This is prcs.info, produced by makeinfo version 4.0 from prcs.texi. This file describes PRCS, the Project Revision Control System. Copyright (C) 1994, 1996, 1997 by Paul N. Hilfinger. All rights reserved. We distribute PRCS under the terms of the GNU General Public License, Version 2, which we have included with this release in the file named `COPYING', and in the "Copying" section of this manual. As indicated in the License, we provide the program "as is" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. INFO-DIR-SECTION Version Control START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY * PRCS: (prcs). The Project Revision Control System. END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY  File: prcs.info, Node: diff, Next: merge, Prev: checkin, Up: Subcommands Prcs diff ========= - Command: prcs diff [option ...] [project [file-or-dir ...]] [-- [diff-option ...]] ADDITIONAL OPTIONS: `-r' (once or twice), `-k', `-N', `-P' Compare the (partial) contents of two repository versions of a project or of a repository version and a working version. When FILE-OR-DIR arguments are present, they restrict comparison to the specified files or subdirectory trees. The PROJECT argument may be defaulted if there is a single file with extension `.prj' in the current working directory, in which case PRCS takes its name (without `.prj') as the project name. The OPTIONs may specify zero, one, or two versions (using `-r' options). Specifying no `-r' options is equivalent to supplying the single option `-r.', the version from which the current working directory was checked out. A `-r' option that specifies only a major version (leaving off the minor version and its preceding period) implicitly has a minor version of `@'. When one version specifier is given, the files in the indicated version are compared to the working files. The command's output notes any discrepancies in the contents of identically-named files, or in files present in one version but not the other. Two version specifiers cause the same comparison, but between two checked-in versions of the project. Normally, `diff' canonicalizes keyword instances in the files it compares, removing the keyword values and leaving just the keyword name. As a result, two different versions of a file that differ only in their keyword values will compare as equal. The `-k' option causes `diff' to compare keyword values as well. If a file is present only in one of the project versions being compared, `diff' will normally just announce that such a file occurs only in one of the versions. With the `-N' option, it will produce the same output it would if it instead treated the non-existent version as an empty file. This is useful when producing patch files that include new files as well as changed ones. Its effect is essentially the same as that of the same option in GNU `diff' when it compares directories. Files in the two versions being compared are paired by their names and their internal-file families (see *Note Files attribute::, for a description of internal-file families). That is, PRCS will assume that two files in the different versions correspond if they have the same name or the same internal-file family. This makes it possible to have conflicts (for example, when one switches the names of two files in a project descriptor); in those cases PRCS will ask the user to resolve the conflict. The DIFF-OPTIONS, if provided, are any options acceptable to GNU `diff'. *Note (diff)Top::. The environment variable `PRCS_DIFF_OPTIONS', if set, supplies a default set of whitespace separated DIFF-OPTIONS. If the FILE-OR-DIR is defaulted and `-P' is not supplied, or if FILE-OR-DIR contains the project descriptor, PRCS outputs differences between project descriptors. Returns a status code of 0 if there were no differences, 1 if there were differences, and 2 if there were problems.  File: prcs.info, Node: merge, Next: rekey, Prev: diff, Up: Subcommands Prcs merge ========== - Command: prcs merge [option ...] [project [file-or-dir ...]] ADDITIONAL OPTIONS: `-r', `-u', `-s' Find differences between working files and those of the selected version of PROJECT, and (unless `-n' is specified) try to modify the working files to reconcile them. The default major and minor versions are `-r.@'. More precisely, the comparison takes place between three versions of PROJECT: the working version (called PW in what follows), the "common version" (PC) and the "selected version" (PS). PW is the working version specified in the checked-out descriptor and consists of all files listed therein. PS is the version against which PRCS will reconcile changes, identified by the (possibly defaulted) `-r' option. A common version is chosen according to the following algorithm: Each version, including the working version, has a list of parent versions. The parent versions establish an ancestry graph that is directed and contains no cycles. A version is an ancestor of another if it can be reached by following zero or more parents (see *Note Parent-Version attribute:: and *Note Merge-Parents attribute::). PC is chosen from the set of all versions that are ancestors of PW and PS. If amongst this intersection, there exists a unique nearest common ancestor, then it is PC. If there is no such version, PRCS will complain and ask the user for help. Files in the three versions are matched up both by name and by internal-file family (*note Files attribute::). That is, PRCS will assume that two files in different versions correspond if they have the same name or the same internal-file family. This makes it possible to have conflicts (for example, when