1.3.5. Viewing Changes

Viewing the Status

To determine the current status of a working copy, change to the directory with the working copy and run the following command: 
cvs status
This displays detailed information about each file that is under revision control, including its current status (such as Up-to-date, Locally Added, Locally Removed, or Locally Modified) and revision. However, if you are only interested in what has changed in your working copy, you can simplify the output by typing the following at a shell prompt: 
cvs status 2>/dev/null | grep Status: | grep -v Up-to-date

Example 1.20. Viewing the status of a working copy

Imagine that the directory with your working copy of a CVS repository has the following contents: 
project]$ ls
AUTHORS  ChangeLog  CVS  doc  INSTALL  LICENSE  Makefile  README  src
With the exception of ChangeLog, which is scheduled for addition to the CVS repository, all files and directories within this directory are already under revision control. The TODO file, which is also under revision control, has been scheduled for removal and is no longer present in the working copy. Finally, Makefile contains local changes. To display the status of such a working copy, type: 
project]$ cvs status 2>/dev/null | grep Status: | grep -v Up-to-date
File: ChangeLog         Status: Locally Added
File: Makefile          Status: Locally Modified
File: no file TODO              Status: Locally Removed

Viewing Differences

To view differences between a working copy and the checked out content, change to the directory with the working copy and run the following command: 
cvs diff [file…]
This displays changes to all files in the working copy. If you are only interested in changes to a particular file, supply the file name on the command line.

Example 1.21. Viewing changes to a working copy

Imagine that the directory with your working copy of a CVS repository has the following contents: 
project]$ ls
AUTHORS  ChangeLog  CVS  doc  INSTALL  LICENSE  Makefile  README  src
All files in this directory are under revision control and Makefile contains local changes. To view these changes, type: 
project]$ cvs diff
cvs diff: Diffing .
cvs diff: ChangeLog is a new entry, no comparison available
Index: Makefile
===================================================================
RCS file: /home/john/cvs/project/Makefile,v
retrieving revision 1.1.1.1
diff -r1.1.1.1 Makefile
156c156
<       -rm -f $(MAN1)
---
>       -rm -f $(MAN1) $(MAN7)
cvs diff: TODO was removed, no comparison available
cvs diff: Diffing doc
...