict-resolution algorithms to guarantee that -source changes are not \*Qlost.\*U -.IP 2. -Support for tracking third-party vendor source distributions while -maintaining the local modifications made to those sources. -.IP 3. -A flexible module database that provides a symbolic mapping of names to -components of a larger software distribution. -This symbolic mapping provides for location independence within the software -release and, for example, allows one to check out a copy of the \*Qdiff\*U -program without ever knowing that the sources to \*Qdiff\*U actually reside -in the \*Qbin/diff\*U directory. -.IP 4. -Configurable logging support allows all \*Qcommitted\*U source file changes -to be logged using an arbitrary program to save the log messages in a file, -notesfile, or news database. -.IP 5. -A software release can be symbolically tagged and checked out at any time -based on that tag. -An exact copy of a previous software release can be checked out at -any time, \fIregardless\fP of whether files or directories have been -added/removed from the \*Qcurrent\*U software release. -As well, -a \*Qdate\*U can be used to check out the \fIexact\fP version of the software -release as of the specified date. -.IP 6. -A \*Qpatch\*U format file [Wall] can be produced between two software -releases, even if the releases span multiple directories. -.RE -.PP -The sources maintained by \fBcvs\fP are kept within a single directory -hierarchy known as the \*Qsource repository.\*U -This \*Qsource repository\*U holds the actual -.SM -RCS -.LG -\*Q,v\*U files directly, as well as a special per-repository directory -(\c -.SM -CVSROOT.adm\c -.LG -) which contains a small number of administrative files that describe the -repository and how it can be accessed. -See Figure 1 for a picture of the \fBcvs\fP tree. -.KF -.hl -.DS B -.PS -line from 4.112,9.200 to 5.550,8.887 -line from 5.447,8.884 to 5.550,8.887 to 5.458,8.933 -line from 4.112,9.200 to 4.550,8.950 -line from 4.451,8.978 to 4.550,8.950 to 4.476,9.021 -line from 4.112,9.200 to 3.737,8.887 -line from 3.798,8.971 to 3.737,8.887 to 3.830,8.932 -line from 3.612,8.762 to 4.737,8.137 -line from 4.638,8.164 to 4.737,8.137 to 4.662,8.208 -line from 3.612,8.762 to 3.737,8.137 -line from 3.693,8.231 to 3.737,8.137 to 3.742,8.240 -line from 3.612,8.762 to 2.612,8.200 -line from 2.687,8.271 to 2.612,8.200 to 2.712,8.227 -line from 2.362,9.262 to 2.737,8.950 -line from 2.645,8.995 to 2.737,8.950 to 2.677,9.033 -line from 2.362,9.262 to 1.925,8.950 -line from 1.992,9.028 to 1.925,8.950 to 2.021,8.988 -line from 3.362,9.762 to 4.050,9.387 -line from 3.950,9.413 to 4.050,9.387 to 3.974,9.457 -line from 3.362,9.762 to 2.487,9.387 -line from 2.570,9.450 to 2.487,9.387 to 2.589,9.404 -.ps 11 -"newfs.c,v" at 4.487,8.043 ljust -.ps 11 -"mkfs.c,v" at 3.487,8.043 ljust -.ps 11 -"Makefile,v" at 2.237,8.043 ljust -.ps 11 -"newfs" at 3.487,8.793 ljust -.ps 11 -"halt.c,v" at 5.487,8.793 ljust -.ps 11 -"Makefile,v" at 4.237,8.793 ljust -.ps 11 -"modules,v" at 2.487,8.793 ljust -.ps 11 -"loginfo,v" at 1.488,8.793 ljust -.ps 11 -"etc" at 3.987,9.293 ljust -.ps 11 -"CVSROOT.adm" at 1.988,9.293 ljust -.ps 11 -"/src/master" at 2.987,9.793 ljust -.PE -.DE -.hl -.ce 100 -.LG -\fBFigure 1.\fP -.SM -\fBcvs\fP Source Repository -.ce 0 -.sp -.KE -.NH 2 -Software Conflict Resolution\** -.FS -The basic conflict-resolution algorithms -used in the \fBcvs\fP program find their roots -in the original work done by Dick Grune at Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam -and posted to \fBcomp.sources.unix\fP in the volume 6 release sometime in 1986. -This original version of \fBcvs\fP was a collection of shell scripts that -combined to form a front end to the -.SM -RCS -.LG -programs. -.FE -.PP -\fBcvs\fP allows several software developers to edit personal copies of a -revision controlled file concurrently. -The revision number of each checked out file is maintained independently -for each user, and \fBcvs\fP forces the checked out file to be current with -the \*Qhead\*U revision before it can be \*Qcommitted\*U as a permanent change. -A checked out file is brought up-to-date with the \*Qhead\*U revision using -the \*Qupdate\*U command of \fBcvs\fP. -This command compares the \*Qhead\*U revision number with that of the user's -file and performs an -.SM -RCS -.LG -merge operation if they are not the same. -The result of the merge is a file that contains the user's modifications -and those modifications that were \*Qcommitted\*U after the user -checked out his version of the file (as well as a backup copy of the -user's original file). -\fBcvs\fP points out any conflicts during the merge. -It is the user's responsibility to resolve these conflicts -and to \*Qcommit\*U his/her changes when ready. -.PP -Although the \fBcvs\fP conflict-resolution algorithm was defined in 1986, -it is remarkably similar to the \*QCopy-Modify-Merge\*U scenario included -with NSE\** -.FS -NSE is the Network Software Environment, a product of Sun Microsystems, Inc. -.FE -and described in [Honda] and [Courington]. -The following explanation from [Honda] also applies to \fBcvs\fP: -.QP -Simply stated, a developer copies an object without locking it, modifies -the copy, and then merges the modified copy with the original. -This paradigm allows developers to work in isolation from one another since -changes are made to copies of objects. -Because locks are not used, development is not serialized and can proceed -in parallel. -Developers, however, must merge objects after the changes have been made. -In particular, a developer must resolve conflicts when the same object has -been modified by someone else. -.PP -In practice, Prisma has found that conflicts that occur when the same -object has been modified by someone else are quite rare. -When they do happen, the changes made by the other developer are usually -easily resolved. -This practical use has shown that the \*QCopy-Modify-Merge\*U paradigm is a -correct and useful one. -.NH 2 -Tracking Third-Party Source Distributions -.PP -Currently, a large amount of software is based on source -distributions from a third-party distributor. -It is often the case that local modifications are to be made to this -distribution, \fIand\fP that the vendor's future releases should be -tracked. -Rolling your local modifications forward into the new vendor release is a -time-consuming task, but \fBcvs\fP can ease this burden somewhat. -The \fBcheckin\fP program of \fBcvs\fP initially sets up a source -repository by integrating the source modules directly from the vendor's -release, preserving the directory hierarchy of the vendor's distribution. -The branch support of -.SM -RCS -.LG -is used to build this vendor release as a branch of the main -.SM -RCS -.LG -trunk. -Figure 2 shows how the \*Qhead\*U tracks a sample vendor -branch when no local modifications have been made to the file. -.KF -.hl -.DS B -.PS -ellipse at 3.237,6.763 wid 1.000 ht 0.500 -dashwid = 0.050i -line dashed from 3.237,7.513 to 3.737,7.513 to 3.737,9.762 to 4.237,9.762 -line from 4.138,9.737 to 4.237,9.762 to 4.138,9.787 -line dashed from 2.237,8.262 to 3.237,8.262 to 3.237,7.013 -line from 3.212,7.112 to 3.237,7.013 to 3.262,7.112 -line from 3.737,6.763 to 4.237,6.763 -line from 4.138,6.737 to 4.237,6.763 to 4.138,6.788 -line from 2.237,6.763 to 2.737,6.763 -line from 2.637,6.737 to 2.737,6.763 to 2.637,6.788 -line from 1.738,6.013 to 1.738,6.513 -line from 1.762,6.413 to 1.738,6.513 to 1.713,6.413 -line from 1.238,7.013 to 2.237,7.013 to 2.237,6.513 to 1.238,6.513 to 1.238,7.013 -line from 4.237,9.012 to 5.237,9.012 to 5.237,8.512 to 4.237,8.512 to 4.237,9.012 -line from 4.237,8.012 to 5.237,8.012 to 5.237,7.513 to 4.237,7.513 to 4.237,8.012 -line from 4.237,7.013 to 5.237,7.013 to 5.237,6.513 to 4.237,6.513 to 4.237,7.013 -line from 4.737,7.013 to 4.737,7.513 -line from 4.763,7.413 to 4.737,7.513 to 4.712,7.413 -line from 4.737,8.012 to 4.737,8.512 -line from 4.763,8.412 to 4.737,8.512 to 4.712,8.412 -line from 4.237,10.012 to 5.237,10.012 to 5.237,9.512 to 4.237,9.512 to 4.237,10.012 -line from 4.737,9.012 to 4.737,9.512 -line from 4.763,9.412 to 4.737,9.512 to 4.712,9.412 -line from 5.987,5.013 to 5.987,6.013 to 0.988,6.013 to 0.988,5.013 to 5.987,5.013 -.ps 11 -"\"HEAD\"" at 1.550,8.231 ljust -.ps 11 -"'SunOS'" at 2.987,6.293 ljust -.ps 11 -"1.1.1" at 3.050,6.793 ljust -.ps 11 -"1.1" at 1.613,6.793 ljust -.ps 11 -"1.1.1.1" at 4.487,6.793 ljust -.ps 11 -"1.1.1.2" at 4.487,7.793 ljust -.ps 11 -"1.1.1.3" at 4.487,8.793 ljust -.ps 11 -"1.1.1.4" at 4.487,9.793 ljust -.ps 11 -"'SunOS_4_0'" at 5.487,6.793 ljust -.ps 11 -"'SunOS_4_0_1'" at 5.487,7.793 ljust -.ps 11 -"'YAPT_5_5C'" at 5.487,8.793 ljust -.ps 11 -"'SunOS_4_0_3'" at 5.487,9.793 ljust -.ps 11 -"rcsfile.c,v" at 2.987,5.543 ljust -.PE -.DE -.hl -.ce 100 -.LG -\fBFigure 2.