one switches the names of two files in a project descriptor); in those cases PRCS will ask the user to resolve the conflict. A `prcs merge' will report discrepancies and (unless `-n' is specified) take actions as directed. The possible actions are as follows. `n' Do nothing. `a' Add the file from PS to PW. `r' Replace the working file with the file from PS. `d' Delete the file from PW. `m' Merge the file from PS with that from PW, inserting markers into the merged working file to show where the changes in PW (relative to PC) and those in the version from PS overlap. If the file from PC is missing, then an empty file is used for its contents. In general, you will have to edit the working file to resolve the discrepancies. If the versions in PS and PW are identical aside from keyword values, merging has no effect. `?' Print summary of options. `h' Print explanatory help message. `v' View differences between PS, PC, and PW (there is further prompting for which you want compared). The `-f' option causes default actions to each discrepancy (see below). Otherwise, PRCS will ask the user to specify one of the possible actions. All of the actions except `n' modify the descriptor, either to remove the file from the Files list, or to modify its internal file identifier to the one from PS. Like `prcs diff', `prcs merge' canonicalizes files to strip keyword values before comparing them for discrepancies (*note diff::). In the descriptions that follow, saying that files are "equivalent" means that they are identical when canonicalized. PRCS detects the following discrepancies: * Files present in PC and absent in PW. The default action is `n'. That is, the files are assumed to be obsolete, regardless of their status in PS. * Files present in PC and PW, and absent in PS. The default action is `d'. That is, the files are assumed to be obsolete. * Files present in PC, PS, and PW, equivalent in PC and PW, and different in PS. The default action is `r'. That is, the version in PS is assumed to be most up-to-date. * Files present in PC, PS, and PW, and different in all three. The default action is `m'. There have been independent changes in both PW and PS. * Files absent in PC, and different in PW and PS. The default action is `m'. * Files absent in PC and PW, and present in PS. The default action is `a'. * PRCS takes no action in other cases, and does not prompt the user. When PRCS overwrites a working file that is a symbolic link, then (unless the `:symlink' option is specified for that file), it will overwrite the file that the link references, without changing the link itself. With the `-u' option, PRCS will instead remove the link and create a new file. Whenever PRCS is going to replace a working file as a result of one of the actions above, it first moves the original file into the `obsolete' directory and gives it a unique name. A partial merge takes place when not all files in the three versions are considered for merging. This can happen if a merge is aborted or the FILE-OR-DIR option limits the files under consideration. When this happens, PRCS records which files have been merged and their names in the working project's New-Merge-Parents attribute (*note Merge-Parents attribute::). A merge is considered _complete_ when each file in each version has been considered once. A complete merge may be achieved by several partial merges. To prevent reconsidering the same file more then once, PRCS will not consider any set of files containing a file that was already considered in a previous merge against the same selected version unless the `-s' option is specified. In general, the `-s' option allows the user to turn off all the safety features built into `prcs merge'. It will allow a user to merge files more than once, override the choice of an effective working version, restart a complete merge, and start a new merge without completing a previous merge. By default, PRCS uses the GNU diff3 command to perform 2- or 3-way file merges when you choose the `m' action (*note (diff)top::). It is possible, however, to supply your own merge command. By setting the `PRCS_MERGE_COMMAND' environment variable to a program name, PRCS will call the named command instead of diff3 (*note Environment Variables::).  File: prcs.info, Node: rekey, Next: info, Prev: merge, Up: Subcommands Prcs Rekey ========== - Command: prcs rekey [option ...] [project [file-or-dir ...]] ADDITIONAL OPTIONS: `-u' Replace keywords in the selected files, according to the version named in the project file. Files whose contents would not change under keyword substitution are not modified. With the `-n' option, simply reports files that will change as a result of keyword replacement. *Note Keywords::. When PRCS overwrites a working file that is a symbolic link, then (unless the `:symlink' option is specified for that file), it will overwrite the file that the link references, without changing the link itself. With the `-u' option, PRCS will instead remove the link and create a new file. You can use this command to update keywords in working files after performing a `prcs checkin', which does not modify keyword values.  