Overview Of Differences Between Obtaining
Source Code And Materials Using TAR.GZ Distributions Versus Anonymous CVS Access
This web page describes the differences between the two methods to obtain all
the source code and other materials for the ESRG products:
- Anonymous CVS Access: obtain the latest source code directly
from the CVS archives.
- Overview
- Use CVS (a version control system) to obtain all source files and
other materials from the project CVS archives.
- Works on both Windows® and Unix systems.
- Advantages
- CVS will automatically adjust line endings for text files to the
appropriate type for the system (Windows® vs. Unix).
- The very latest source code is available.
- Disadvantages
- The source code and other materials obtained may not correspond to
any specific release of the ESRG products.
- The source code and other materials may be developmental or on the
"bleeding edge" (they may not function reliably, or may
not even compile).
- Packaged TAR.GZ Files: download and use the .TAR.GZ file
packaged with each release of the ESRG products.
- Advantages
- .TAR.GZ files can be processed by both *nix systems (using tar
and/or gzip) and by Windows® systems (using WinZip
or 7-Zip).
- Represent the source code and other materials used for a specific
release.
- Will definitely compile.
- Disadvantages
- Line endings are not automatically adjusted. The line
endings for text files will be consistent with Windows®
conventions.
- There is a subtle difference between the way that the Windows®
products are produced and the way that the source materials are
packaged in a TAR.GZ file. This difference has never led to
problems, but in principle it could.
- The Windows® products are produced by using CVS on a Windows
system and checking out the necessary materials. Line
endings of text files are adjusted automatically by the
Windows® version of CVS.
- The TAR.GZ distributions are produced on a Unix system.
The unix2dos utility is used to convert line endings for
a Windows® system.
- This means that, in principle, the text files used to produce
the Windows® distributions could be different than what appears
in the TAR.GZ distribution (if, for example, unix2dos
contained a bug or processed the last line in a file differently
than CVS). This is not seen as a realistic mechanism for a
bug, but one should be aware of this.
This
web page is maintained by David
T. Ashley.
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