RE: CVS list files in repository which are currently in checked out status

Hi Rupa,

> I thought any user can lock files as we do in Subversion 
> (I am familiar with Subversion but I had kind of a query for 
> CVS from a team which needed me to be clear on this)

Subversion does not provide support for a reserved versioning model, as explained in the svnbook for SVN 1.5:
http://svnbook.red-bean.com/en/1.5/svn-book.html#svn.advanced.locking

"users to break each other's locks over the network. To do this, Sally simply needs to pass the --force to the svn unlock command"

If any user can unlock any file then the lock is purely advisory, or rather: not a lock at all but a watch (actually the Subversion programmers clearly used the CVSNT 'co-operative lock' mechanism as a template for implementing their lock, not the 'reserved' lock mechanism).  

Ie: subversion behaves just like CVS, which is understandable because their design goal was to rewrite CVS. 

ie: svn lock is equivalent (in business function) to cvs edit, it ADVISES other people that you are working on the file.

CVS, SVN, Git etc do not support workflows with a requirement for reserved edits.  If you have a real business reason that requires a SCCM process that in turn requires reserved edits then try a tool that does support it, like CVSNT (Free/GPL just like CVS) or ClearCase.

Note: CVS does have a 'lock' command - but it is administrative, not part of the non-privileged user workflow.

Regards,


Arthur Barrett