RCS revert to previous version

RCS revert to previous version

[Chris]

If I am working on, say 1.7 of a document using RCS, what is the easiest 
way to revert to a specific version, say 1.4 as an example?

Re: RCS revert to previous version

[Colin Marquardt]

Chris <chrisl_ak@hotmail.com> writes:

> If I am working on, say 1.7 of a document using RCS, what is the easiest 
> way to revert to a specific version, say 1.4 as an example?

In my GNU Emacs 21.2, it's in 

Tools | Version Control | Show other version 

aka C-x v ~ aka M-x vc-version-other-window.

HTH,
  Colin

Re: RCS revert to previous version

[Chris]

on 11 Oct 2002, Colin Marquardt <c.marquardt@alcatel.de> spake thusly:

> Chris <chrisl_ak@hotmail.com> writes:
> 
>> If I am working on, say 1.7 of a document using RCS, what is the
>> easiest way to revert to a specific version, say 1.4 as an example?
> 
> In my GNU Emacs 21.2, it's in 
> 
> Tools | Version Control | Show other version 
> 
> aka C-x v ~ aka M-x vc-version-other-window.

Right... but my question is how to make that the current version... do I 
have to delete the entirety of my current working file and copy and paste 
from the older version window? I can't just check the older version in and 
have it become the latest. I was hoping there was a more efficient way than 
copy and paste...

Re: RCS revert to previous version

[Jhair Tocancipa Triana]

Chris  writes:

   > Right... but my question is how to make that the current
   > version... do I have to delete the entirety of my current working
   > file and copy and paste from the older version window? I can't
   > just check the older version in and have it become the latest. I
   > was hoping there was a more efficient way than copy and paste...

Is this, what you need?

,----[ C-h k C-x v u ]
| C-x v u runs the command vc-revert-buffer
|    which is an interactive autoloaded Lisp function in `vc'.
| [Arg list not available until function definition is loaded.]
| 
| Revert the current buffer's file back to the version it was based on.
| This asks for confirmation if the buffer contents are not identical
| to that version.  This function does not automatically pick up newer
| changes found in the master file; use C-u C-x v v to do so.
`----

Regards,

-- 
--Jhair

Public Key fingerprint = 81FF 3ADF BF6B CECB C593  4018 27AE D7D2 BAA6 00D0

Re: RCS revert to previous version

[Chris]

on 11 Oct 2002, Jhair Tocancipa Triana <jhair_tocancipa@gmx.net> spake 
thusly:

> Chris  writes:
> 
>   > Right... but my question is how to make that the current
>   > version... do I have to delete the entirety of my current working
>   > file and copy and paste from the older version window? I can't
>   > just check the older version in and have it become the latest. I
>   > was hoping there was a more efficient way than copy and paste...
> 
> Is this, what you need?
> 
> ,----[ C-h k C-x v u ]
>| C-x v u runs the command vc-revert-buffer
>|    which is an interactive autoloaded Lisp function in `vc'.
>| [Arg list not available until function definition is loaded.]
>| 
>| Revert the current buffer's file back to the version it was based on.
>| This asks for confirmation if the buffer contents are not identical
>| to that version.  This function does not automatically pick up newer
>| changes found in the master file; use C-u C-x v v to do so.

Well, this command reverts the current buffer back to the state when it 
was last checked out. Which can be handy, but is not what I am looking 
for. Let me take another stab at explaining. I have a document that has 
gone through these changes (numbers are version numbers):

1.5
Bob went to school

1.6 
Mary went home

1.7
John went to the market

1.8
Chris discovers emacs (and then fire)


I open the document (1.8) and discover that I need to go back to version 
1.6. How best to do this? I can open 1.6 up using the show-other-version 
command, but then I have to select everything in the old display document 
and paste it "over" the new document. It just seemed to me there must be 
a better way of going back more than one revision.

Maybe I am just missing something really stupid... or maybe this is just 
not needed very often. But the ability to revert back more than one 
version seems very useful to me.

Re: RCS revert to previous version

[MH]

On Sat, 12 Oct 2002, Chris wrote:

> Well, this command reverts the current buffer back to the state when
> it was last checked out. Which can be handy, but is not what I am
> looking for. Let me take another stab at explaining. I have a
> document that has gone through these changes (numbers are version
> numbers):
> 
> 1.5
> Bob went to school
> 
> 1.6 
> Mary went home
> 
> 1.7
> John went to the market
> 
> 1.8
> Chris discovers emacs (and then fire)
> 
> 
> I open the document (1.8) and discover that I need to go back to
> version 1.6. How best to do this? I can open 1.6 up using the
> show-other-version command, but then I have to select everything in
> the old display document and paste it "over" the new document. It
> just seemed to me there must be a better way of going back more than
> one revision.
> 
> Maybe I am just missing something really stupid... or maybe this is
> just not needed very often. But the ability to revert back more than
> one version seems very useful to me.

