src/features.tex

   1 \section{Features}
   2
   3 \paragraph{Record changes locally}
   4 In darcs, the equivalent of a cvs ``commit'' is called record, because it
   5 doesn't put the change into any remote or centralized repository.  Changes
   6 are always recorded locally, meaning no net access is required in order to
   7 work on your project and record changes as you make them.  Moreover, this
   8 means that there is no need for a separate ``disconnected operation'' mode.
   9
  10 \paragraph{Interactive records}
  11 You can choose to perform an interactive record, in which case darcs will
  12 prompt you for each change you have made and ask if you wish to record it.
  13 Of course, you can tell darcs to record all the changes in a given file, or
  14 to skip all the changes in a given file, or go back to a previous change,
  15 or whatever.  There is also an experimental graphical interface, which
  16 allows you to view and choose changes even more easily, and in whichever
  17 order you like.
  18
  19 \paragraph{Unrecord local changes}
  20 As a corollary to the ``local'' nature of the record operation, if a change
  21 hasn't yet been published to the world---that is, if the local repository
  22 isn't accessible by others---you can safely unrecord a change (even if it
  23 wasn't the most recently recorded change) and then re-record it
  24 differently, for example if you forgot to add a file, introduced a bug or
  25 realized that what you recorded as a single change was really two separate
  26 changes.
  27
  28 \paragraph{Interactive everything else}
  29 Most darcs commands support an interactive interface.  The ``revert''
  30 command, for example, which undoes unrecorded changes has the same
  31 interface as record, so you can easily revert just a single change.  Pull,
  32 push, send and apply all allow you to view and interactively select which
  33 changes you wish to pull, push, send or apply.
  34
  35 \paragraph{Test suites}
  36 Darcs has support for integrating a test suite with a repository.  If you
  37 choose to use this, you can define a test command (e.g.\ ``make check'') and
  38 have darcs run that command on a clean copy of the project either prior to
  39 recording a change or prior to applying changes---and to reject changes
  40 that cause the test to fail.
  41
  42 \paragraph{Any old server}
  43 Darcs does not require a specialized server in order to make a repository
  44 available for read access.  You can use http, ftp, or even just a plain old
  45 ssh server to access your darcs repository.
  46
  47 \paragraph{You decide write permissions}
  48 Darcs doesn't try to manage write access.  That's your business.  Supported
  49 push methods include direct ssh access (if you're willing to \emph{give}
  50 direct ssh access away), using sudo to allow users who already have shell
  51 access to only apply changes to the repository, or verification of
  52 gpg-signed changes sent by email against a list of allowed keys.  In
  53 addition, there is good support for submission of patches by email that
  54 are not automatically applied, but can easily be applied with a shell escape
  55 from a mail reader (this is how I deal with contributions to darcs).
  56
  57 \paragraph{Symmetric repositories}
  58 Every darcs repository is created equal (well, with the exception of a
  59 ``partial'' repository, which doesn't contain a full history\ldots), and every
  60 working directory has an associated repository.  As a result, there is a
  61 symmetry between ``uploading'' and ``downloading'' changes---you can use
  62 the same commands (push or pull) for either purpose.
  63
  64 \paragraph{CGI script}
  65 Darcs has a CGI script that allows browsing of the repositories.
  66
  67 \paragraph{Portable}
  68 Darcs runs on UNIX (or UNIX-like) systems (which includes Mac~OS~X) as well
  69 as on Microsoft Windows.
  70
  71 \paragraph{File and directory moves}
  72 Renames or moves of files and directories, of course are handled properly,
  73 so when you rename a file or move it to a different directory, its history
  74 is unbroken, and merges with repositories that don't have the file renamed
  75 will work as expected.
  76
  77 \paragraph{Token replace}
  78 You can use the ``darcs replace'' command to modify all occurrences of a
  79 particular token (defined by a configurable set of characters that are
  80 allowed in ``tokens'') in a file.  This has the advantage that merges with
  81 changes that introduce new copies of the old token will have the effect of
  82 changing it to the new token---which comes in handy when changing a
  83 variable or function name that is used throughout a project.
  84
  85 \paragraph{Configurable defaults}
  86 You can easily configure the default flags passed to any command on either
  87 a per-repository or a per-user basis or a combination thereof.
  88