\fP -.SM -\fBcvs\fP Vendor Branch Example -.ce 0 -.sp .3 -.KE -Once this is done, developers can check out files and make local changes to -the vendor's source distribution. -These local changes form a new branch to the tree which is then used as the -source for future check outs. -Figure 3 shows how the \*Qhead\*U moves to the main -.SM -RCS -.LG -trunk when a local modification is made. -.KF -.hl -.DS B -.PS -ellipse at 3.237,6.763 wid 1.000 ht 0.500 -dashwid = 0.050i -line dashed from 2.800,9.075 to 1.738,9.075 to 1.738,8.012 -line from 1.713,8.112 to 1.738,8.012 to 1.762,8.112 -line from 1.738,7.013 to 1.738,7.513 -line from 1.762,7.413 to 1.738,7.513 to 1.713,7.413 -line from 1.238,8.012 to 2.237,8.012 to 2.237,7.513 to 1.238,7.513 to 1.238,8.012 -line from 3.737,6.763 to 4.237,6.763 -line from 4.138,6.737 to 4.237,6.763 to 4.138,6.788 -line from 2.237,6.763 to 2.737,6.763 -line from 2.637,6.737 to 2.737,6.763 to 2.637,6.788 -line from 1.738,6.013 to 1.738,6.513 -line from 1.762,6.413 to 1.738,6.513 to 1.713,6.413 -line from 1.238,7.013 to 2.237,7.013 to 2.237,6.513 to 1.238,6.513 to 1.238,7.013 -line from 4.237,9.012 to 5.237,9.012 to 5.237,8.512 to 4.237,8.512 to 4.237,9.012 -line from 4.237,8.012 to 5.237,8.012 to 5.237,7.513 to 4.237,7.513 to 4.237,8.012 -line from 4.237,7.013 to 5.237,7.013 to 5.237,6.513 to 4.237,6.513 to 4.237,7.013 -line from 4.737,7.013 to 4.737,7.513 -line from 4.763,7.413 to 4.737,7.513 to 4.712,7.413 -line from 4.737,8.012 to 4.737,8.512 -line from 4.763,8.412 to 4.737,8.512 to 4.712,8.412 -line from 4.237,10.012 to 5.237,10.012 to 5.237,9.512 to 4.237,9.512 to 4.237,10.012 -line from 4.737,9.012 to 4.737,9.512 -line from 4.763,9.412 to 4.737,9.512 to 4.712,9.412 -line from 5.987,5.013 to 5.987,6.013 to 0.988,6.013 to 0.988,5.013 to 5.987,5.013 -.ps 11 -"1.2" at 1.613,7.793 ljust -.ps 11 -"\"HEAD\"" at 2.862,9.043 ljust -.ps 11 -"'SunOS'" at 2.987,6.293 ljust -.ps 11 -"1.1.1" at 3.050,6.793 ljust -.ps 11 -"1.1" at 1.613,6.793 ljust -.ps 11 -"1.1.1.1" at 4.487,6.793 ljust -.ps 11 -"1.1.1.2" at 4.487,7.793 ljust -.ps 11 -"1.1.1.3" at 4.487,8.793 ljust -.ps 11 -"1.1.1.4" at 4.487,9.793 ljust -.ps 11 -"'SunOS_4_0'" at 5.487,6.793 ljust -.ps 11 -"'SunOS_4_0_1'" at 5.487,7.793 ljust -.ps 11 -"'YAPT_5_5C'" at 5.487,8.793 ljust -.ps 11 -"'SunOS_4_0_3'" at 5.487,9.793 ljust -.ps 11 -"rcsfile.c,v" at 2.987,5.543 ljust -.PE -.DE -.hl -.ce 100 -.LG -\fBFigure 3.\fP -.SM -\fBcvs\fP Local Modification to Vendor Branch -.ce 0 -.sp -.KE -.PP -When a new version of the vendor's source distribution arrives, the -\fBcheckin\fP program adds the new and changed vendor's files to the -already existing source repository. -For files that have not been changed locally, the new file from the -vendor becomes the current \*Qhead\*U revision. -For files that have been modified locally, \fBcheckin\fP warns that the -file must be merged with the new vendor release. -The \fBcvs\fP \*Qjoin\*U command is a useful tool that aids this process by -performing the necessary -.SM -RCS -.LG -merge, as is done above when performing an \*Qupdate.\*U -.PP -There is also limited support for \*Qdual\*U derivations for source files. -See Figure 4 for a sample dual-derived file. -.KF -.hl -.DS B -.PS -ellipse at 2.337,8.575 wid 0.700 ht 0.375 -ellipse at 2.312,9.137 wid 0.700 ht 0.375 -line from 1.225,9.012 to 1.225,9.363 -line from 1.250,9.263 to 1.225,9.363 to 1.200,9.263 -line from 0.875,9.725 to 1.600,9.725 to 1.600,9.363 to 0.875,9.363 to 0.875,9.725 -line from 0.875,9.012 to 1.600,9.012 to 1.600,8.650 to 0.875,8.650 to 0.875,9.012 -line from 4.050,10.200 to 4.775,10.200 to 4.775,9.850 to 4.050,9.850 to 4.050,10.200 -line from 4.050,9.475 to 4.775,9.475 to 4.775,9.113 to 