RE: Showing diff in commit message editor

[Jim.Hyslop]

Cameron McCormack [mailto:address@hidden wrote:
> When I "cvs commit" I often forget exactly what I've changed in my
> files.  Is there a way to get cvs to display in the commit 
> message file,
> underneath the "modified files/added files/deleted files" comment, the
> diffs I am about to commit?
This is simply a matter of training yourself to perform all the necessary
steps, in the correct order. 

Except for the most trivial changes to files you *know* are up to date, the
commit procedure is not a single command, it is a sequence of commands that
cannot be automated, because of the thought processes required by the humans
at each step:

cvs update
Sanity check: rebuild if something was out of date
cvs diff: ensure that the changes are what you expected (for example, did
you remember to remove that debugging printf statement?)
cvs commit

Unfortunately, too many people skip the first three steps.

-- 
Jim Hyslop 
Senior Software Designer 
Leitch Technology International Inc. (<http://www.leitch.com/>) 
Columnist, C/C++ Users Journal (<http://www.cuj.com/experts>)