This book is a recipe-based approach to using the CVS Version Control system that will get you up and running quickly--and correctly. All projects need version control: it's a foundational piece of any project's infrastructure. Yet half of all project teams in the U.S. don't use any version control at all. Many others don't use it well, and end up experiencing time-consuming problems.

Version Control, done well, is your "undo" button for the project: nothing is final, and mistakes are easily rolled back. With version control, you'll never again lose a good idea because someone overwrote your file edits. You can always find out easily who made what changes to the source code--and why. Version control is a project-wide time machine. Dial in a date and see exactly what the entire project looked like yesterday, last Tuesday, or even last year.

This book describes a practical, easy-to-follow way of using CVS, the most commonly used version control system in the world (and it's available for free). Instead of presenting the grand Theory of Version Control and describing every possible option (whether you'd ever use it or not), this book focuses on the practical application of CVS. It builds a set of examples of use that parallel the life of typical projects, showing you how to adopt and then enhance your pragmatic use of CVS.

With this book, you can:

• Keep project all assets (not just source code) safe, and never run the risk of losing a great idea
• Know how to undo bad decisions--no matter when they were made
• Learn how to share code safely, and work in parallel for maximum efficiency
• See how to avoid costly code freezes
• Manage 3rd party code