A CVS server is a tool for managing large, collaborative projects. The underlying Concurrent Versions System (CVS) operates in a way that is somewhat analogous to the way Microsoft Word allows you to track changes in a document. If you have ever worked on a project that has gone through multiple versions, revisions and adaptations, then you’ll have an idea of just how useful such a system can be.
Naturally, a CVS system is rather a lot more complicated and it allows you do a lot more than simply track changes in files and if the file repository is made available for a project is made remotely accessible on a CVS server, then it can do more still. When working on developing new software, each change can alter the performance of a program. One wrong bit of code and the whole thing can stop working, so it’s necessary to be able to undo changes.
The more complicated the program being developed, the more variable the application, the more the need to track successive versions over time becomes critical. In complex programs it can take a long time for bugs to develop. In ideal circumstances, most programs will perform relatively well, but the environment encountered on the computers of different users can vary considerably. A new program can encounter conflicts with other programs and system configurations, for example, and this will make previously unnoticed bugs apparent.
The idea of CVS is to provide a way to troubleshoot bugs as they develop and see the exact changes that caused them by keeping track of the historical development of a piece of software. The CVS system stores a master copy of the files and file structure of a given program. It then allows users to create working copies of the program in question so that it can be modified before being merged back with the original files. By operating this way, CVS is able to reconstruct the state of the developing program at any point in the production history.
The same task could be accomplished, effectively, by saving every successive version of a file, but this would be extremely inefficient in terms of the space required and, in the case of most advanced projects, virtually impossible. As soon as you have multiple developers working on the same project, the number of files you would have to archive becomes vast and implementing changes from various users would be an extremely complex process. By saving only the changes made to files, and recording the history of the changes, CVS streamlines the process.
By setting up a CVS server, which is to say a server that hosts the main file repository for a project, various developers can work together effectively on a collective project while making the undertaking manageable for the project leaders. Naturally, nothing can completely alleviate the logistical complexities of providing oversight to a large project, but CVS and a centralized file repository on a remotely accessible server can provide a critical advantage.
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