Re: How to get list of tags?

[Larry Jones]

A.R. writes:
> 
> On Wed, 23 May 2001, Derek R. Price wrote:
> > 
> > Sticky tags are only relevant to the repository.
> 
> My experience if different.  Suppose I check out a release with some tag,
> and it happens to be a sticky tag.  Now I make bugfixes, and want to check
> in my changes.  I am not allowed to do that!  You can only do that if your
> working directory is on the stem or on a branch.  So I must know the
> status of the tag before I use it to check out some version of the
> project.

I think Derek meant to say that sticky tags are only relevant to the
working directory.  It's how you use the tag that makes it sticky, not
some property of the tag itself.

> Interesting, the CVS we are using at the office only produces what looks
> like a month a day - which drives me mad since the project has been going
> on for a few years.
> So what do I do to get to see the year too in the output?
> - is that a novelty introduced sometime in the not-too-distant past?

It was new in CVS 1.11.  I strongly suggest upgrading to the latest
release (1.11.1p1), which you can find at www.cvshome.org.

> - is it a configurable option?

No.

> - When doing a 'cvs history -a -T', I see numerous tag events using the
> same tag name.  Is that common, or have my predecessors been making a real
> mess?  How can the same tag name be used multiple times, how can CVS keep
> track ? I certainly can't.

There are lots of ways that can happen.  Most obviously, you can use the
same tag name in different modules.  You can also move a tag from one
revision to another.  Whether those create messes or not is up to you.

> - Recently I applied a sticky tag to some old branch release that I had
> checked out.  However, it does not appear among the tag events with the
> `cvs history -a -T` command.

History only records rtag commands, it does not record tag commands. 
(It's not entirely clear why that decision was made, but it's worth
noting that tag operates on files whereas rtag operates on modules.)

-Larry Jones

What a waste to be going to school on a morning like this. -- Calvin