Version control software stores and tracks changes made to source files shared by groups of developers. The IDE provides support for working with the Concurrent Versioning System (CVS) and any other version control system (VCS) that has a command-line interface. Developers work on files in their own directory. When they are finished working on the files, they use CVS to merge the file changes into a shared directory on a server called a repository.
If you are a sole developer of a project and would like to set up version control for your files, you can set up a working directory and a repository on your local machine. Then you can connect to the version control system through the IDE. For more information, see Setting Up a Local CVS Repository.
You can mount a directory that is under version control as a version control filesystem. You can work with version-controlled files just as you would with any other files. You can also call VCS commands on version-controlled files from within the IDE.
In VCS filesystems, each file's node displays its VCS status information in brackets in the Explorer. Right-click these nodes to access the VCS commands from the contextual menu.
The IDE simplifies work with version-controlled files by providing features such as:
If your development team uses CVS, you can connect to the CVS repository using:
To use the IDE's support for the CVS command-line executable, you must install a CVS command-line executable on your system. See CVS Support for more information.
If your team uses a different version control system, you can use the IDE's generic version control system support to work with that version control system. You can:
For more information, see:
CVS Support
Generic VCS Support
Using VCS Groups
VCS Support on Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows ME
Calling Version Control Commands
Calling CVS Commands
The Versioning Explorer
Comparing File Versions Visually
Refreshing VCS File Statuses
Reviewing VCS Command Status and Output
Adding a Binary File to a VCS Repository
Version Control Statuses
VCS Filesystems Settings
Global Settings for VCS Filesystems