File: prcs.info, Node: info, Next: changes, Prev: rekey, Up: Subcommands Prcs info ========= - Command: prcs info [option ...] [project [file-or-dir ...]] ADDITIONAL OPTIONS: `-r', `--sort' Print information about versions of the named project. For each version listed, prints the project name, major and minor version identifiers, date and time checked in, and the user who checked in the version. With the `-l' option, also prints out the version logs and each project description. With `-L', also prints out the files constituting the version, their attributes, and their unkeyed MD5 checksum; the FILE-OR-DIR options in this case restrict the files or directories that are listed. The `-r' option is special in this command in that it may contain any of the shell filename-generation pattern characters defined for the Bourne shell, `sh': `*', which matches any string of 0 or more characters; `?', which matches any single character; `[...]', which matches any of the enclosed characters; and `[!...]', which matches any character except one of the enclosed characters. These special pattern characters must be escaped to get them past the shell. The default for both the major and minor versions is `*'. The `-r' option is still interpreted as a separate major and minor version; that is, `-rFoo.*' matches `Foo.1', but not `Foo.Bar.1'. The `--sort=TYPE' option sets the type of sorting that the info command should use. If TYPE is `date', versions are sorted by individual version date, otherwise the default, `version', is to sort by major version creation date.  File: prcs.info, Node: changes, Next: admin, Prev: info, Up: Subcommands Prcs changes ============ - Command: prcs changes [option ...] [project [file-or-dir ...]] ADDITIONAL OPTIONS: `-r' (once or twice), `-l' The changes subcommand helps you find what versions modify a specific file or files. For example, suppose you fixed a bug a long time ago and now it shows up again in the current version. You would like to know what project versions modify a certain file so you can find out who undid your bug-fix and blame them! Like `prcs diff', the OPTIONs may specify zero, one, or two versions (using `-r' options). Specifying no `-r' options is equivalent to supplying the single option `-r.', the version from which the current working directory was checked out. A `-r' option that specifies only a major version (leaving off the minor version and its preceding period) implicitly has a minor version of `@'. When one version specifier is given, only that version is scanned for changes. Two version specifiers cause a range of versions to be scanned. In the two version case, one version must be an ancestor of the other, and reversing the order of the two versions will reverse the order of the output. When FILE-OR-DIR arguments are present, they restrict the change report to the specified files or subdirectory trees. Otherwise all files are reported. For each specified version that modifies a file (in the reporting set) relative to one of its parent versions, `changes' prints the project name, major and minor version identifiers, date and time checked in, and the user who checked in the version. Then it prints the parent version and a listing of all the selected files that were modified, including: addition, deletion, rename, type change, symlink change, or version change. For regular files, `changes' also prints the number of lines added and removed by the modification. If a project version does not modify any of the selected files, nothing is printed. When the `-l' option is present, `changes' also prints the version-log associated with each version.  File: prcs.info, Node: admin, Next: config, Prev: changes, Up: Subcommands Prcs admin ========== - Command: prcs admin subfunction [option ...] [operand ...] Perform various administrative subfunctions that generally have no effect on the abstract state of the repository. The available functions are as follows. - Subfunction: compress [project] Encourages PRCS to save space in storing the data for PROJECT, even at the expense of slower processing. This command may take some time to execute. Interrupting it in the middle is safe, although it may lead to somewhat erratic space-saving behavior. - Subfunction: uncompress [option] [project] ADDITIONAL OPTIONS: `-i' Encourages PRCS to save time in processing commands against PROJECT, even at the expense of using more space--perhaps considerably more. With the `-i' option, PRCS will immediately expand the entire representation of PROJECT. Without the `-i' option, PRCS will increase its use of space only as needed. If disk space should run out, PRCS will leave the repository in a correct state. - Subfunction: access [project] With the optional operand, interactively sets read and write permissions to all versions of PROJECT, in the repository, and (on systems that provide it) sets the group to which the files belong. This command allows the owner of a project in a repository to restrict the access that others have to its contents. One can specify that these files may only be read or may not be accessed at all. Without a PROJECT operand, interactively sets read and write permissions to the repository itself, both for members of the repository directory's group, and for all other users. One must have at least read access to the repository to look at or check out any project (in addition to having appropriate access to the project itself). You must have write access to the repository to create new projects in it. - Subfunction: rebuild [option ...] [project] Rebuilds internal repository data on PROJECT, possibly removing file storage for deleted project versions and verifying the integrity of all project versions. With the `-l' option, reports deletions. Unless there has been damage to the repository, this command generally has no visible effect on the notional contents of the repository. - Subfunction: init project Create a new project in the repository containing no (non-empty) versions. Performing a `prcs checkout' on a non-existent project creates a blank working project descriptor without modifying the repository. The first `prcs checkin' for that project then creates a new entry in the repository. Normally, no other explicit initialization for the project's entry in the repository is necessary. However, with this method it is impossible to perform a `prcs access' before the first check-in, because there is no record of the new project in the repository. With `prcs init', you can create a repository entry (containing no versions) that you can modify with `prcs access'. - Subfunction: pdelete project Deletes a repository entry, permanently removing all versions and data from the repository. - Subfunction: pinfo Lists all projects in the repository. - Subfunction: prename project Renames a repository entry, similar to renaming during `prcs unpackage'.  