Applying RCS and SCCS: From Source Control to Project Control (Nutshell Handbook) (Paperback)

~ (Author), Tan Bronson (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Applying RCS and SCCS tells you how to manage a complex software development project using RCS and SCCS. The book tells you much more than how to use each command; it's organized in terms of increasingly complex management problems, from simple source management, to managing multiple releases, to coordinating teams of developers on a project involving many files and more than one target platform. Few developers use RCS or SCCS alone; most groups have written their own extensions for working with multiperson, multiplatform, multifile, multirelease projects. Part of this book, therefore, discusses how to design your own tools on top of RCS or SCCS, both covering issues related to "front-ending" in general, and by describing TCCS, one such set of tools (available via FTP). This book also provides an overview of CVS, SPMS, and other project management environments.

From the Publisher

Applying RCS and SCCS tells you how to manage a complex software development project using RCS and SCCS. The book tells you much more than how to use each command; it's organized in terms of increasingly complex management problems, from simple source management, to managing multiple releases, to coordinating teams of developers on a project involving many files and more than one target platform. Few developers use RCS or SCCS alone; most groups have written their own extensions for working with multiperson, multiplatform, multifile, multirelease projects. Part of this book, therefore, discusses how to design your own tools on top of RCS or SCCS, both covering issues related to "front-ending" in general, and by describing TCCS, one such set of tools (available via FTP). This book also provides an overview of CVS, SPMS, and other project management environments.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 1st edition (March 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565921178
• ISBN-13: 978-1565921177
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,526,134 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Beware: TCCS is half vaporware, March 29, 1999

By A Customer

A good general coverage of RCS and SCCS. However, more than half the book is devoted to a project control system called TCCS. Nowhere in the book does it indicate that TCCS is only an alpha version right now and that several of the features described in the book are not available yet!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Outdated book, September 25, 2001

By A Customer

This book is far too outdated to be worth of bying. The
version control software RCS is very simple to use,
because you only have to

1) create directory RCS/
2) put file into version control with "ci -u -m message file"
3) get file from version control with "co file"

The Gnu RCS is at version 5.7 and hasn't changes nearly
a decade, so that Manual pages that come with RCS are
very sufficient to learn the version control features.

The books writing is clear and the illustrated pictures
are all as they should be to someone new to version
control. The first 172 pages are what you need, but the
rest of the book, 330 pages (up till page 500) contain
documentation on nearly non-extinct software of SCCS
(Mostly found from basic Sun installations) and
software TCSS, which has never really been used
anywhere. The book devotes lot of pages to TCSS:
information that will never going to use, since there
is no TCCS in today's verison control world.

I suggest that you you print the RCS manual pages (they
are short) and spend your money on bying a CVS book
instead. CVS is more powerful and widely used free
version control client/server software.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Save Your Money, March 2, 2000

By	Jason Neil Rudolph (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

The first half of this book is great for someone who has NEVER worked with any Version Control System (VCS) before or someone who is brand new to Source Code Management (SCM). It gives you the generic description of each segment of SCM, and then follows that with an explanation of how that segment is implemented in RCS and SCCS. Well, if you have EVER worked with any VCS before, you could simply read the man pages or check the web for all the information you'd need to get started with RCS. (I haven't used SCCS, so I won't comment on that portion of the book.)

The second half of the book explains TCCS, the authors' solution to extending RCS to Project Management. They suggest many approaches that I personally consider absurd. I've worked with many VCS tools and am currently in the process of implementing a Project Management system for a large IS corporation (500+ developers)...and plan on using few (if any) of the authors' suggestions for applying RCS.

In a nutshell, save your money, check the web, and good luck...