- 
vc-diff 

vc-merge ...

ediff-revision

see "Version Control" in the emacs info entry and ediff, of course
-- 

Re: RCS revert to previous version

[Jhair Tocancipa Triana]

Chris  writes:

   > Well, this command reverts the current buffer back to the state
   > when it was last checked out. Which can be handy, but is not what
   > I am looking for. 

   > I open the document (1.8) and discover that I need to go back to
   > version 1.6. How best to do this? I can open 1.6 up using the
   > show-other-version command, but then I have to select everything
   > in the old display document and paste it "over" the new
   > document. It just seemed to me there must be a better way of
   > going back more than one revision.

Why do  you need  to copy/paste  the old display  document in  the new
document? 

You  can just  do  a C-x  C-w to  save  the checked  out version  (say
document.txt.~1.6~) with the name of the document (i.e., document.txt).

Regards,

-- 
--Jhair

Public Key fingerprint = 81FF 3ADF BF6B CECB C593  4018 27AE D7D2 BAA6 00D0

Re: RCS revert to previous version

[Chris]

on 12 Oct 2002, Jhair Tocancipa Triana <jhair_tocancipa@gmx.net> spake 
thusly:

> You  can just  do  a C-x  C-w to  save  the checked  out version  (say
> document.txt.~1.6~) with the name of the document (i.e., document.txt).

Aye, sometimes the simplest solutions escape me. I was looking all over for 
a command, but this is perhaps the simplest way possible. Thanks.

Re: RCS revert to previous version

[Stefan Monnier <foo@acm.com>]

>>>>> "Chris" == Chris  <chrisl_ak@hotmail.com> writes:
> If I am working on, say 1.7 of a document using RCS, what is the easiest 
> way to revert to a specific version, say 1.4 as an example?

What do you mean by "revert" ?
In your example, when you say you want to revert to 1.6, which
of the following options do you mean:
- you simply want the content of the file to be the same as the
  one in version 1.6 (and it will be committed as 1.9 if you ever
  commit it, at which point 1.6 and 1.9 would be the same)
- you really want to get back to the time when 1.6 was the latest
  and simply discard 1.7 and 1.8 (i.e. after reverting to 1.6, modifying
  the file and committing it, it'd be committed as 1.7).
- you want to go back to the time of 1.6 but without discarding
  1.7 and 1.8, such that after modifying the file, it will be committed
  as 1.6.1.1 (i.e. first version on a new branch named 1.6.1).
- yet something else.

As you can see, things aren't as simple as they seem.


        Stefan

Re: RCS revert to previous version

[Chris]

on 12 Oct 2002, "Stefan Monnier <foo@acm.com>"
<monnier+gnu.emacs.help/news/@flint.cs.yale.edu> spake thusly: 

>>>>>> "Chris" == Chris  <chrisl_ak@hotmail.com> writes:
>> If I am working on, say 1.7 of a document using RCS, what is the
>> easiest way to revert to a specific version, say 1.4 as an example?
> 
> What do you mean by "revert" ?
> In your example, when you say you want to revert to 1.6, which
> of the following options do you mean:
> - you simply want the content of the file to be the same as the
>   one in version 1.6 (and it will be committed as 1.9 if you ever
>   commit it, at which point 1.6 and 1.9 would be the same)
> - you really want to get back to the time when 1.6 was the latest
>   and simply discard 1.7 and 1.8 (i.e. after reverting to 1.6,
>   modifying the file and committing it, it'd be committed as 1.7).
> - you want to go back to the time of 1.6 but without discarding
>   1.7 and 1.8, such that after modifying the file, it will be
>   committed as 1.6.1.1 (i.e. first version on a new branch named
>   1.6.1). 
> - yet something else.

I want to "revert" as in "go back" to a previous version. Discarding all 
changes in between. I don't care what the new revision number is when I 
check the document back in. I care about the content. Most of your other 
scenarios don't match any meaning of the word "revert" that I am aware of, 
but hopefully this makes it clearer. I want to be able to say "oops, this 
is all wrong, let's go back three versions and begin again."

