Using CVS for CM under Eclipse, you have loaded the repository to your local hard drive and are in the process of changing several classes, while others on your team have been busy changing other classes. How do you tell Eclipse from time to time, "update my hard drive with all classes that have been changed (and checked in) since I last refreshed, except the ones I have changed (and not yet checked in)?" Seems like such a basic necessity, and there seem to be many commands in the menu that might do that, but they are all unintuitive and, imho, very poorly documented. Is it "Synchronize?" Is it "Update?" Is it "Merge?"
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Thanks, I think the "Update" option is most likely what I want. Followup question: I assume if I have selected the top level of the hierachy when I choose Team->Update from the context menu, it will apply the "Update" to all classes below that point? Secondly, please confirm that this would not overwrite classes I had changed, in the event someone else had changed the same class and already checked it back in? Is the system smart enough not to wipe out my changes?
1) Yes, the update will apply to all the items underneath the node from which the Team-->Update was invoked.
2) The update will not overwrite changes that you have made.
To expand on #2 a bit, if someone has commited changes to a file which you've also made modifications to, CVS will attempt to automatically merge in your changes. If CVS is not able to merge the two sets of changes, the file will be marked as a "conflict" and you will have to manually merge the changes you've made with the revision currently in the repository.
Not to worry though, because the Eclipse CVS support of conflicts is outstanding. First, any files with conflicts are visually indicated in the Synchronize view's tree with a special red icon (I don't remember exactly what that icon looks like off the top of my head, but it's very distinctive.) So you'll know right away if you've got any conflicts. And the emblem-marking traverses all the way up the tree hierarchy, from the conflicting file's node up to the project root.
Second, double-clicking on a file marked as a conflict will bring up a Comparison editor which has the two set of changes side-by-side, with the ability to navigate between the areas of conflict. This makes manual editing of conflicts a pretty simple matter. (Another case where commit-early, commit-often comes in handy by reducing the possibility for conflicts.)
~~~K
I wouldn't use Update if I were you.. The auto-merge functionality (included with Update) is in effect changing your source without your permission. I would stick to Synchronize.. you don't have to synchronize outgoing changes (commits), and it won't merge your changes on inbound changes.
At some point when you commit, you will need to do an update so that you can merge changes and deal with conflicts if any.
-Matt
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by: kitrickPosted on 2005-08-22 at 13:31:54ID: 14728265
To do a synchronization (and assuming you're in the Java perspective), in either the Navigator or Package Explorer views you can right-click on the project's top-level node and select Team-->Synchronize with Repository. This will invoke the synchronization of CVS & take you to the Team Synchronizing Perspective. From within the Synchronizing perspective you can get the latest updates from your peers, as well as check-in the changes you've made, via context-menu in the left-hand panel (the Synchronization view).
If you'd like the synchronization to be done automatically in the background while you're working, the Schedule menu item in the Synchronization view's menu (which is invoked by the menu button at the top right-hand corner of the Synchronize view) allows you to set how often you'd like the synchronization to occur. (To be honest with you, I've never used the automatic-synchronization feature because I have a "commit early, commit often" policy when I work, and therefore manually synchronize quite often.)
If you simply want to get the changes your colleagues have made, use the same means as described above to bring up the context-menu from within the Java perspective, but select Team-->Update instead.
Hope this helps.
~~~ K