RE: Sharing files across directories

[Paul Sander]

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>> Is there a way to share a single source file across multiple 
>> directories in CVS, so that if it gets committed/merged in 
>> one directory the update registers in both locations?  I know 
>> that VSS has this concept, and was wondering if CVS offers 
>> any sort of similar functionality. I was thinking that 
>> perhaps this could be achieved with some symlink trickery on 
>> the server-side?

>Yeah, this is possible using "Ampersand modules". See 
>http://www.cvshome.org/docs/manual/cvs_18.html#SEC160

The ampersand module technique will only work if the shared file is the only
one in its parent directory.  Unfortunately, CVS has no way to map multiple
repository directories to a single workspace directory, and it has no way
to explicitly map version containers to files in the user's sandbox.  Because
the mapping is done explicitly by matching directories in the repository and
sandbox, you're limited in the kinds of sharing that you can perform.

Creating symlinks in the repository to manipulate source code sharing on a
file-by-file basis won't work because the first time an RCS file is updated
via the link a second RCS file is created that replaces the link.

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