changing directory structure in cvs (was Unpackaging Utility library)

From: Darin Adler (darin_at_[hidden])
Date: 2000-10-11 13:00:04

on 10/11/00 10:17 AM, Thomas Matelich at sosedada_at_[hidden] wrote:

> Beman Dawes wrote:
> 
>> Changing the directory structure is messier because of CVS.  Does CVS
>> support some notion of moving files from one directory to another?  I'll
>> try to figure that out, but if any CVS experts know the best way to do
>> that, please let me know.  I guess the plan ought to be announced ahead of
>> time or it might be pretty confusing to anyone happening to be updating or
>> committing at the same time files are being moved.
> 
> Absolutely impossible (unless you can get in to the server, and move things
> around manually, and then force everyone to do a new checkout because their
> updates will break.  Note, this officially has undefined behavior)

We routinely move files in cvs.gnome.org by doing this:

    1) On the cvs server, copy the repository file from one place to another
in the repository directory. This results in two files that both have
identical history.
    2) Use "cvs rm" on the file in the unwanted location.

This has worked quite well for us, but of course it can't be done with cvs
commands alone.

The alternative is to simply remove the files in one place and add them in
another. The new file has no history.

    -- Darin