emacs vc support for subversion

emacs vc support for subversion

[Joakim Hove]

Hello,

I have (for the umpteenth time) determined that *now* is the time to
use a Version Control system. My previous (failed) attempts have been
based on CVS, this time I was planning to try out subversion. However
emacs support is essential - how is that subversion? [I am currently
running version 21.2 which does not seem to know of subversion, but I
can of course upgrade / install some lisp.]


Best Regards

Joakim


-- 
Joakim Hove
hove AT ift uib no
Tlf: +47 (55 5)8 27 90 
Fax: +47 (55 5)8 94 40
http://www.ift.uib.no/~hove/

Re: emacs vc support for subversion

[Damien Wyart]

* Joakim Hove <hove@ift.uib.no> in gnu.emacs.help:
> emacs support is essential - how is that subversion? [I am currently
> running version 21.2 which does not seem to know of subversion, but
> I can of course upgrade / install some lisp.]

You can have a look here :
http://www.xsteve.at/prg/vc_svn/index.html

-- 
DW

Re: emacs vc support for subversion

[Thien-Thi Nguyen]

Joakim Hove <hove@ift.uib.no> writes:

> My previous (failed) attempts have been
> based on CVS, this time I was planning
> to try out subversion.

this seems like a good way to compound problems.
i suggest easing into it rather than jumping in.
start w/ one file (under RCS), get the muscle
memory trained w/ the `C-x v ...' way of life,
then move to CVS or Subversion later.

disclaimer: i added support for `C-x v g' for RCS
in emacs 21.4 and am fishing for bug reports.

thi

Re: emacs vc support for subversion

[Thien-Thi Nguyen]

i wrote:

> disclaimer: i added support for `C-x v g' for RCS
> in emacs 21.4 and am fishing for bug reports.
           ^^^^

sorry, "21.4" is wrong.  i meant "in cvs".

thi

Re: emacs vc support for subversion

[Lee Sau Dan]

>>>>> "Thien-Thi" == Thien-Thi Nguyen <ttn@glug.org> writes:

    Thien-Thi> Joakim Hove <hove@ift.uib.no> writes:
    >> My previous (failed) attempts have been based on CVS, this time
    >> I was planning to try out subversion.

    Thien-Thi> this seems like a good way to compound problems.  i
    Thien-Thi> suggest easing into it rather than jumping in.  start
    Thien-Thi> w/ one file (under RCS), get the muscle memory trained
    Thien-Thi> w/ the `C-x v ...' way of life, then move to CVS or
    Thien-Thi> Subversion later.

No.  I don't agree.

Unless  you're going to  use 'vc'  only, I  don't think  your approach
would gain  much.  One would be  better off by  starting directly with
'pcscvs'  or  'psvn'.  C-x  v  C-h  would  give already  very  helpful
information about  the vc-command bindings that one  would need.  This
is because the buffer created by M-x cvs-examine or M-x svn-status are
quite different from the vc-rcs operations.  They're like using dir-ed
for file  operations vs.   using M-x make-directory,  M-x rename-file,
etc.



-- 
Lee Sau Dan                     李守敦                          ~{@nJX6X~}

E-mail: danlee@informatik.uni-freiburg.de
Home page: http://www.informatik.uni-freiburg.de/~danlee

Re: emacs vc support for subversion

[Thien-Thi Nguyen]

Lee Sau Dan <danlee@informatik.uni-freiburg.de> writes:

> Unless you're going to use 'vc' only, I don't think
> your approach would gain much.

it all depends on what you wish to gain (and what you
wish to lose).  [insert alan perlis blurb on insects,
here.]

thi

Re: emacs vc support for subversion

[Lee Sau Dan]

>>>>> "Joakim" == Joakim Hove <hove@ift.uib.no> writes:

    Joakim> I have (for the umpteenth time) determined that *now* is
    Joakim> the time to use a Version Control system. My previous
    Joakim> (failed) attempts have been based on CVS, 

Could you reveal why they failed?

Using plain 'vc' with CVS is not that convenient (although I did do it
from 1995  to 2000).  I had  to resort to 'xterm'  for many operations
relatively  frequently.   Until I  discovered  the "PCL-CVS"  package,
which  makes using CVS  from within  Emacs so  pleasant.  As  easy and
convenient as  using dir-ed  (vs. using the  command shell).   It's so
nice  that  starting from  Emacs  21.?   (can't  remember which  minor
version), PCL-CVS comes bundled with Emacs.


    Joakim> this time  I was planning  to try out  subversion. However
    Joakim> emacs support is essential - how is that subversion?

There is a 'psvn' package, which is the equivalent of PCL-CVS for svn.
It is as convenient and easy to use as PCL-CVS.  It still doesn't come
with standard Emacs, but you can find it on the web.  I can't remember
how I learnt to used 'psvn', but certainly I exploited my knowledge of
PCL-CVS  and could  very quickly  become comfortable  with  'psvn'.  I
think  I learnt  the  differences by  reading  the LISP  documentation
strings in psvn.el.  (The Info pages on PCL-CVS could be useful, too.)

I  didn't  download  the  psvn.el  myself.   The  Debian  package  for
subversion already  includes psvn.el and vc-svn.el.  The  latter is an
extension to (or a new backend for) vc.el, which makes vc support svn.
It  isn't needed if  you're only  using 'psvn'.   But 'vc-svn'  can be
handy when  you want to  do VC operations  (e.g. diff, revert  to last
checked-in version) on the file connected with the current buffer.


In  any case,  you  have to  be  familiar with  the CVS/SVN  concepts,
commands and  operations before PCL-CVS/psvn would make  sense to you.
Much  like you need  to understand  permissions when  you use  the "M"
command in  dired.  So, if you're  a beginner in svn,  you'd better go
through its  nice many and experiment  a bit with its  examples on the
command line  first.  As  you get familiar  with the commands  and the
usage pattern,  learning PCL-CVS/psvn would  be easy.  They  just make
"typing" those commands much easier and much more convenient.


-- 
Lee Sau Dan                     李守敦                          ~{@nJX6X~}

E-mail: danlee@informatik.uni-freiburg.de
Home page: http://www.informatik.uni-freiburg.de/~danlee