Revision Control System
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Revision Control System (RCS) is a software implementation of revision control that automates the storing, retrieval, logging, identification, and merging of revisions. RCS is useful for text that is revised frequently, for example programs, documentation, procedural graphics, papers, and form letters. RCS is also capable of handling binary files, though with reduced efficiency and efficacy. Revisions are stored with the aid of the diff utility.
RCS was initially developed in the 1980s by Walter F. Tichy while he was at Purdue University. It is now part of the GNU Project but is still maintained by Purdue University.
Because it operates only on single files, has no way of working with an entire project, nor allows multiple users to work on a file simultaneously, it has been superseded by CVS and other packages capable of supporting more complex projects, for such tasks. In single-user scenarios, such as server configuration files or automation scripts, it may still be the preferred revision control tool as it's simple and no daemon needs to run for it to work. CVS was originally built upon RCS.
Many wiki engines, including TWiki, use RCS for storing page revisions.
[edit] Reference
- Walter F. Tichy: RCS--A System for Version Control. In: Software--Practice and Experience. July 1985. Volume 15. Number 7. Pages 637-654. References to the paper at CiteSeer
[edit] External links
- RCS at Purdue
- RCS at GNU
- : RCS file management program – OpenBSD Manual
