CVS Independent Mode

Making Changes [Developer]

Note: Before making any changes to a file, make sure you have allocated the task to yourself in trac.

1. Ensure that your local copy of the repository is up to date by typing cvs update or, since that can take a while, that the copy of the file you are going to work on is up to date by typing cvs update filename
2. Look in c:\freebmd\UKGEN-FreeBMD for the file you want to work on and make the necessary changes.

Note: Use a plain text editor for editing HTML files, as a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor can mess up the code. View HTML files in both Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator if possible before upload.

Committing the Changes

1. Type cvs commit filename to make your changes into the repository. CVS creates the next revision number of the file.
2. CVS goes quiet for a moment while it compares the list of files on your computer with those on the server, and then it automatically opens up Notepad showing a list of changed files.
3. At the top of Notepad you will see the cursor. Type in a short comment here to describe the changes to the file(s) (put a newline at the end of your comment - all lines starting with CVS are ignored). Click on File - Save and close Notepad
4. When Notepad closes, CVS automatically sends your edited files to the server. At the same time, an e-mail is generated and sent to everyone on the mailing list telling them what has been changed.

Note: There is an alternative to using Notepad when committing in step one. Replace the command shown with cvs commit -m "message" filename where message is the description you would have typed into Notepad.

Testing the Changes

1. Log on to the Development server. You will see a list of files, including the file you have changed, preceded by a letter 'u' to indicate the file has been uploaded.
2. Test HTML and CGI changes on the Test site. The test site looks and acts like the FreeBMD site. You can navigate through the site and test how your changes look and behave.
3. Once you are happy with your testing, go to trac and change the task status in trac to "Ready for Test" and assign it to the person who originally requested it.

Tip Put the development server, the test site and trac login into your 'Favourites' folder. You can then move from one to the other easily.

Requesting Transfer to Production [Developer]

1. When the requester is satisfied with the changes, you will receive an e-mail notification that the task has been assigned back to you as "Tested OK"
2. You now have to 'tag' the changed file. Make sure you're in the folder/directory which holds the file. Tag each changed file by typing cvs tag T1234 filename
• Replace T1234 with the TID from trac preceded by T
• Replace filename with the name of the file.
3. Add a followup to the task in trac, listing which modules have been changed, list any restrictions about when the module must go live (e.g. "To go live after next DB update") and assign it to Dave Mayall in status "Ready to Deploy".
4. The process is complete when Dave puts the changes live.

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