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About CVS

Abstract

This article provides an overview of CVS, uses of by mozilla.org, and other general information.
Information about specific tasks or platforms is provided in separate documents (links provided below).

Audience

Contributors of web pages
Code patch writers and testers
Developers

Overview

CVS is a sophisticated file and version management system. Full documentation about CVS can be found at CVShome.org.

Using CVS requires CVS access and a CVS client

CVS access is available in two forms:

  • Anonymous - Most contributors should use this access. If you want to make a change, you can edit the file locally, and submit a cvs diff or patch to the appropriate bugzilla bug. 
  • CVS account - a small number of contributors (drivers, owners, mozilla staff, etc.) have direct CVS access. If you need access, carefully read getting cvs write access (this document focuses on CVS access for source code, but is applicable to all CVS requests).

CVS clients should be available for your favorite OS:

  • Mac OS X, Windows.
  • UNIX, and OS/2 information is provided in source code via cvs.
    The author hopes to move these instructions out of that document, as well as receive contributions for other mozilla platforms.
  • Web-based HTML forms via "doctor.mozilla.org" (mozilla.org web pages only).
  • NOTE: No browsers, including Mozilla, have built-in CVS support (see: 66675)

Using CVS in mozilla.org:

CVS is a powerful tool for managing large numbers of files, especially if they change often and/or are changed by many users. mozilla.org has two official CVS repositories: source code and web pages.

You can find specific instructions for each task:

Pulling and changing code - source code via cvs
Publishing and maintaining www.mozilla.org - Editing mozilla.org web pages (using CVS) (links to older documentation)
Password reset

What version of CVS am I using?

cvs -v works on most systems. CVS has feature compatibility problems between versions, so knowing this is often useful.

Feedback:

please add comments or suggestions to Bug 64262.