Re: How to delete file in RCS

[Dario Niedermann]

Il 05/11/2021 alle 16:15, Sam Lee ha scritto:

[...]
> I have a few concerns:
>
> - How do I deal with files that are not normally listed in makefiles? 
>  For example, some projects have README, LICENSE, and CHANGELOG files 
>  that are not normally listed in the Makefile. It seems a bit "forced" 
>  if one has to include these files in the Makefile just for RCS.

They *should* be in the Makefile, namely in the recipe that makes your 
software's distribution tarball.

> - Isn't this excessively dependent on the Makefile? The entire history 
>  of the project relies on the Makefile as a central reference for what 
>  files are present at a given time. Furthermore, not all projects use 
>  `make`, especially those written in other programming languages such 
>  as Java or Python.

Having it all depend on the Makefile is actually a terrific feature, IMO.

Of course, the Makefile must be versioned too. So you only need to 
check out the revision of the Makefile for the desired version of your 
software:

        $ co -r1_0_RELEASE Makefile

Assuming GNU Make, revision 1_0_RELEASE of your Makefile must include 
that symbolic name in the $(COFLAGS) as every needed file will be 
checked out by `make` passing those flags to `co`. Example:

        COFLAGS=-r1_0_RELEASE

See also `info make`. `rcsfreeze` will help assign symbolic names.

I'm less competent on systems that don't use `make`, but I should 
think they also use some form of automation for creating the final 
product. That's where I would look for automating the check out as well.

--
Dario Niedermann   -:-   finger my email address for PGP key, etc.

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