VCS/SaVeS version 0.12
======================

NEW FEATURES

- Revision numbers go oldest to newest
- Added -r<rev> to svs diff
- Eliminated RCS branching (a good thing)
- Implemented 'svs delete' command
- Fixed many bugs
- Updated doc

INTRO

SaVeS(tm) is the "Standalone Versioning System". It is a single user,
easy to use, yet powerful Version Control System (VCS) tool. It has most
of the features of other VCSs like CVS, but is completely contained
within whatever filesystem directory you are using it in.

This distribution installs the SaVeS software. It consists of some Perl
modules, and a couple of bin scripts. The software is primarily intended
to be used as a command line tool.

  modules:
    - VCS::SaVeS - Placeholder for future VCS::* backend support
    - VCS::SaVeS::Config - Support for 'svs config' functionality XXX
    - VCS::SaVeS::Help - Support for the 'svs help' command
    - VCS::SaVeS::SVS - Support for the 'svs' program

  scripts:
    - svs - Primary SaVeS interface program
    - saves - A shortcut for backing up a directory all at once

USAGE

After installation, type 'svs help' at the command line. This will give you
more information on how to use the system.

QUICK GUIDE

saves                     # backup the entire contents of the current directory
svs import file-list      # create a new repository (possibly from archive)
svs save file-list        # save revisions of files
svs restore file-or-list  # restore file(s) to a specific revision
svs status file-list      # show current status of files
svs history file          # show revision history for a specific file
svs manifest              # list or modify the repository manifest
                          # (the manifest is the list of active files)
svs add file-list         # add file to the manifest
svs remove file-list      # remove files from the manifest
svs diff file-list        # show the difference between two revisions
svs help [command]        # get additonal help
svs delete file-list      # delete revision history of files
svs break                 # set a breakpoint in a directory
svs merge directory       # merge a repository in a subdirectory into current
svs archive file-list     # create an archive of files
svs find regexp-pattern   # find active files matching a pattern

INSTALLATION

To install this module type the following:

    perl Makefile.PL
    make
    make install

The above will install programs into your Perl library tree, and your
Perl binary (bin) directory. If you do not have write access to these
directories, you can install SaVeS locally in your home directory.

The easiest way to do this is to pass the following flags to Makefile.PL:

    perl Makefile.PL INSTALLSCRIPT=~/bin INSTALLSITELIB=~/perl/lib \
         INSTALLSITEMAN1DIR=~/perl/man INSTALLSITEMAN3DIR=~/perl/man
    make install

The make sure '~/bin' is in your path.

DEPENDENCIES

The SaVeS software currently requires these other programs and modules:

   RCS (Revision Control System)
     - bin/rcs
     - bin/co
     - bin/ci
     - bin/rlog
     - bin/rcsdiff

   UNIX
     - cat
     - sh
     - xargs

   YAML-0.35

RATIONALE

Why invent yet another VCS?

Saving and restoring revisions should be really easy to do. It shouldn't
require much thinking, and it shouldn't ever get in your way. It should
be completely reliable, yet completely disposable.

SaVeS is my attempt at making simple things simple. No client-server. No
network required. No main repository. Available on demand. Just type
'saves', and everything is backed up. It works the way I like to work.
And when it doesn't, I'll fix it to do so.

SaVeS isn't meant to be a replacement for CVS. (The SaVeS source code is
stored in Perforce, for example.) It's merely a lightweight alternative
that can very easily be used in conjunction with other VCSs.

If you find SaVeS useful, drop me a line at ingy@cpan.org.

BUGS

Should work in most normal Unixish environments. Probably won't work
elsewhere. Windows users will probably need a healthy Cygwin install.

Only the basic commands have been implemented, and only in the most basic
fashion. This is an alpha release. To see proposed commands that are not
implemented, look for XXX in 'svs help commands'.

COPYRIGHT

Copyright (c) 2002 Brian Ingerson. All rights reserved.

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the same terms as Perl itself.