File: prcs.info, Node: config, Next: package and unpackage, Prev: admin, Up: Subcommands Printing and Checking the Configuration ======================================= - Command: prcs config Print out all compiled-in values and their values, possibly altered by environment variables or command-line arguments. Also verifies that the executables named by `$RCS_PATH', or its compiled-in default, are valid and checks their version numbers to see that they are not outdated.  File: prcs.info, Node: package and unpackage, Next: execute, Prev: config, Up: Subcommands Moving and Copying Projects =========================== Sometimes, it is desirable to package up and move or copy an entire PRCS project, rather than a single version of a project (discussed elsewhere in *Note Importing Project Versions::.) One can move an entire repository using the usual UNIX tools for copying, moving, distributing, and packaging directories. For individual projects, it is preferable to use the `package' and `unpackage' subcommands in order to insure that all of PRCS's internal structure is maintained. - Command: prcs package project packagedfile ADDITIONAL OPTIONS: `-z' Creates a plain file named PACKAGEDFILE, containing all the data in PROJECT. A value of `-' for PACKAGEDFILE denotes the standard output. With `-z', the output file is compressed (in gzip format). - Command: prcs unpackage packagedfile [project] Creates PROJECT in the repository to be a copy of the project from which PACKAGEDFILE was created. The file PACKAGEDFILE must have been created by `prcs package' (with or without the `-z' option). If PROJECT is omitted, it defaults to the name of the project from which PACKAGEDFILE was created. If PROJECT exists in the repository, the user is prompted to delete the old copy from the repository. A value of `-' for PACKAGEDFILE denotes the standard input. With `-n', it merely reports the name of the project that would be added. If PROJECT differs from the original name as stored in PACKAGEDFILE, the project is renamed. Renaming a project revises the history of the project; the result is as if the project had always been named PROJECT, with one exception: When checked out, project descriptor will have a comment inserted making note of the original project name.  File: prcs.info, Node: execute, Next: delete, Prev: package and unpackage, Up: Subcommands Prcs execute ============ - Command: prcs execute [option ...] [project [file-or-dir ...]] [-- command [arg ...]] ADDITIONAL OPTIONS: `-r', `-P', `--pre', `--all', `--pipe' `--match PATTERN', `--not PATTERN' Execute `COMMAND ARG ...,' suitably modified as described below, for the name of each file and directory in FILE-OR-DIR in the specified version, filtered by any `--match' and `--not' operators as described below. This elaborate command is intended to facilitate efficient, open-ended extension of the functions of PRCS. Each directory, whether or not explicitly named in the project, is included once, either in pre- or post-order. With the `--all' option, COMMAND is executed once. Otherwise, it is executed once per file name. The PATTERN options filter the selected files. To be selected, the entry in the Files attribute for a given file must satisfy the `--match' pattern (if any) and not satisfy the `--not' pattern, if any. Each pattern is a regular expression; an entry satisfies the pattern if either the name or any of the `:' options matches the pattern. For each execution of COMMAND, PRCS first replaces the following strings wherever they appear in COMMAND and in each ARG: `{}' Replaced by the name of the file. With the `--all' option, replaced by the sequence of all selected file names, separated by "unquoted blanks" (that is, blanks that divide the replacement string into separate arguments). `{options}' Replaced by a string consisting of all colon-options applicable to the file (*note Files attribute::), separated by "quoted blanks" (that is, blanks that do not divide the replacement string into separate arguments). If a directory is not explicitly named in the project file, it is listed with a `:implicit-directory' option, whether or not it appears separately in the Files attribute. These directories appear whether or not the files containing them were on the command line (otherwise, it would be impossible to get just the directories). The project file is included with the `:project-file' attribute. With the `--all' option, all of these colon-option strings are concatenated together, with the strings for different files separated by unquoted blanks. `{file}' The name of a file containing the contents of the appropriate version of the file. Unless the internal file identifier is null (which can only happen when there is no `-r' option, so that the working version is specified), this is the name of a temporary file containing a checked-out copy of the