## Beginning To Use jCVS

This document assumes that the user is familiar with CVS. Documenting the use of CVS is beyond the scope of this document, but you can refer to need reference to CVS docs for more information.

We assume here that you have successfully unpackaged the jCVS package, have started the jCVS application, and are looking at the jCVS main window.

### Important Considerations

### Path Names

Those users who are running jCVS under a UNIX implementation of Java may skip this paragraph, as it does not apply to UNIX pathnames. For Windows and Macintosh (as well as other non-unix implementations), the user must be aware of pathnames and their use.

Under Windows, a pathname is typically entered as follows:

`C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\FileName.c`
Note that the drive letter is prepended with a colon, and that directories in the path are separated by back slashes. When typing in pathnames for jCVS, the user should always use forward slashes to separate pathnames. Thus, the example given should be entered as follows:
`C:/WINDOWS/TEMP/FileName.c`

Under Macintosh, a pathname is typically entered as follows:

`Drive:Dir:SubDir:Filename.c`
Note that the drive name is not prepended with any character, and that directories in the path are separated by colons. When typing in pathnames for jCVS, the user should always use forward slashes to separate pathnames. Thus, the example given should be entered as follows:
`Drive/Dir/SubDir/Filename.c`

Note, that most CVS Server implementations are case sensitive when it comes to file names. This implies that if the 'case' of file names or path names becomes out of sync, you will experience a number of errors. In practice, this is rarely an issue, since most case is preserved during jCVS usage. If you experience a problem, which you believe to be related to case, please report the problem immediately so I can resolve these issues.

Finally, please note that CVS Directories and pathnames (not local pathnames) are always entered using UNIX pathname syntax. This means that when you enter a 'Module Name' or a 'CVS Repository' pathname or a 'CVS Root Directory', you will never enter a 'drive letter' (e.g., you will never enter 'C:' in front of a pathname). Furthermore, you will always use forward slashes to separate directories in the path.

### Checking Out Your First Project

Please note that when I refer to a 'project', this is equivalent to the concept of a 'module' in CVS. Lets start with the most obvious task. You have a CVS repository on a remote host and wish to check out the sources into a local working directory. jCVS is capable of dealing with existing working directories which were checked out by the cvs command line client. If you find any cases where jCVS does not correctly inter-operate with the command line client, please report this bug. Assume the following, and use the information in checkout dialog fields.

- CVS Server Hostname: cvscentral.somehost.com
- CVS Repository: /devo/cvs
- CVS Module: ourproject
- Local Directory: C:/devo/src

NOTE the use of forward slashes in the Local Directory, and the drive letter.

Begin by selecting the "Checkout..." command in the File menu in the jCVS main window. This will display the project checkout dialog asking for the above information. Fill in the appropriate fields with the information that appropriately describe your project's location. The local directory is the directory in which the contents of the repository will be placed. This pathname should not include the actual working directory name, since a working directory with the same name as the module name will be created for you in the local directory that you specify.

Making the connection is one of the most common stumbling blocks to using jCVS. The Connection Jones page will give you some details on the settings you will see in all of the dialogs that actually cause a request to be sent to the server. Also refer to section 4.6 of the cvs manual for more general information.

Most users of jCVS will be connecting to a password based cvs server. This is the 'Direct connection with password authentication' method described in section 4.6.2 in the cvs manual, and is also refered to as a 'pserver' connection. If you are connecting in this fashion, check the "Pserver" checkbox, and fill in the UserName and Password fields. The 'Use Password' checkbox will be checked for you automatically.

The other most common means of connecting to a cvs server is via the 'rsh' protocol. This protocol is intended to allow one computer to invoke a remote process on another computer. In this case, we use it to invoke the cvs server. This is the 'Connecting with rsh' method described in section 4.6.1 in the cvs manual, and is also refered to as a 'server' connection. If you are connecting in this fashion, check the 'Server' checkbox, and fill in the UserName field.

Projects remember how they were connected to the cvs server, and will query you for a password, if needed, everytime that you open the project.

Note, a new folder with the same name as the repository will be created in the local root directory, then the repository contents placed in this directory. Thus, the local root directory you specify does not need to include the module name, it will be added on for you.

Click OK. You will be presented with an empty, project window, and should see the status of the checkout displayed in the small area at the bottom of the window. The cursor will change to an hourglass (or the equivalent). The directory 'C:\devo\src\ourproject' will be created and populated with the results of the checkout. Finally, the jCVS project window will list the newly checkled-out contents of the repository.

If there is an error, you should be presented with a dialog box to the affect, and the error will be reported on stderr.

You now have a local working directory of 'ourproject', and can begin your work.

The first thing you may wish to do is to add the new project to the list of projects that can be selected from in the main window. You accomplish this with the Add To Project List menu command in the File menu. After adding the project to the list, you can open the project by selecting it from the list and clicking the Open button, or by selecting the project from the Projects menu.

### Common Problems

If something went wrong, refer to the common problems page to see if your problem is addressed there.

### More Documentation

Since the user manual is currently incomplete, I recommend that you investigate the annotated main window, the annotated project window, and the annotated menus (undone) documents for a quick overview of the application's features. While this is not a complete feature description, it will point you at most of the features, which are typically intuitive for experienced cvs users.

### Setting Up The 'Open File' Command

For information on setting up jCVS to be able to open files for edit directly from jCVS, refer to setting up the 'edit' command in jCVS. This will allow you to double click on a filename in jCVS and have the file opened in your favorite editor.

### Release Notes

Finally, there are the infamous release notes for true entertainment value.

$Id: Beginning.html,v 2.3 1997/04/25 04:14:19 time Exp $
Copyright (c) 1997 By Timothy Gerard Endres
jCVS is licensed to you under the GNU General Public License.