4.050,9.113 to 4.050,9.475 -line from 4.050,8.762 to 4.775,8.762 to 4.775,8.400 to 4.050,8.400 to 4.050,8.762 -line from 4.425,8.762 to 4.425,9.113 -line from 4.450,9.013 to 4.425,9.113 to 4.400,9.013 -line from 4.425,9.475 to 4.425,9.850 -line from 4.450,9.750 to 4.425,9.850 to 4.400,9.750 -line from 3.050,10.000 to 3.775,10.000 to 3.775,9.637 to 3.050,9.637 to 3.050,10.000 -line from 3.050,9.312 to 3.775,9.312 to 3.775,8.950 to 3.050,8.950 to 3.050,9.312 -line from 0.713,7.325 to 0.713,8.075 to 4.925,8.075 to 4.925,7.325 to 0.713,7.325 -line from 1.238,8.075 to 1.238,8.637 -line from 1.262,8.537 to 1.238,8.637 to 1.213,8.537 -line from 1.613,8.825 to 1.975,8.575 -line from 1.878,8.611 to 1.975,8.575 to 1.907,8.652 -line from 2.675,8.575 to 4.050,8.575 -line from 3.950,8.550 to 4.050,8.575 to 3.950,8.600 -line from 2.675,9.137 to 3.050,9.137 -line from 2.950,9.112 to 3.050,9.137 to 2.950,9.162 -line from 3.425,9.325 to 3.425,9.637 -line from 3.450,9.537 to 3.425,9.637 to 3.400,9.537 -line from 1.613,8.825 to 1.925,9.137 -line from 1.872,9.049 to 1.925,9.137 to 1.837,9.084 -.ps 11 -"'BSD'" at 2.138,9.481 ljust -.ps 11 -"1.2" at 1.113,9.543 ljust -.ps 11 -"1.1" at 1.125,8.831 ljust -.ps 11 -"1.1.1.1" at 4.175,8.543 ljust -.ps 11 -"1.1.1.2" at 4.175,9.281 ljust -.ps 11 -"1.1.1.3" at 4.175,9.993 ljust -.ps 11 -"1.1.2.2" at 3.175,9.793 ljust -.ps 11 -"1.1.2.1" at 3.175,9.106 ljust -.ps 11 -"rcsfile.c,v" at 2.425,7.706 ljust -.ps 11 -"1.1.1" at 2.175,8.568 ljust -.ps 11 -"'SunOS'" at 2.125,8.243 ljust -.ps 11 -"1.1.2" at 2.163,9.131 ljust -.PE -.DE -.hl -.ce 100 -.LG -\fBFigure 4.\fP -.SM -\fBcvs\fP Support For \*QDual\*U Derivations -.ce 0 -.sp -.KE -This example tracks the SunOS distribution but includes major changes from -Berkeley. -These BSD files are saved directly in the -.SM -RCS -.LG -file off a new branch. -.NH 2 -Location Independent Module Database -.PP -\fBcvs\fP contains support for a simple, yet powerful, \*Qmodule\*U database. -For reasons of efficiency, this database is stored in \fBndbm\fP\|(3) format. -The module database is used to apply names to collections of directories -and files as a matter of convenience for checking out pieces of a large -software distribution. -The database records the physical location of the sources as a form of -information hiding, allowing one to check out whole directory hierarchies -or individual files without regard for their actual location within the -global source distribution. -.PP -Consider the following small sample of a module database, which must be -tailored manually to each specific source repository environment: -.DS -\f(CW #key [-option argument] directory [files...] - diff bin/diff - libc lib/libc - sys -o sys/tools/make_links sys - modules -i mkmodules CVSROOT.adm modules - kernel -a sys lang/adb - ps bin Makefile ps.c\fP -.DE -.PP -The \*Qdiff\*U and \*Qlibc\*U modules refer to whole directory hierarchies that -are extracted on check out. -The \*Qsys\*U module extracts the \*Qsys\*U hierarchy, and runs the -\*Qmake_links\*U program at the end of the check out process (the \fI-o\fP -option specifies a program to run on check\fIo\fPut). -The \*Qmodules\*U module allows one to edit the module database file and -runs the \*Qmkmodules\*U program on check\fIi\fPn to regenerate the -\fBndbm\fP database that \fBcvs\fP uses. -The \*Qkernel\*U module is an alias (as the \fI-a\fP option specifies) -which causes the remaining arguments after the \fI-a\fP to be interpreted -exactly as if they had been specified on the command line. -This is useful for objects that require shared pieces of code from far away -places to be compiled (as is the case with the kernel debugger, \fBkadb\fP, -which shares code with the standard \fBadb\fP debugger). -The \*Qps\*U module shows that the source for \*Qps\*U lives in the \*Qbin\*U -directory, but only \fIMakefile\fP and \fIps.c\fP are required to build the -object. -.PP -The module database at Prisma is now populated for the entire UNIX -distribution and thereby allows us to issue the -following convenient commands to check out components of the UNIX -distribution without regard for their actual location within the master source -repository: -.DS -\f(CW example% cvs checkout diff - example% cvs checkout libc ps - example% cd diff; make\fP -.DE -.PP -In building the module database file, it is quite possible to have name -conflicts within a global software distribution. -For example, SunOS provides two \fBcat\fP programs: -one for the standard environment, \fI/bin/cat\fP, and one for the System V -environment, \fI/usr/5bin/cat\fP. -We resolved this conflict by naming the standard \fBcat\fP module -\*Qcat\*U, and the System V \fBcat\fP module \*Q5cat\*U. -Similar name modifications must be applied to other conflicting names, as -might be found between a utility program and a library function, though -Prisma chose not to include individual library functions within the module -database at this time. -.NH 2 -Configurable Logging Support -.PP -The \fBcvs\fP \*Qcommit\*U command is used to make a permanent change to the -master source repository (where the -.SM -RCS -.LG -\*Q,v\*U files live). -Whenever a \*Qcommit\*U is done, the log message for the change is carefully -logged by an arbitrary program (in a file, notesfile, news database, or -mail). -For example, a collection of these updates can be used to produce release -notices. -\fBcvs\fP can be configured to send log updates through one or more filter -programs, based on a regular expression match on the directory that is -being changed. -This allows multiple related or unrelated projects to exist within a single -\fBcvs\fP source repository tree, with each different project sending its -\*Qcommit\*U reports to a unique log device. -.PP -A sample logging configuration file might look as follows: -.DS -\f(CW #regex filter-program - DEFAULT /usr/local/bin/nfpipe -t %s utils.updates - ^diag /usr/local/bin/nfpipe -t %s diag.updates - ^local /usr/local/bin/nfpipe -t %s local.updates - ^perf /usr/local/bin/nfpipe -t %s perf.updates - ^sys /usr/local/bin/nfpipe -t %s kernel.updates\fP -.DE -.PP -This sample allows the diagnostics and performance groups to -share the same source repository with the kernel and utilities groups. -Changes that they make are sent directly to their own notesfile [Essick] -through the \*Qnfpipe\*U program. -A sufficiently simple title is substituted for the \*Q%s\*U argument before -the filter program is executed. -This logging configuration file is tailored manually to each specific -source repository environment. -.NH 2 -Tagged Releases and Dates -.PP -Any release can be given a symbolic tag name that is stored directly in the -.SM -RCS -.LG -files. -This tag can be used at any time to get an exact copy of any previous -release. -With equal ease, one can also extract an exact copy of the source files as -of any arbitrary date in the past as well. -Thus, all that's required to tag the current kernel, and to tag the kernel -as of the Fourth of July is: -.DS -\f(CW example% cvs tag TEST_KERNEL kernel - example% cvs tag -D 'July 4' PATRIOTIC_KERNEL kernel\fP -.DE -The following command would retrieve an exact copy of the test kernel at -some later date: -.DS -\f(CW example% cvs checkout -fp -rTEST_KERNEL kernel\fP -.DE -The \fI-f\fP option causes only files that match the specified tag to be -extracted, while the \fI-p\fP option automatically prunes empty directories. -Consequently, directories added to the kernel after the test kernel was -tagged are not included in the newly extracted copy of the test kernel. -.PP -The \fBcvs\fP date support has exactly the same interface as that provided -with -.SM -RCS\c -.LG -, however \fBcvs\fP must process the \*Q,v\*U files directly due to the -special handling required by the vendor branch support. -The standard -.SM -RCS -.LG -date handling only processes one branch (or the main trunk) when checking -out based on a date specification. -\fBcvs\fP must instead process the current \*Qhead\*U branch and, if a -match is not found, proceed to look for a match on the vendor branch. -This, combined with reasons of performance, is why \fBcvs\fP processes -revision (symbolic and numeric) and date specifications directly from the -\*Q,v\*U files. -.NH 2 -Building \*Qpatch\*U Source Distributions -.PP -\fBcvs\fP can produce a \*Qpatch\*U format [Wall] output file which