Setting up WinCVS
WinCVS is the windows GUI frontend to CVS. With CVS, the current version of your files will be stored in a repository on a central server. You must configure WinCVS to login to this server with your name and password.
Starting WinCVS
Go to Start->Programs->WinCVS
Logging into the server
Go to Admin->Login->General. Setup the login as shown in the image below. Replace "walkesd" with your user name, which is your last name followed by your first initial. Press "OK" to log in. You will always need to login before attempting any WinCVS any commands. At this time, CVS will prompt for a password. Use the password specified in your e-mail from the TA to complete your login.
Setting up your sandbox and checking out the project
Your sandbox is the location CVS uses to store local copies of your checked in files. You will most likely want this to be located somewhere on the network drive. Select the network drive in the drop down menu on the top center of the WinCVS dialog. Notice that when you select the network drive, you see a warning about using network drives. This will result in some limitations to be outlined later, you may want to select Admin->Preferences->Globals and check the "Checkout Read Only" option.. see below.
Select the folder you would like to use as your sandbox, perhaps z:\ECEN5623\Project\ and create this folder. Next go to Remote->Checkout Module to checkout your default project. I have created default projects for each group based on group number. Replace "GroupX" with your group number. For a list of student/Group numbers see this file Set your "Local folder to checkout to your sandbox directory (ie Z:\ECEN5623\Project ) and press OK. You should see a "GroupX" (where X is your group #) folder created and a CVS.txt file in this directory. You now have the latest version of your CVS repository files.
Note: the checkout should only need to be done once. From now on, you can use "Update" to update the module in your sandbox (see Updating your sandbox below.)
Import your project files into the repository
The next step is to import your project files. To do this, first place your project files in the sandbox\GroupX directory that was just created. Then right click on the "GroupX" folder and select "Import Modules." This will update the repository files with the files you added.
Making changes to your project files
Once your repository is setup, all the members of your group can modify these files. When you login and are ready to start working, make sure you have the latest of all files by right clicking on the "GroupX" folder and selecting "Update Modules." This will ensure that you have the latest version of all files. If you are using the "Read Only Checkout" option, you will need to change files to read/write before you can modify them (right click in Windows Explorer->Properties and de-select Read-Only Attribute.) A read only attribute is shown in the CVS window by a pencil with a blue slash through it. Once you start editing a file, you should see the file icon turn red as shown below
Commiting the new version of your files to CVS
Right click on your group folder (or on the file itself) and use the command "Commit Selection" to commit your changes to the repository. If desired, add a note in the message box to describe the change you made.
If multiple users were modifying any of your files to be commited at the time you were, and the file has been changed since you got the latest version on your local drive using the "Update" command, you will be prompted to merge your changes.. see the next section.
Merging changes using WinMerge
WinMerge is installed on the lab PC's in order to help merge changes for any file commit when files have been modified in the repository (by another user) since the last update. To set WinMerge as the merge tool, go to Admin->Preferences->WinCVS and set the External diff box to C:\Program Files\WinMerge\WinMerge.exe. When you attempt to commit and the file in the repository has changed, WinMerge will automatically be started with the file in the repository and the file you are attempting to check in. Winmerge is fairly intuitive to use, but for more information, see this page.Win CVS Limitations
The warning message on startup "Using remote (network) drive may cause file system errors and performance decrease" refers to the fact that WinCVS was not designed to use a network drive for sandbox directories. To avoid this message, you can put your sandbox on C:, however, it will be IMPERATIVE that you remember to commit your files each time you work on them, since the C: is subject to re-image at any time. You may also use the command line interface to CVS as outlined below.
The only problem I have seen resulting from using a network drive as a sandbox directory is related to checkout (which only needs to be done once to set up your project.) Sometimes, a checkout will result in all files in your sandbox showing up as modified (red icons.) If this happens, just immediately commit all of these files to the repository before you begin editing. I have noticed that selecting read-only checkouts (Admin->Preferences->Globals) eliminates this problem.
CVS Command Line
To access the CVS repository at home, you may use SSH and the cvs command line.
I have put together a few useful script files which can be run at the SSH shell prompt, you can download these here.For More Information
