***CVSTrac Check-ins***

A check-in (sometimes called a patchset or changeset) is simply a commit to the
repository. It includes a message
describing the change, a source code diff, and various information such as who
made the change, when it was made.

CVSTrac attempts to represent a CVS commit as a single atomic operation (called
a patch-set), even when the commit includes multiple directories. Other SCMs
supported by CVSTrac would typically already represent commits atomically.

**Check-in Features**

*Fields*

*: *Check-in number* is a unique number for the patchset which can be
referenced from any {wiki: FormattingWikiPages wiki} using the
{quote: [nnn]} markup.
*: *User* is the repository user who made the change. This may not necessarily
match a CVSTrac user.
*: *Branch* is check-in on a branch. Branch activity is usually highlighted in
various displays with a slightly different background.

*Comment*

A check-in comment is simply the contents of the CVS commit message. However,
CVSTrac interprets such comments as
{wiki: FormattingWikiPages wiki markup}, allowing for a much richer
presentation when reading change messages in a browser.

Check-in comments can be editted within CVSTrac (i.e. to fix an incorrect
ticket number). However, any such changes are only help in the CVSTrac database
and aren't visible in the repository itself. On the flip side, direct
manipulation of the repository (such as with the =cvs admin= command) usually
won't propogate to the CVSTrac database either.

*Files*

Each check-in has a list of associated files. Following each file will bring
you the {wiki: CvstracFileHistory file history} page.

*Diffs*

When viewing a check-in, a complete _diff_ of the change is shown. The
formatting of this _diff_ may be enriched with
custom filter.

*Tickets*

A check-in can be associated with a specific
{wiki: CvstracTicket ticket} by mentioning the ticket
number in {quote: #n} format inside the commit message. This allows development
activity to be associated with a particular problem report.

**Committing Changes**

Changes are committed in the usual fashion (using a CVS command-line program).
However, in order to maximize the grouping of commits within a single patchset,
it's recommended that related commits be done all at once, with the same commit
message.

Commits can be made using {wiki: FormattingWikiPages wiki markup}.
Commits made in relation to a specific ticket can be associated with that
ticket simply by mentioning the ticket number. i.e.

  cvs commit -m "Fix for ticket #45" Makefile src/file.c include/header.h

**Inspections**

{wiki: CvstracInspection Inspections} are short comments (40 chars)
attached to check-ins. There's no limit to the number of inspections that can
be associated with a check-in.

**Patchsets**

A patchset is basically a single _diff_ of all the changes in a check-in. In
theory, it's designed such that one can download it and recreate the changes
using _patch_. In practice, this may not work well with binary files.