The Power of CVS

It’s pretty clear that CVS has become
the standard for code versioning and control in the open source community. The core PHP developers even
use it to control who can check in code, and to see what changes occurred and who made those changes.

CVS isn’t just for hardcore software developers. I’m finding that it is really useful for
developing PHP web sites (or really any HTML site). Since I have multiple machines in multiple
locations across the US, it’s super-convenient for me to store all my code in my main CVS tree
in West Des Moines, IA and access from my desktop in SunnyVale, CA and my laptop before I jump
on a plane.

Many current Linux OS installations will include CVS as part of the install. If not, simply
download
it, compile it, and install it. I installed using defaults (RTFM), then set up a CVSROOT on my box in Iowa:


[tperdue@myserver tperdue] $ cvs -d /fireball/cvs init


I also had to make an entry in /etc/inetd.conf to map port 2105 to the CVS server app. That allows other
machines to connect to my new CVS server.


#CVS pserver

pserver  stream  tcp     nowait  root    /usr/bin/cvs cvs -b /usr/bin pserver


“;
And in /etc/services: