aedb(1)
NAME
aegis develop begin - begin development of a change
SYNOPSIS
aegis -Develop_Begin change-number [ option... ]
aegis -Develop_Begin -List [ option... ]
aegis -Develop_Begin -Help
DESCRIPTION
The aegis -Develop_Begin command is used to commence development of a
change.
The development directory for the change will be created
automatically; below the directory specified in the default_
development_directory field of aeuconf(5), or if not set below the
directory specified in the default_development_directory field of
aepattr(5), or if not set below the current user's home directory. It
is rare to need to know the exact pathname of the development
directory, as the aecd(1) command can take you there at any time.
Successful execution of this command will move the specified change
from the awaiting development state to the being developed state.
boxwid = 1 down S1: box "awaiting" "development" arrow " develop"
ljust " begin" ljust S2: box "being" "developed" T1: spline -> from
S2.w then left 0.75 then up 11/12 then to 1/3<S1.sw,S1.nw> "
develop" ljust " begin" ljust " undo" ljust at T1.c - (0.75,0)
Notification
The develop_begin_command in the project configuration file (see
aepconf(5) for more information) will be run, if specified. This is
run after the aegis locks are released, so additional aegis commands
may be run from here, if used with care. The symbolic links (see
below) have not yet been created.
Development Directory Location
Please Note: Aegis also consults the underlying file system, to
determine its notion of maximum file size. Where the file system's
maximum file size is less than maximum_filename_length, the filesystem
wins. This can happen, for example, when you are using the Linux
UMSDOS file system, or when you have an NFS mounted an ancient V7
filesystem. Setting maximum_filename_length to 255 in these cases
does not alter the fact that the underlying file systems limits are
far smaller (12 and 14, respectively).
If your development directories (or your whole project) is on
filesystems with filename limitations, or a portion of the
heterogeneous builds take place in such an environment, it helps to
tell Aegis what they are (using the project config file's fields) so
that you don't run into the situation where the project builds on the
more permissive environments, but fails with mysterious errors in the
more limited environments.
If your development directories are routinely on a Linux UMSDOS
filesystem, you would probably be better off setting
dos_filename_required = true, and also changing the
development_directory_template field. Heterogeneous development with
various Windows environments may also require this.
ADMINISTRATOR OVERRIDE
It is possible for project administrators to use the -User option to
force a developer to start developing a change. Some sites prefer to
work this way. Note that developers still have the ability to use the
aedbu(1) command.
Warning: capricious use of this command will rapidly alienate
developers. The defaulting rules, particularly for the change number,
depend on aegis and the developer agreeing on what the developer is
currently working on.
The forced_develop_begin_notify_command project attribute (see
aepattr(5) for more information) will be run when an administrator
uses the -User option, in an attempt to minimize the surprises for
developers. A suitable command is
forced_develop_begin_notify_command =
"$datadir/db_forced.sh $p $c $developer";
This command will send e-mail to the developer, informing her that the
change has been assigned to her.
SYMBOLIC LINKS
Many dependency maintenance tools, and indeed some compilers, have
little or no support for include file search paths, and thus for the
concept of the two-level directory hierarchy employed by Aegis. (It
becomes multi-level when Aegis' branching functionality is used.) To
allow these tools to be used, Aegis provides the ability to maintain a
set of symbolic links between the development directory of a change
and the baseline of a project, so it appears to these tools that all
of the project's files are present in the development directory.
Project Configuration
The development_directory_style field of the project configuration
file controls the appearance of the development directory. See
aepconf(5) for more information.
By using a setting such as
development_directory_style =
{
source_file_symlink = true;
during_build_only = true;
};
the user never sees the symbolic links, because they are added purely
for the benefit of the dependency maintenance tool during the
execution of the aeb(1) command.
By using a setting such as
development_directory_style =
{
source_file_symlink = true;
};
(the other will default to false) the symbolic links will be created
at develop begin time (see aedb(1) for more information) and also
maintained by each aeb(1) invocation. Note that the symbolic links
are only maintained at these times, so project integrations during the
course of editing change sourec files may leave the symbolic links in
an inconsistent state until the next build.
When files are copied from the baseline into a change, using the
aecp(1) command, the symbolic link pointing into the baseline, if any,
will be removed before the file is copied.
Note: Using this functionality in either form has implications for how
the rules file of the dependency maintenance tool is written. Rules
must remove their targets before creating them (usually with an rm -f
command) if you use any of the link sub-fields (both hard links and
symbolic links). This is to avoid attempting to write the result on
the symbolic link, which will point at a read-only file in the project
baseline. This is similar to the same requirement for using the
link_integration_directory field of the project configuration file.
User Configuration
There is a symbolic_link_preference field in the user configuration
file (see aeuconf(5) for more information). This controls whether
aeb(1) will verify the symbolic links before the build (default) or
whether it will assume they are up-to-date. (This field is only
relevant if development_directory__style.source_file_symlink is true.)
For medium-to-large projects, verifying the symbolic links can take as
long as the build itself. Assuming the symbolic links are up-to-date
can be a large time-saving for these projects. It may be advisable to
review your choice of DMT in such a situation.
