From:	elf AT netcom DOT com (Marc Singer)
Subject:	Re: RCS port available?
To:	hogend AT nlr DOT nl (hogendoorn r.a.)
Date:	Sat, 28 Jan 1995 13:48:55 -0800 (PST)
Cc:	djgpp AT sun DOT soe DOT clarkson DOT edu (DJGPP List Alias)

> The subject says it all: is there a free RCS port available?

I have made a port of RCS to DJGPP.  About a month ago I sent a
message up to this list asking for interested users and I got quite a
few.  Here is an update.

My group has been using RCS for about two months on two large
projects.  I have written several PERL scripts that help bridge the
gap between the command interface and the everyday operation of source
control.  We have found three major problems.

The first will be fixed with 2.0 of DJGPP.  Because of the way that
signals are handled in 1.x, the existing code does not detect when the
user quits with ^C.  The temp files remain and cause some unplesant
confusion among the other users.  Someone must then go in, by hand,
and delete the bogus lock files from the log directory.

The second is more bothersome.  The speed of RCS is rather pathetic on
PCs due to the fact that all of the log files must be parsed often to
fuind out who has what checked out, what are the latest revisions,
and what files need to checked out in order to be in-sync.  My users
are good programmers as far as Windows is concerned, but they like to
see a pretty user interface with windows and icons.  I suppose we all
fall prey to this, one way or another.

The third problem is probably the most severe.  RCS is not really good
at helping users decide what files are out of date.  Often in Windows
projects, there are files that may not be modified to include
keywords, and therefore of unknown revision.  Though dates work
sometimes, this is not a reliable method without extreme caution wrt.
development machine configuration.

So, I must admit that RCS is a much better tool on Linux or other Un*x
OS that it is on DOS.  I will mail my patches to 5.601 to whomever
requests them, but I do not do so with enthusiasm.  I have many ideas
on how to make it better, but I have not the time to make it right.
The most likely approach would be to write a curses interface to RCS
and add a status file per user so that we can more easily manage
project status.

-- 
Marc Singer
elf AT netcom DOT com

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