Applying RCS and SCCS: From Source Control to Project Control

Applying RCS and SCCS tells you how to manage a complex software development project using RCS and SCCS. The book tells you much more than how to use each command; it's organized in terms of increasingly complex management problems, from simple source management, to managing multiple releases, to coordinating teams of developers on a project involving many files and more than one target platform.

Few developers use RCS or SCCS alone; most groups have written their own extensions for working with multiperson, multiplatform, multifile, multirelease projects. Part of this book, therefore, discusses how to design your own tools on top of RCS or SCCS, both covering issues related to "front-ending" in general, and by describing TCCS, one such set of tools (available via FTP). This book also provides an overview of CVS, SPMS, and other project management environments.

Applying RCS and SCCS tells readers how to manage complex software development projects using RCS and SCCS. It covers the main features of RCS and SCCS, and includes an overview of CVS, SPMS, and other source and project management environments. Features quick references for RCS and SCCS, and implements notes for those who need to work with them quickly.

Now there's a book that gives you some help managing your project's source files. Applying RCS and SCCS is a thorough introduction to the two most popular source control systems under UNIX. The authors of this book take you from basic source control of a single file, through working with multiple releases of a software project, to coordinating teams of developers on a project involving many files and more than one target platform. The authors go well beyond lists of commands and command options: they help you define the problem you're really trying to solve, and then they show you how to solve it. This book also presents TCCS, a representative "front-end" to RCS and SCCS that addresses problems RCS and SCCS can't handle alone, such as managing groups of files, developing for multiple platforms, and linking public and private development areas. If you're a programmer or a software project manager, this book should be required reading.

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An introduction to two popular source control systems under UNIX, covering basic source control of a single file through working with multiple releases of a software project and coordinating teams of developers on a project involving many files and target platforms. Also covers project administration, using work areas, and TCCS, a representative front-end to RCS and SCCS. Includes eight reference appendices. For programmers and software project managers. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Don Bolinger is a software engineer in the Research Institute of the Open Software Foundation, where he works with the Mach microkernel and serverized UNIX systems. He has labored on, in, and under various UNIX-like environments for around 15 years. His first exposure to project control came long ago via an m4-based front-end to make, which demonstrated how easy and useful (not to say necessary) it is to write such extensions under UNIX. Subsequent work on many other tools taught him the value of discipline and a healthy respect for prior art, both of which he hopes this book manages to pass along. Don got his B.A. in English from Yale University, and finds natural languages just as engaging as the programming kind. He enjoys French history, culture, and wine (not necessarily in that order).

Tan Bronson is currently director of software engineering at Hill Arts & Entertain ment, in Guilford, Connnecticut, where he works on providing ticketing to the performing arts and related industries. Tan's been working on or around UNIX systems since his exposure to Version 6 UNIX 15 years ago. On Version 6 UNIX he started writing drivers, and over the years worked his way "up to" applications. His first exposure to source code control was a homebrew system that built software that was cross-compiled on a Vax for a 68010 UNIX box, and ran on the same Vax. It quickly grew to a more "general purpose" collection of tools. Over the years he's tried to take advantage of all the good ideas he's encountered building and controlling projects, and help other people have better control over the software project they need to release and maintain. Tan got his B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Maine at Orono, and spends his spare time with his family and working on a variety of home construction projects. (Unfortunately, RCS doesn't apply to these!)