The aedb(1) command does not consult this preference. Thus, in most
situations, the symbolic links will be up-to-date when the build is
performed. The only Aegis function which may result in the symbolic
links becoming out-of-date is the integration of another change, as
this may alter the presence or absence of files in the baseline. In
this situation, the default aeb(1) action is to ignore the user
preference and the verify symbolic links.
There are two command line options which modify aeb(1) behavior
further: the -Verify-Symbolic-Links option says to verify the symbolic
links; and the -Assume-Symbolic-Links option says to assume the
symbolic links are up-to-date. In each case the option over-rides the
default and the user preference.
It is possible to obtain behaviour similar to Tom Lord'a Arch by using
a setting such as:
development_directory_style =
{
source_file_link = true;
source_file_symlink = true;
};
It is possible to obtain behaviour similar to CVS by using a setting
such as:
development_directory_style =
{
source_file_copy = true;
};
There are many more possible configurations of the development_
directory_style, usually with helpful build side-effects. See
aepconf(1) and the Depenedency Maintenance Tool chapter of the User
Guide for more information.
The symbolic link command line options and preferences apply equally
to hard links and file copies (the names have historical origins).
OPTIONS
The following options are understood:
-Change number
This option may be used to specify a particular change within
a project. See aegis(1) for a complete description of this
option.
-DIRectory path
This option may be used to specify which directory is to be
used. It is an error if the current user does not have
appropriate permissions to create the directory path given.
This must be an absolute path.
Caution: If you are using an automounter do not use `pwd` to
make an absolute path, it usually gives the wrong answer.
-Help
This option may be used to obtain more information about how
to use the aegis program.
-List
This option may be used to obtain a list of suitable subjects
for this command. The list may be more general than expected.
-Project name
This option may be used to select the project of interest.
When no -Project option is specified, the AEGIS_PROJECT
environment variable is consulted. If that does not exist,
the user's $HOME/.aegisrc file is examined for a default
project field (see aeuconf(5) for more information). If that
does not exist, when the user is only working on changes
within a single project, the project name defaults to that
project. Otherwise, it is an error.
-REAson text
This option may be used to attach a comment to the change
history generated by this command. You will need to use
quotes to insulate the spaces from the shell.
-TERse
This option may be used to cause listings to produce the bare
minimum of information. It is usually useful for shell
scripts.
-User name
This option is used to specify the user who is to develop the
change. This option may only be used by a project
administrator.
-Verbose
This option may be used to cause aegis to produce more output.
By default aegis only produces output on errors. When used
with the -List option this option causes column headings to be
added.
-Wait This option may be used to require Aegis commands to wait for
access locks, if they cannot be obtained immediately.
Defaults to the user's lock_wait_preference if not specified,
see aeuconf(5) for more information.
-No_Wait
This option may be used to require Aegis commands to emit a
fatal error if access locks cannot be obtained immediately.
Defaults to the user's lock_wait_preference if not specified,
see aeuconf(5) for more information.
See also aegis(1) for options common to all aegis commands.
All options may be abbreviated; the abbreviation is documented as the
upper case letters, all lower case letters and underscores (_) are
optional. You must use consecutive sequences of optional letters.
All options are case insensitive, you may type them in upper case or
lower case or a combination of both, case is not important.
For example: the arguments "-project, "-PROJ" and "-p" are all
interpreted to mean the -Project option. The argument "-prj" will not
be understood, because consecutive optional characters were not
supplied.
Options and other command line arguments may be mixed arbitrarily on
the command line, after the function selectors.
The GNU long option names are understood. Since all option names for
aegis are long, this means ignoring the extra leading '-'. The
"--option=value" convention is also understood.
RECOMMENDED ALIAS
The recommended alias for this command is
csh% alias aedb 'aegis -db \!* -v'
sh$ aedb(){aegis -db "$@" -v}
ERRORS
It is an error if the change does not exist.
It is an error if the change is not in the awaiting development state.
It is an error if the current user is not a developer of the specified
project.
EXIT STATUS
The aegis command will exit with a status of 1 on any error. The
aegis command will only exit with a status of 0 if there are no
errors.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
See aegis(1) for a list of environment variables which may affect this
command. See aepconf(5) for the project configuration file's
project_specific field for how to set environment variables for all
commands executed by Aegis.
SEE ALSO
aeb(1) build a change
aecd(1) change directory
aecp(1) copy files into a change
aed(1) find differences between a change and the baseline
aedbu(1)
undo the effects of aedb
aede(1) complete development of a change
aemv(1) rename a file as part of a change
aenc(1) add a new change to a project
aend(1) add a new developer to a project
aenf(1) add new files to a change
aent(1) add a new test to a change
aepa(1) modify the attributes of a project
aerm(1) add files to be deleted to a change
aet(1) run tests
aepattr(5)
project attributes file format
aeuconf(5)
user configuration file format
COPYRIGHT
aegis version 4.24.3.D001
Copyright (C) 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999,
2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 Peter
Miller
The aegis program comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details use
the 'aegis -VERSion License' command. This is free software and you
are welcome to redistribute it under certain conditions; for details
use the 'aegis -VERSion License' command.
AUTHOR
Peter Miller E-Mail: millerp@canb.auug.org.au
/\/\* WWW: http://www.canb.auug.org.au/~millerp/
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