Revision System Control

The general term revision control system indicates a software which manages multiple revisions of only one unit of information, usually a Document containing Source code. One calls that a Management system of versions.

The software Revision Control System ( RCS ) is an establishment of such a system: it automates the arrangement, the recall, the identification, and the fusion of the revisions. RCS is useful for text which must be frequently revised, for example the source code of a Logiciel, documentation, procedures, models of letter or files of configuration. RCS is also able to manage binary files. The revisions are arranged using the utility Diff.

RCS was initially developed by Walter F. Tichy whereas it was with the Université Purdue. It forms now part of the project GNU, but its maintenance always depends on the university of Purdue.

Because it operates on a single file, it is not really adapted to large projects, but it makes it possible multiple users simultaneously to work on a file. It was replaced by CVS more adapted to large projects. CVS in the beginning was built on RCS.

RCS is used by TWiki, itself written in Perl.

External bonds

the complete French HOWTO of RCS
RCS on the site of Purdue
RCS on the site of GNU

References

Walter F. Tichy: RCS--In System for Version Control . In: Software--Practice and Experiment . July 1985. Volume 15. Number 7. Pages 637-654. Refer to the paper At CiteSeer

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