Re: RCS revert to previous version

[Stefan Monnier <foo@acm.com>]

>>> If I am working on, say 1.7 of a document using RCS, what is the
>>> easiest way to revert to a specific version, say 1.4 as an example?
>> 
>> What do you mean by "revert" ?
>> In your example, when you say you want to revert to 1.6, which
>> of the following options do you mean:
>> - you simply want the content of the file to be the same as the
>> one in version 1.6 (and it will be committed as 1.9 if you ever
>> commit it, at which point 1.6 and 1.9 would be the same)
>> - you really want to get back to the time when 1.6 was the latest
>> and simply discard 1.7 and 1.8 (i.e. after reverting to 1.6,
>> modifying the file and committing it, it'd be committed as 1.7).
>> - you want to go back to the time of 1.6 but without discarding
>> 1.7 and 1.8, such that after modifying the file, it will be
>> committed as 1.6.1.1 (i.e. first version on a new branch named
>> 1.6.1). 
>> - yet something else.

> I want to "revert" as in "go back" to a previous version. Discarding all 
> changes in between. I don't care what the new revision number is when I 
> check the document back in. I care about the content. Most of your other 
> scenarios don't match any meaning of the word "revert" that I am aware of, 
> but hopefully this makes it clearer. I want to be able to say "oops, this 
> is all wrong, let's go back three versions and begin again."

All three scenarios are the same as far as the file's content is concerned.
The difference is in the history information kept in the RCS file itself.


        Stefan

Re: RCS revert to previous version

[Chris]

on 13 Oct 2002, "Stefan Monnier <foo@acm.com>"
<monnier+gnu.emacs.help/news/@flint.cs.yale.edu> spake thusly: 

>>>> If I am working on, say 1.7 of a document using RCS, what is the
>>>> easiest way to revert to a specific version, say 1.4 as an example?
>>> 
>>> What do you mean by "revert" ?
>>> In your example, when you say you want to revert to 1.6, which
>>> of the following options do you mean:
>>> - you simply want the content of the file to be the same as the
>>> one in version 1.6 (and it will be committed as 1.9 if you ever
>>> commit it, at which point 1.6 and 1.9 would be the same)
>>> - you really want to get back to the time when 1.6 was the latest
>>> and simply discard 1.7 and 1.8 (i.e. after reverting to 1.6,
>>> modifying the file and committing it, it'd be committed as 1.7).
>>> - you want to go back to the time of 1.6 but without discarding
>>> 1.7 and 1.8, such that after modifying the file, it will be
>>> committed as 1.6.1.1 (i.e. first version on a new branch named
>>> 1.6.1). 
>>> - yet something else.
> 
>> I want to "revert" as in "go back" to a previous version. Discarding
>> all changes in between. I don't care what the new revision number is
>> when I check the document back in. I care about the content. Most of
>> your other scenarios don't match any meaning of the word "revert"
>> that I am aware of, but hopefully this makes it clearer. I want to be
>> able to say "oops, this is all wrong, let's go back three versions
>> and begin again." 
> 
> All three scenarios are the same as far as the file's content is
> concerned. The difference is in the history information kept in the
> RCS file itself. 

Fine. And since I am going back and starting over, I don't care about the 
version numbers or the comments for versions that have been discarded and 
are unrecoverable... so either having those entries disappear entirely 
and going back to the next available version number (i.e. I revert to 1.4 
and the next checkin makes it 1.5) OR whatever needs to be done (i.e. if 
I have to keep at version 1.8 for the next checkin despite 1.5-1.7 no 
longer existing) would be fine. Unless there is some recoverable text 
(which in this case there would not be) then I am not really interested 
in retaining history information about that unrecoverable text :)

Re: RCS revert to previous version

[Lee Sau Dan]

>>>>> "Chris" == Chris  <chrisl_ak@hotmail.com> writes:

    Chris> I want to "revert" as in "go back" to a previous
    Chris> version. Discarding all changes in between. I don't care
    Chris> what the new revision number is when I check the document
    Chris> back in. I care about the content. Most of your other
    Chris> scenarios don't match any meaning of the word "revert" that
    Chris> I am aware of, but hopefully this makes it clearer. I want
    Chris> to be able to say "oops, this is all wrong, let's go back
    Chris> three versions and begin again."

The  'rcs' command  has  a '-o'  option  that may  do  what you  want.
WARNING: this may result in PERMANENT loss of the deleted versions!


-- 
Lee Sau Dan                     李守敦(Big5)                    ~{@nJX6X~}(HZ) 

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