can be -used to bring a previously released software distribution current with the -newest release. -This patch file supports an entire directory hierarchy within a single -patch, as well as being able to add whole new files to the previous -release. -One can combine symbolic revisions and dates together to display changes in -a very generic way: -.DS -\f(CW example% cvs patch -D 'December 1, 1988' \e - -D 'January 1, 1989' sys\fP -.DE -This example displays the kernel changes made in the month of December, -1988. -To release a patch file, for example, to take the \fBcvs\fP distribution -from version 1.0 to version 1.4 might be done as follows: -.DS -\f(CW example% cvs patch -rCVS_1_0 -rCVS_1_4 cvs\fP -.DE -.NH -CVS Experience -.NH 2 -Statistics -.PP -A quick summary of the scale that \fBcvs\fP is addressing today -can be found in Table 1. -.KF -.TS -box center tab(:); -c s -c s -c | c -l | n . -\fB\s+2Revision Control Statistics at Prisma -as of 11/11/89\fP\s-2 -_ -How Many...:Total -= -Files:17243 -Directories:1005 -Lines of code:3927255 -Removed files:131 -Software developers:14 -Software groups:6 -Megabytes of source:128 -.TE -.ce 100 -.LG -\fBTable 1.\fP -.SM -\fBcvs\fP Statistics -.ce 0 -.sp .3 -.KE -Table 2 shows the history of files changed or added and the number -of source lines affected by the change at Prisma. -Only changes made to the kernel sources are included. -.KF -.TS -box center tab(:); -c s s s s -c s s s s -c || c | c || c | c -c || c | c || c | c -l || n | n || n | n. -\fB\s+2Prisma Kernel Source File Changes -By Month, 1988-1989\fP\s-2 -_ -Month:# Changed:# Lines:# Added:# Lines -\^:Files:Changed:Files:Added -= -Dec:87:3619:68:9266 -Jan:39:4324:0:0 -Feb:73:1578:5:3550 -Mar:99:5301:18:11461 -Apr:112:7333:11:5759 -May:138:5371:17:13986 -Jun:65:2261:27:12875 -Jul:34:2000:1:58 -Aug:65:6378:8:4724 -Sep:266:23410:113:39965 -Oct:22:621:1:155 -Total:1000:62196:269:101799 -.TE -.ce 100 -.LG -\fBTable 2.\fP -.SM -\fBcvs\fP Usage History for the Kernel -.ce 0 -.sp -.KE -The large number of source file changes made in September are the result of -merging the SunOS 4.0.3 sources into the kernel. -This merge process is described in section 3.3. -.NH 2 -Performance -.PP -The performance of \fBcvs\fP is currently quite reasonable. -Little effort has been expended on tuning \fBcvs\fP, although performance -related decisions were made during the \fBcvs\fP design. -For example, \fBcvs\fP parses the -.SM -RCS -.LG -\*Q,v\*U files directly instead of running an -.SM -RCS -.LG -process. -This includes following branches as well as integrating with the vendor -source branches and the main trunk when checking out files based on a date. -.PP -Checking out the entire kernel source tree (1223 files/59 directories) -currently takes 16 wall clock minutes on a Sun-4/280. -However, bringing the tree up-to-date with the current kernel sources, once -it has been checked out, takes only 1.5 wall clock minutes. -Updating the \fIcomplete\fP 128 MByte source tree under \fBcvs\fP control -(17243 files/1005 directories) takes roughly 28 wall clock minutes and -utilizes one-third of the machine. -For now this is entirely acceptable; improvements on these numbers will -possibly be made in the future. -.NH 2 -The SunOS 4.0.3 Merge -.PP -The true test of the \fBcvs\fP vendor branch support came with the arrival -of the SunOS 4.0.3 source upgrade tape. -As described above, the \fBcheckin\fP program was used to install the new -sources and the resulting output file listed the files that had been -locally modified, needing to be merged manually. -For the kernel, there were 94 files in conflict. -The \fBcvs\fP \*Qjoin\*U command was used on each of the 94 conflicting -files, and the remaining conflicts were resolved. -.PP -The \*Qjoin\*U command performs an \fBrcsmerge\fP operation. -This in turn uses \fI/usr/lib/diff3\fP to produce a three-way diff file. -As it happens, the \fBdiff3\fP program has a hard-coded limit of 200 -source-file changes maximum. -This proved to be too small for a few of the kernel files that needed -merging by hand, due to the large number of local changes that Prisma had -made. -The \fBdiff3\fP problem was solved by increasing