appropriate version, which is deleted after COMMAND completes. With a null internal file identifier, `{file}' is the same as `{}'. It is the empty string for a directory or a file carrying the `:symlink' option. With the `--all' option, all of these file names are concatenated together, separated by unquoted blanks. (In contexts where curly braces are special to your shell, you will have to escape them.) After these substitutions, PRCS invokes COMMAND, which must be an executable file. It looks for COMMAND in the same directories as the shell (using the PATH environment variable). When `--' and what follows are omitted, they default to -- /bin/echo {} which simply echoes the names of all files and directories in the selected version, one per line. One small glitch: `prcs execute' uses the current directory in effect when it is invoked as the current directory seen by COMMAND. This is true, even when the PROJECT operand specifies a subdirectory. For example, % cd /usr/users/foo % prcs execute D/P -- pwd will print `/usr/users/foo' once for each file listed in `/usr/users/foo/D/P.prj', and not `/usr/users/foo/D', as the general description of the PROJECT operand might otherwise suggest (*note Specifying Projects::). This allows you to do something like the following: % ln -s . P-1.0 % tar -cvf P-1.0.tar `prcs execute --not :.*directory P-1.0` for making tarfiles containing all files in a project in an appropriately named subdirectory for distribution. If the `--pipe' option is present, then the contents of the file (as would be contained in the file named by `{file}') is supplied as the standard input. The `--pipe' and `--all' options are incompatible. Any ARG whose replacement contains unquoted blanks (introduced by the `--all' option) is divided at those blanks into separate arguments (even in the case where substitution results in a null string, that null string will be broken out as a separate argument). Each of the resulting arguments, is passed directly to the program specified by COMMAND as a single string, with no further processing by any shell. With the `--all' option, PRCS will invoke COMMAND only once. The order of the lists of arguments replacing each pattern in COMMAND is consistent, so that, for example, the options for the first file name in the replacement for `{}' is the first string in the replacement for `{options}'. For example, if a project contains the files `A', `B/Q', and `B/R', then prcs execute --all . -- foo -a{}-b "{options}" will execute (in effect) the single command foo -aA B/Q B/R B-b "" "" "" ":directory" With the `--pre' (for pre-order) option the directory name is listed first, then the non-directory file names within that directory, then the subdirectories and their contents. Otherwise, subdirectories and their contents are listed first, then the names of its non-directory files, then the name of the directory itself. With `-n', the command prints the commands that will be executed without actually executing them.  File: prcs.info, Node: delete, Prev: execute, Up: Subcommands Deleting Project Versions ========================= - Command: prcs delete `-r' version project Delete the indicated version of PROJECT. It will no longer be possible to retrieve the given version. Therefore, this is a command that you should use very sparingly, if at all. Deleting a version does not necessarily release the space used by the files it contains, since these may be mentioned in other versions. At various times, PRCS will note what space can actually be released and do so. Minor version numbers increase monotonically, regardless of deletions, and are never re-used.  File: prcs.info, Node: Repository, Next: Descriptors, Prev: Subcommands, Up: Top Repository ********** The projects repository is a directory that stores the checked-in copies of some set of projects. You usually specify it to PRCS by setting the `PRCS_REPOSITORY' environment variable, or by using the `-R' (`--repository') option. It defaults to `$HOME/PRCS'. The precise contents of the repository--the relationship between the files that appear there and the abstract set of version contents presented by PRCS--is deliberately left undefined. You should not count on it being stable from release to release. Auxiliary Data -------------- To increase the speed of `checkin' and other subcommands, PRCS maintains redundant information, both in the repository and in working directories. Specifically, you may find files with names such as `.P.prcs_aux' in your working directory, which contain information that allow PRCS to make a quick, heuristic determination of which files you have modified from their repository versions. It is safe to remove (but not to modify) these auxiliary files.  File: prcs.info, Node: Descriptors, Next: Keywords, Prev: Repository, Up: Top Descriptors *********** A project-version descriptor is a file that defines the contents of the project. For project with name P, the project-version descriptor (or just `descriptor') is called `P.prj' and is kept at the root of the project directory tree. When you check in a project, the project descriptor indicates what files need to be included, which have keywords that need to be expanded, and from which previous versions of the those files (if any) the working files were derived. A `prcs checkin' then creates and checks in an updated descriptor file. The sections below detail the syntax of the project descriptor file and the standard attribute entries that may appear in it. * Menu: * Descriptor entry syntax:: * Project-Version attribute:: * Project-Description attribute:: * Version-Log and New-Version-Log