Pragmatic Version Control using CVS

by Dave Thomas and Andy Hunt

Pragmatic Version Control is available in two different flavors: using CVS and using Subversion. Click on the links to each book for more details, code from the books, errata, reviews, ordering information, sample chapters, and a free printable summary card.

Errata • Discussions

176 pages, Sep 2003
ISBN: 978-0-9745140-0-0

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You can also buy this title as part of the Pragmatic Starter Kit bundle.

About this Book

Pragmatic Version Control using CVS Keep project assets safe—never lose a great idea Know how to UNDO bad decisions—no matter when they were made Learn how to share code safely, and work in parallel See how to avoid costly code freezes Manage 3rd party code Understand how to go back in time, and work on previous versions Imagine you’re using the world’s most sophisticated word processor: it has every function imaginable, except one. For some reason, they forgot to add support for an UNDO command. Think how carefully and slowly you’d have to type—especially as you got near the end of a large document. One mistake, and you’d have to start over. Version control gives your team a project-wide undo button: nothing is final, and mistakes are easily rolled back.

With version control, you’ll never again lose a good idea because someone overwrote your file edits. You can always find out easily who made what changes to the source code—and why.

You no longer have to freeze development when producing a release: a version control system allows you to support multiple releases of your software at the same time, so you can continue with the main line of development.

Version control is a project-wide time machine. Now you can dial in a date and see exactly what the project looked like yesterday, last Tuesday or even last year.

AND IT’S EASY TO DO. Using a version control system does not have to be complicated, or time-consuming, or expensive. Pragmatic Version Control can show you how to set up and use a version control system effectively and inexpensively.

Contents and Extracts

About the Author

Andy Hunt and Dave Thomas, partners in The Pragmatic Programmers LLC, and founders of the Pragmatic Bookshelf, offer pragmatic resources for developers and managers. Their first book, The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master, is a popular overview of techniques and practices that make programming effective and enjoyable.

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Reader Comments

This is an excellent book; any programmer who hasn’t even heard of version control will be able to pick up all the skills necessary to use version control and be productive. I absolutely love the way the book is written. The use of scenarios to explain every example and concept just works perfectly, and best practices are included in all of the chapters.
—Vinny Carpenter Enterprise Architect
I’ve been using CVS for years and I’ve learned a LOT! It’s not only good, it’s Important to the software industry. This book makes arcane magic understandable to the “normal” developer.
—Will Gwaltney Development Tester SAS Institute
An excellent introduction for folks who haven’t used CVS. Dave Thomas and Andy Hunt are at their usual best.
—Andrew C. Oliver Founder of Apache POI SuperLink Software, Inc.
This book gave me a boatload of ideas for improving my use of CVS. Recipes with rationale and examples help me do the thing I’m worst at: getting started. Why didn’t you write this 10 years ago and mail me a copy!
—Mike Stok Senior Software Developer Exegenix Research Inc.
Thanks for your wonderful book – after countless halfhearted attempts of finding my own simple and helpful recipes, yours will finally help me to use CVS productively.
—Alexander Zrim Software Developer
I’ve been using CVS for a while now and it’s amazing how you have distilled down how 97% of organizations use CVS. The best part is you provide “best practices” around tagging and branching, which is often time misunderstood and/or abused at some shops.
—Kevin J. Schmidt Sr. Software Engineer Reflex Security, Inc.