the hard-coded limit by an -order of magnitude. -.PP -The SunOS 4.0.3 kernel source upgrade distribution contained -346 files, 233 of which were modifications to previously released files, -and 113 of which were newly added files. -\fBcheckin\fP added the 113 new files to the source repository -without intervention. -Of the 233 modified files, 139 dropped in cleanly by \fBcheckin\fP, since -Prisma had not made any local changes to them, and 94 required manual -merging due to local modifications. -The 233 modified files consisted of 20,766 lines of differences. -It took one developer two days to manually merge the 94 files using the -\*Qjoin\*U command and resolving conflicts manually. -An additional day was required for kernel debugging. -The entire process of merging over 20,000 lines of differences was -completed in less than a week. -This one time-savings alone was justification enough for the \fBcvs\fP -development effort; we expect to gain even more when tracking future SunOS -releases. -.NH -Future Enhancements and Current Bugs -.PP -Since \fBcvs\fP was designed to be incomplete, for reasons of design -simplicity, there are naturally a good -number of enhancements that can be made to make it more useful. -As well, some nuisances exist in the current implementation. -.RS -.IP \(bu 3 -\fBcvs\fP does not currently \*Qremember\*U who has a checked out a copy of a -module. -As a result, it is impossible to know who might be working on the same -module that you are. -A simple-minded database that is updated nightly would likely suffice. -.IP \(bu 3 -Signal processing, keyboard interrupt handling in particular, is currently -somewhat weak. -This is due to the heavy use of the \fBsystem\fP\|(3) library -function to execute -.SM -RCS -.LG -programs like \fBco\fP and \fBci\fP. -It sometimes takes multiple interrupts to make \fBcvs\fP quit. -This can be fixed by using a home-grown \fBsystem\fP\|() replacement. -.IP \(bu 3 -Security of the source repository is currently not dealt with directly. -The usual UNIX approach of user-group-other security permissions through -the file system is utilized, but nothing else. -\fBcvs\fP could likely be a set-group-id executable that checks a -protected database to verify user access permissions for particular objects -before allowing any operations to affect those objects. -.IP \(bu 3 -With every checked-out directory, \fBcvs\fP maintains some administrative -files that record the current revision numbers of the checked-out files as -well as the location of the respective source repository. -\fBcvs\fP does not recover nicely at all if these administrative files are -removed. -.IP \(bu 3 -The source code for \fBcvs\fP has been tested extensively on Sun-3 and -Sun-4 systems, all running SunOS 4.0 or later versions of the operating -system. -Since the code has not yet been compiled under other platforms, the overall -portability of the code is still questionable. -.IP \(bu 3 -As witnessed in the previous section, the \fBcvs\fP method for tracking -third party vendor source distributions can work quite nicely. -However, if the vendor changes the directory structure or the file names -within the source distribution, \fBcvs\fP has no way of matching the old -release with the new one. -It is currently unclear as to how to solve this, though it is certain to -happen in practice. -.RE -.NH -Availability -.PP -The \fBcvs\fP program sources can be found in a recent posting to the -\fBcomp.sources.unix\fP newsgroup. -It is also currently available via anonymous ftp from \*Qprisma.com\*U. -Copying rights for \fBcvs\fP will be covered by the GNU General Public -License. -.NH -Summary -.PP -Prisma has used \fBcvs\fP since December, 1988. -It has evolved to meet our specific needs of revision and release control. -We will make our code freely available so that others can -benefit from our work, and can enhance \fBcvs\fP to meet broader needs yet. -.PP -Many of the other software release and revision control systems, like the -one described in [Glew], appear to use a collection of tools that are -geared toward specific environments \(em one set of tools for the kernel, -one set for \*Qgeneric\*U software, one set for utilities, and one set for -kernel and utilities. -Each of these tool sets apparently handle some specific aspect of the -problem uniquely. -\fBcvs\fP took a somewhat different approach. -File sharing through symbolic or hard links is not addressed; instead, the -disk space is simply burned since it is \*Qcheap.