6. Multiple developers

When more than one person works on a software project things often get complicated. Often, two people try to edit the same file simultaneously. Some other version control systems (including rcs and sccs) try to solve that particular problem by introducing file locking, so that only one person can edit each file at a time. Unfortunately, file locking can be very counter-productive. If two persons want to edit different parts of a file, there may be no reason to prevent either of them from doing so.

cvs does not use file locking. Instead, it allows many people to edit their own working copy of a file simultaneously. The first person that commits his changes has no automatic way of knowing that another has started to edit it. Others will get an error message when they try to commit the file. They must then use cvs commands to bring their working copy up to date with the repository revision. This process is almost automatic, and explained in this chapter.

There are many ways to organize a team of developers. cvs does not try to enforce a certain organization. It is a tool that can be used in several ways. It is often useful to inform the group of commits you have done. cvs has several ways of automating that process. See Informing others. See Revision management, for more tips on how to use cvs.

6. Multiple developers

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