VChacks -- Tools for RCS and CVS

• cvs_chroot (Python)
  change the repository root of an existing CVS working directory without disturbing your working files
  (requires: Python 1.5.2)
• cvstatus (Perl)
  distill the essence of the "cvs status" command: just show the filename, status, and last-modified time. Basically a glorified "cvs status | grep '^File'".
  (requires: Perl 5 [5.004?])
• tag_release (Perl)
  given a working directory and a (presumably old) release tree, compares files in the release tree to progressively older revisions of the working files to find a match and assign a tag for the old release. Handy if you forget to run "cvs tag" (or "rcs -N") after making a release, but still want releases tagged!
  (requires: Perl 5, MNI Perl Library)
• check_release (Perl)
  check that all files listed in a MANIFEST file are politically correct according to RCS: checked in, unlocked, read-only, no outstanding diffs, etc. Pretty well obsoleted by CVS and its "status" command, even more so by my cvstatus script... but handy if you have projects still under RCS control.
  (requires: Perl 5, MNI Perl Library)
• rcstouch (Perl)
  change the last-modified time of a working file to match the checkin time (from "rlog" output)
  (requires: Perl 5)

Currently, the only way to get your hands on the VChacks is via CVS; the above links will get you the latest version of each script. Or visit the project CVS page for details. One of these days I'll get around to making a proper release of the package.

Note that several of the tools rely on a Perl library I developed when I worked at the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI), called appropriately enough the MNI Perl Library. While this is a handy set of tools for writing glorified shell scripts in Perl (which is what I did an awful lot of when I worked at the MNI), it's a fair chunk of code to require for these little tools -- so I plan on phasing out the dependencies on the MNI Perl Library over time. For now, though, if you really want to run check_release or tag_release, you'll need to download and install it. (Don't worry, it's pure Perl and installation is a snap.)