attributes:: * Checkin-Time and Checkin-Login attributes:: * Files attribute:: * Populate-Ignore attribute:: * Merge-Parents attribute:: * Parent-Version attribute:: * Project-Keywords attribute::  File: prcs.info, Node: Descriptor entry syntax, Next: Project-Version attribute, Prev: Descriptors, Up: Descriptors Descriptor entry syntax ----------------------- The syntax of the project descriptor file is a slight variant on Lisp. It consists of `S-expressions' (this is the terminology established by Lisp, so we'll use it here). In general, an S-expression has one of the following forms LABEL STRING CONSTANT (S-EXPRS) Where `S-EXPRS' is (recursively) a sequence of 0 or more s-expressions, separated from each other by whitespace and optionally separated from the surrounding parentheses by whitespace (`whitespace' is any non-empty sequence of blanks, tabs, form feeds, and newlines). We've described the syntax of labels and string constants elsewhere (*note Definitions::). You may include comments in the descriptor; these consist of a semicolon (outside of a string) followed by all characters up to and not including the next newline or the end of the file. Comments have no effect on the behavior of PRCS and are copied from one version of a project descriptor to the next. The non-nested S-expressions that appear in a descriptor (those that aren't part of some larger expression) each start with an attribute name (a label). The valid attribute names are described in the following sections.  File: prcs.info, Node: Project-Version attribute, Next: Project-Description attribute, Prev: Descriptor entry syntax, Up: Descriptors Project-Version attribute ------------------------- - Attribute: Project-Version P M N This indicates that the descriptor is (or is modified from) the descriptor for version M.N of project P. M must be a valid major version name and N must be a valid minor version name (*note Version Names and Specifiers::). The `prcs checkin' command sets the Project-Version of the checked-in descriptor. *Note Version Names and Specifiers::.  File: prcs.info, Node: Project-Description attribute, Next: Version-Log and New-Version-Log attributes, Prev: Project-Version attribute, Up: Descriptors Project-Description attribute ----------------------------- - Attribute: Project-Description STRING-CONSTANT This attribute is intended to provide a title or short description of the project. By default, `prcs checkin' leaves it undisturbed. For example, (Project-Description "Sample PRCS Project")  File: prcs.info, Node: Version-Log and New-Version-Log attributes, Next: Checkin-Time and Checkin-Login attributes, Prev: Project-Description attribute, Up: Descriptors Version-Log and New-Version-Log attributes ------------------------------------------ - Attribute: Version-Log STRING-CONSTANT - Attribute: New-Version-Log STRING-CONSTANT The version log is stored with the descriptor of each version of a project. A `prcs checkin' initializes it from the New-Version-Log attribute, removing any existing Version-Log attribute, and setting the New-Version-Log to the empty string. The version log is intended to describe the changes made in this version from its predecessor, or to contain other comments about it. For example, (Version-Log "Added header.h") (New-Version-Log "Modified main.c")  File: prcs.info, Node: Checkin-Time and Checkin-Login attributes, Next: Files attribute, Prev: Version-Log and New-Version-Log attributes, Up: Descriptors Checkin-Time and Checkin-Login attributes ----------------------------------------- - Attribute: Checkin-Time TIME-SPECIFIER - Attribute: Checkin-Login LABEL These attributes record the login of the user performing the PRCS check-in that created this version and the time at which it was performed. They are set by `prcs checkin'. For example, (Checkin-Time "Sun, 12 Jun 1994 20:00:00 -0700") (Checkin-Login hilfingr)  File: prcs.info, Node: Files attribute, Next: Populate-Ignore attribute, Prev: Checkin-Time and Checkin-Login attributes, Up: Descriptors Files attribute --------------- - Attribute: Files (FILE1 (INTERNAL-FILE-ID1) OPTIONS1) ... Each of the 0 or more arguments of the Files attribute denotes one of the constituents of a version. The FILE arguments give the pathnames of files relative to some root directory. The INTERNAL-FILE-ID arguments contain information used by PRCS to identify versions of individual files. If F is one of the FILE arguments, then no component of F may be `.' or `..'. Unless one of the options listed for F is `:directory' (see below), no other FILE argument in the Files attribute may begin with `F/'. The precise format of an internal file identifier is not defined, and is subject to change whenever PRCS is revised. Two properties, however, are guaranteed: * If a particular internal file identifier describes a file in one project-version descriptor, it can be copied verbatim as the internal file identifier for a file (possibly with a different name) in another project-version descriptor for the same project in the same repository. It will denote a file with the same contents, aside possibly from the values of certain keywords (*note Keywords::). As a result, it is possible to copy an entire project version to another (with another version number) without checking out the files, simply by copying the Files attribute of the project-version descriptor. Likewise, if you wish to change the name of a file from one version to another, you should reflect the change in the working version of the project descriptor, keeping its internal file identifier unchanged. * Each non-null internal file identifier