:: MacCVSClient :: FAQ
  How does MacCVSClient lock files?
 

It doesn't!

There is no locking. CVS is conceptually based on a non-locking copy-merge paradigm.

The only thing locking in some CVS clients does is this: it tries to make you (or rather other team members) aware of when you edit a file. It locks the files so you have to unlock them before editing. If all users behave well consistenty and use the cvs edit and cvs unedit commands (in conjunction with cvs watch on and cvs watch off), they can convey to team members that they are about to edit a file or have finished working on it.

This can help team communication. Nothing more. It can help. But it is not a safe means of knowing exactly what's going on.

After all you can change read only state outside CVS, right? At the moment MacCVSClient does not support cvs edit, cvs unedit, and cvs watch. I hope that is not a problem. If it is, please let me know.

Again, to clarify: CVS functions 100% fine without any locking done on the client side.

Rev. 1.7 Copyright © 2000-2004 Jörg Bullmann