GRASS in CVS now: version control system established

[Markus Neteler]

Dear GRASS community,

good news for developers, contributors and users interested
in getting latest GRASS versions with reduced download traffic:
GRASS is in CVS (Concurrent Versions System) now!

Since December 1999 we have established and tested this system.

What's CVS?

       CVS is a version control system, which allows you to  keep
       current and old versions of files (source code), keep a 
       changes history of who, when, and why changes occurred, etc.
       It allows parallel development for several people at the
       same time (and any time as it works online!). So CVS helps 
       to manage releases and  to control the concurrent editing of 
       source files among multiple  authors.
       CVS keeps a single copy of the master sources.  This  copy
       is  called  the source `repository''; it contains all the
       information  to  permit   extracting   previous   software
       releases  at  any time based on either a symbolic revision
       tag, or a date in the past.

       Anyone can access the CVS server in read-only mode via an anonymous
       login using your locally installed CVS software. Additionally
       a "web-cvs" interface is provided (in case you just want to browse 
       for a particular file and perhaps see its history).

       CVS also reduces individual workload as it takes care for tracking
       list of changes etc. If a developer changes a file, he/she will
       directly upload it to the CVS repository (after checking
       functionality of course!). Then anyone accessing the CVS can
       download the updated version. Development is much more transparent.

Will you still provide the common packages?
       Of course! We will provide binary and source code packages
       as usual. The source code will a CVS snapshot now.

When shall I use CVS:
       - if you want to contribute and want to provide always latest
         versions. All contributions are "accumulated" in the CVS repository
       - if you want to get the recent version of GRASS regularly. Using
         CVS only the changes not yet on your computer are downloaded
         automatically. The CVS software compares the remote CVS tree
         with your local version and downloads only missing changes
         to reduce traffic

What is required:
       - you need the CVS software of course (if using Linux it might
         be included in your distribution)
       - access to the CVS server
       - download the entire tree once, later only changes are downloaded

I want write access!
       If you want to actively contribute source code you will get a CVS
       full-access. Please contact me (Markus Neteler 
       <neteler at geog.uni-hannover.de>) for details.
       Anyone has read access.

                        [Some text phrases were taken from the cvs man page]

Where to find further information?

     http://www.geog.uni-hannover.de/grass/grasscvs.html

     The CVS service is provided by Intevation GmbH, Germany. Many
     thanks to you! From above page you will be directed to all
     information required to start "cvs-ing" directly.

Kind regards

 Markus Neteler