belongs to an "internal-file family". If a working file has a non-null internal file identifier, then a `prcs checkin' will assign it an internal file identifier (possibly unchanged from that of the working version) in the same internal-file family. If a working file has a null internal file identifier (`()'), `prcs checkin' will put it in a new internal-file family, otherwise unpopulated. Internal-file families are useful for certain kinds of version comparisons and merges. The OPTIONS arguments denote 0 or more labels indicating special properties of the file. At the moment, four are defined. `:no-keywords' indicates that keywords in the file are not to be expanded. `:symlink' indicates the file is a symbolic link, which will be recorded at checkin and reproduced at checkout. `:directory' indicates that the file is a directory, which will be created, if necessary, at checkout. This is useful for having empty directories in your project. `:tag=LABEL' records LABEL as a piece of user-defined information about the file. PRCS does not interpret LABEL; its main use is for filtering in the `prcs execute' subcommand (*note execute::). There may be any number of `:tag' options attached to a file. The project descriptor (`.prj' file) is not explicitly included in the Files attribute. Nevertheless, it is implicitly one of the files in each project version. For example, (Files (empty () :directory) ; an empty directory (pointer () :symlink) ; a symbolic link (realfile () :no-keywords) ; the only real file in the list )  File: prcs.info, Node: Populate-Ignore attribute, Next: Merge-Parents attribute, Prev: Files attribute, Up: Descriptors Populate-Ignore attribute ------------------------- - Attribute: Populate-Ignore (PATTERN1 ...) This attribute is used to inform `prcs populate' of files that it should not add to the Files list of the project descriptor. It is included as a convenience; you can accomplish the same effect by editing the Files list after running populate. Each of the PATTERN arguments is a regular expression (as used by `grep'). Any path name that `prcs populate' finds that matches one or more PATTERN arguments is not added to the Files list (existing names on the list are not affected). For example, the following filters out object (`.o') files, library archive (`.a') files, core files, files generated by TeX, Postscript (`.ps') files that occur in subdirectory `doc', Emacs backup files, and the executable file `a.out': (Populate-Ignore ("\\.o$" "\\.a$" "~$" "^a.out$" "^core$" "\\.dvi$" "\\.aux$" "\\.log" "^doc/.*\\.ps"))  File: prcs.info, Node: Merge-Parents attribute, Next: Parent-Version attribute, Prev: Populate-Ignore attribute, Up: Descriptors Merge-Parents attribute ----------------------- - Attribute: Merge-Parents (MERGED-AGAINST-VERSION EFFECTIVE-WORKING-VERSION COMPLETE (FILE-ACTION) ...) ... - Attribute: New-Merge-Parents (MERGED-AGAINST-VERSION EFFECTIVE-WORKING-VERSION COMPLETE (FILE-ACTION) ...) ... The `prcs merge' command uses the New-Merge-Parents attribute to record the history of updates to each file. Each MERGED-AGAINST-VERSION indicates a selected version that was merged into the working files, each EFFECTIVE-WORKING-VERSION indicates the effective working version used to select the common version, COMPLETE indicates whether the merge against MERGED-AGAINST-VERSION was completed, and each FILE-ACTION records what action (delete, add, replace, merge, no action) `merge' took for each file. This information is useful in preventing confusion when the user interrupts a merge operation and then re-executes the merge. The FILE-ACTIONS entries contain data recording each merge action that takes place. Since the filenames in each merge action need not be the same (*note Files attribute::), PRCS records each of up to three filenames for each merge action or an empty list (`()') where a file was not present. In addition, PRCS records which action was taken on each set of files. The `prcs checkin' command copies any New-Merge-Parents attribute in the working project descriptor into a Merge-Parents attribute in the new (checked-in) project descriptor. It discards any existing Merge-Parents attribute in the working file. Each merge-parent in a checked-in version is considered as a parent version. Similarly, each new-merge-parent in a working version is considered as a parent version (*note Parent-Version attribute::).  File: prcs.info, Node: Parent-Version attribute, Next: Project-Keywords attribute, Prev: Merge-Parents attribute, Up: Descriptors Parent-Version attribute ------------------------ This attribute, along with the Merge-Parents attribute described above, tracks the history of a project version: Parent-Version records the version from which a project version originally descended, and Merge-Parents records versions against which it was merged. - Attribute: Parent-Version P M N This has the same form as the Project-Version attribute (*note Project-Version attribute::), except that for an initial version (unrelated to any prior version), each of P, M, and N is `-*-'. The Parent-Version defines the "ancestors" of a version in the repository as follows: * A version is an ancestor of itself. * The Parent-Version attribute of a version names an ancestor of that version. * Each element in the Merge-Parent list names an ancestor of that version. * Ancestry is transitive: any ancestor of one of V's ancestors is also an ancestor of V. The number of Parent-Version or Merge-Parent entries that must be traversed to find an ancestor of V is called the "distance" of that ancestor from V. Given two versions in a repository, any version that is an ancestor to both is called a "common ancestor". A common ancestor whose distance from both is minimal is called a "nearest common ancestor". It is possible for there to be more than one nearest common ancestor. If so, commands attempting to determine the nearest common ancestor will either abort or ask the user for help. Each `prcs checkin' sets Parent-Version to name the Project-Version attribute of the version from which the newly checked-in version is derived. Additionally, it sets the New-Merge-Parents attribute to the Merge-Parents attribute.  