Emacs Commands

The O'Reilly Learning GNU Emacs book has a good chapter on using version control in emacs.

In general, the VC (version control) commands are C-x v followed by one command character.

Be sure your CVSROOT environment variable is set correctly before starting emacs.

Sometimes emacs opens a cvs-controlled file in Read Only mode. Kai Wu figured out what's going on

Task Reference

Action	How to do it
Add a new file to the repository	Create the File. Save it C-x v i (this adds the file, but doesn't commit it) C-x v v Enter the "Initial Revision" comment C-c C-c
Revert a buffer to the last revision	C-x v u
See differences between buffer and last revision	C-x v =
See differences between two revisions	C-u C-x v = You'll be prompted for file, starting revision, and ending revision. Specify the revisions either by revision number or by label.
Retreive a given revision in another window	C-x v ~ You'll be prompted for a revision
See revision history	C-x v l (That's an "ell")
Label a tree	C-x v s You'll be prompted for a label name
Retreive file names from a labeled snapshot	C-x v r You'll be prompted for a label name. This checks out every registered file underneath the current directory, which might not be what you want to do.
Do a Bulk Check-in	C-x v d Mark files to be checked in. (like in DirEd, move the cursor to the name and type m) C-x v v Enter the revision comment. Note that this will put the same revision comment on all checked-in files, so be sure that the comment really applies to all of the files.

Keystroke Reference

Keystroke	What it does
C-x v i	Register a file for version control Bound to vc-register
C-x v v	Commits a modified file that's already been registered for version control. Use C-c C-c to save the revision comment and commit the change. Bound to vc-next-action
C-x v u	Revert a buffer to the last revision Bound to vc-revert-buffer
C-x v =	See differences between buffer and last revision. Bound to vc-diff
C-u C-x v =	See differences between two revisions of a file. You'll be prompted for file, starting revision, and ending revision. Specify the revision s either by revision number or by label. Bound to vc-diff
C-x v ~	Retreive a given revision in another window. You'll be prompted for the a revision Bound to vc-version-other-window
C-x v l	(that's an "ell") See revision history Bound to vc-print-log
C-x v s	Label a tree (a.k.a. Creating a snapshot) You'll be prompted for a label name Bound to vc-create-snapshot
C-x v r	Retreive file names from a labeled snapshot You'll be prompted for a label name. This checks out every registered file underneath the current directory, which might not be what you want to do. Bound to vc-retreive-snapshot
C-x v d	Bring up a dired-style directory listing Mark files for check-in by using m Actually check things in with C-x v v