\*U -Support for producing objects for multiple architectures is not addressed; -instead, a parallel checked-out source tree must be used for each -architecture, again wasting disk space to simplify complexity and ease of -use \(em punting on this issue allowed \fIMakefile\fPs to remain -unchanged, unlike the approach taken in [Mahler], thereby maintaining closer -compatibility with the third-party vendor sources. -\fBcvs\fP is essentially a source-file server, making no assumptions or -special handling of the sources that it controls. -To \fBcvs\fP: -.QP -A source is a source, of course, of course, unless of course the source is -Mr. Ed.\** -.FS -\fBcvs\fP, of course, does not really discriminate against Mr. Ed.\** -.FE -.FS -Yet. -.FE -.LP -Sources are maintained, saved, and retrievable at any time based on -symbolic or numeric revision or date in the past. -It is entirely up to \fBcvs\fP wrapper programs to provide for release -environments and such. -.PP -The major advantage of \fBcvs\fP over the -many other similar systems that have already been designed is the -simplicity of \fBcvs\fP. -\fBcvs\fP contains only three programs that do all the work of release -and revision control, and two manually-maintained administrative -files for each source repository. -Of course, the deciding factor of any tool is whether people use it, and if -they even \fIlike\fP to use it. -At Prisma, \fBcvs\fP prevented members of the kernel -group from killing each other. -.NH -Acknowledgements -.PP -Many thanks to Dick Grune at Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam for his work -on the original version of \fBcvs\fP and for making it available to the -world. -Thanks to Jeff Polk of Prisma for helping with the design of the module -database, vendor branch support, and for writing the \fBcheckin\fP shell -script. -Thanks also to the entire software group at Prisma for taking the -time to review the paper and correct my grammar. -.NH -References -.IP [Bell] 12 -Bell Telephone Laboratories. -\*QSource Code Control System User's Guide.\*U -\fIUNIX System III Programmer's Manual\fP, October 1981. -.IP [Courington] 12 -Courington, W. -\fIThe Network Software Environment\fP, -Sun Technical Report FE197-0, Sun Microsystems Inc, February 1989. -.IP [Essick] 12 -Essick, Raymond B. and Robert Bruce Kolstad. -\fINotesfile Reference Manual\fP, -Department of Computer Science Technical Report #1081, -University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, -1982, p. 26. -.IP [Glew] 12 -Glew, Andy. -\*QBoxes, Links, and Parallel Trees: -Elements of a Configuration Management System.\*U -\fIWorkshop Proceedings of the Software Management Conference\fP, USENIX, -New Orleans, April 1989. -.IP [Grune] 12 -Grune, Dick. -Distributed the original shell script version of \fBcvs\fP in the -\fBcomp.sources.unix\fP volume 6 release in 1986. -.IP [Honda] 12 -Honda, Masahiro and Terrence Miller. -\*QSoftware Management Using a CASE Environment.\*U -\fIWorkshop Proceedings of the Software Management Conference\fP, USENIX, -New Orleans, April 1989. -.IP [Mahler] 12 -Mahler, Alex and Andreas Lampen. -\*QAn Integrated Toolset for Engineering Software Configurations.\*U -\fIProceedings of the ACM SIGSOFT/SIGPLAN Software Engineering Symposium on -Practical Software Development Environments\fP, ACM, Boston, November 1988. -Described is the \fBshape\fP toolkit posted to the -\fBcomp.sources.unix\fP newsgroup in the volume 19 release. -.IP [Tichy] 12 -Tichy, Walter F. -\*QDesign, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Revision Control System.\*U -\fIProceedings of the 6th International Conference on Software -Engineering\fP, IEEE, Tokyo, September 1982. -.IP [Wall] 12 -Wall, Larry. -The \fBpatch\fP program is an indispensable tool for applying a diff file -to an original. -Can be found on uunet.uu.net in ~ftp/pub/patch.tar. |