File: prcs.info, Node: Project-Keywords attribute, Prev: Parent-Version attribute, Up: Descriptors Project-Keywords attribute -------------------------- - Attribute: Project-Keywords (KEYWORD VALUE) ... The Project-Keywords attributes allows the user to define new keywords and their values, which will behave exactly like the builtin keywords (*note Keywords::). Each KEYWORD must be unique and must not match one of the builtin keywords. All files contained in the project version described by a descriptor containing a Project-Keywords list will be keyed with each KEYWORD. Each VALUE is either a label or a string and may not contain a newline character. For example, you could include such project meta-data as state labels, release labels, and version numbers: (Project-Keywords (ReleaseMajorVersion 1) (ReleaseMinorVersion 1) (ReleaseMicroVersion 0) (ReleaseVersion "$ReleaseMajorVersion$.$ReleaseMinorVersion$.$ReleaseMicroVersion$")) (ProjectState "Release") (RealAuthor "Josh")) ; in case the login doesn't ; provide enough information.  File: prcs.info, Node: Keywords, Next: Subprojects, Prev: Descriptors, Up: Top Keywords ******** Files in a project may contain instances of keywords that (in effect) `prcs checkin' will replace with certain information. Conceptually, upon checkin, each keyword instance in every file of the project (not just those listed in the checkin subcommand) is updated as described below with the value of its keyword in the new project version. As a performance consideration, however, this is implemented in such a way that partial checkins only have to examine the files that are listed in the checkin subcommand (*note Keywords and File Identifiers::). There are two forms of keyword instance: simple and formatted. A simple keyword instance has one of the forms $KEYWORD$ $KEYWORD: DATA$ This syntax is strict: PRCS does not recognize a keyword when there is whitespace on either side (separating it from the dollar sign that precedes it or the dollar sign or colon that follows). There may not be newlines anywhere in the keyword instance. If the keyword is one that PRCS recognizes, other than `Format', `prcs checkin' replaces the instance with an instance of the second form, with the data part depending on the particular keyword. Formatted keyword instances allow a more flexible replacement format. * Menu: * Recognized Keywords:: Keywords that PRCS knows about, and their meanings * Recursive Keyword Replacement:: Keywords are replaced recursively * Formatted Keyword Instances:: How to get keyword replacement data inserted without the usual surroundings * Keywords and File Identifiers:: Subtle details about keyword replacement semantics.  File: prcs.info, Node: Recognized Keywords, Next: Recursive Keyword Replacement, Prev: Keywords, Up: Keywords Recognized Keywords =================== PRCS understands the following built-in keywords, in addition to any declared in the Project-Keywords attribute. Others are ignored (their instances are left unchanged). Instances of the Source and ProjectHeader keywords change whenever the file is moved from one directory to another within a project. Instances of Project, ProjectDate, ProjectAuthor, ProjectMajorVersion, ProjectMinorVersion, ProjectVersion, and ProjectHeader can change even when the file containing them does not, since they depend on the project, not the file. These keywords are known collectively as "project-related keywords". Author The login of the user who created this checked-in version of the file. Changes in a file due solely to project-related keyword replacement do not affect the value of this keyword. Date The date and time at which this version of the file was checked in. Changes in a file due solely to project-related keyword replacement do not affect the value of this keyword. Basename The base name of the file, as it appears in the Files attribute. Revision A notation that serves as a revision number for this file (it is independent of the project's version number, and changes only when the file changes). Changes in a file due solely to project-related keyword replacement do not affect the value of this keyword. Id A standard header combining the Basename, Revision, Date, and Author. Source The full name of the file, as a pathname relative to the root of the project's directory tree. Project The name of the project containing the file version. ProjectDate The date and time the project containing this file version was checked in. ProjectAuthor The login name of the user who checked in the project version containing this file version. ProjectMajorVersion The major version name of the project version containing this file version. ProjectMinorVersion The minor version name (a number) of the project version containing this file version. ProjectVersion The complete version designator for this project version. It has the form M.N, where M is the major project-version name and N is the minor project-version name. ProjectHeader A standard header combining the Project, ProjectVersion, ProjectDate, and ProjectAuthor.