11. Removing files from a module

Modules change. New files are added, and old files disappear. Still, you want to be able to retrieve an exact copy of old releases of the module.

Here is what you can do to remove a file from a module, but remain able to retrieve old revisions:

Make sure that you have not made any uncommitted modifications to the file. See Viewing differences, for one way to do that. You can also use the status or update command. If you remove the file without committing your changes, you will of course not be able to retrieve the file as it was immediately before you deleted it.
Remove the file from your working copy of the module. You can for instance use rm.
Use `cvs remove filename' to tell cvs that you really want to delete the file.
Use `cvs commit filename' to actually perform the removal of the file from the repository.

What happens when you commit the removal of the file is that inside the source repository, it is moved into a subdirectory called Attic. cvs normally doesn't look in that directory when you run e.g. checkout. However, if you are retrieving a certain revision via e.g. `cvs checkout -r some-tag', it will look at the files inside the Attic and include any files that contain the specified tag.

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