The history.txt file. How?

[RonHiler]

Not really sure where to ask this question, so I\'ll put it in the general forum

How did you set up your CVS to maintain the history.txt file?  Are you using a 3rd party program for that?

I\'d like to set up something similar for my project on SF.  I can, of course, get the diffs for particular files or even the use the log command, but it would be nice to have a running log of changes like y\'all have in the history.txt file.  Any tips?  

Ron

[lynx_lupo]

Maybe there\'s something useful in the SF CVS faq. http://sourceforge.net/docman/?group_id=1 (under F)

[acraig]

The history file is manually updated by us.  Whenever somebody makes a commit they edit the history.txt file and commit that as well.

[RonHiler]

You do it manually?  You\'re kidding?

I think it\'s possible to have it update automatically through the use of the loginfo file in a similar way that you use loginfo to send out e-mail updates with syncmail.  The only issue is that you\'d have to have syncmail route to a file rather than an e-mail address.  I\'m not 100% sure about it yet, but I\'m working on it.

If I find anything, do you want me to let you know about it?

[acraig]

It would be interesting if you can get this to work but I think we are probably too used to just editing the history.txt file now so I don\'t think that will change anytime soon.

[RonHiler]

Fair enough.  I\'m going to try to automate mine though.  I hate extra steps

[Vengeance]

When I update history.txt, I rarely write the same notes as I write on the individual updates.  They are not for the same
purpose and should not match 100% in a lot of cases, imo.  Automate at your own risk.

What is the point of having an automatically generated txt file containing all the log history comments?  Just pull them out as needed if that is all you need.

- Vengeance

[RonHiler]

Originally posted by Vengeance
When I update history.txt, I rarely write the same notes as I write on the individual updates.  They are not for the same
purpose and should not match 100% in a lot of cases, imo.  Automate at your own risk.

Sorry Veng, I disagree  I think they are for the same purpose and should match 100%.

I guess it depends on what you want to use the log for.  If it\'s just for the benefit of end-users so they can watch progress, then I would probably agree with you.  However, my log (although end users can see it) is more for the benefit of the developers.  It\'s a place I can go to see, in one central location, what has happened overall to the project since the last time I updated.  The only other way to get this info would be to look at the log output of individual files, and that is a great big PITA in my opinion

What is the point of having an automatically generated txt file containing all the log history comments?  Just pull them out as needed if that is all you need.

Well, all that stuff I just said  Pulling them out individually is too time consuming.  I don\'t need 5 log entries displayed because the developer changed 5 files for a particular commit.  Unless you know a way to do it that is better than the log or history command that I don\'t know about, heh

I got it working, more or less.  I\'m not 100% happy with the results (I have to do two commits for each commit), but it works fine otherwise.

[Vengeance]

lol so doing double the number of commits is better than editing the history.txt file to summarize your changes?

Great logic man...  :-)

-V

[RonHiler]

Originally posted by Vengeance
lol so doing double the number of commits is better than editing the history.txt file to summarize your changes?

Great logic man...  :-)

True, I have to do two commits, but in return I get a perfectly accurate change log, which to me is worth it.  And I\'ll betcha it takes me less time to run a macro and commit the log than it does for y\'all to manually update yours.

It ain\'t ideal, I wish I could get the log to auto-update and auto-commit whenever I do a regular commit, but eh, given the way the file permissions work, there\'s probably no way to do that

[Ineluke]

Hey ron what is your project on source forge?

[RonHiler]

It\'s called Manifest Destiny.  On my web page (http://www.rjcyberware.com), you can read all about it.  The sourceforge address is (http://sourceforge.net/projects/mdestiny)

Not 100% sure how interested y\'all will be in it.  MD is a turned based strategy game (kinda like Civilization, only multiplayer and more strategic).  MD has been around for about 5 years, and is pretty far along.  We have one demo on the download page which is pretty playable (it\'s the one that says Version 0.4.4.647), except combat doesn\'t work  The version on SF is undergoing a massive interface redesign, so it\'s not very functional yet.

My second project is more y\'alls style, a first person MMORPG called Sovereignty.  It\'s also on the web site.  That one is not on SF though, because I\'m not doing it open source.  It\'s coming along, there\'s a server and a client and a world you can walk around on and pick up things and talk to other people logged on.  It\'s not nearly as far along as PS though, hehe.

Ron

[Ineluke]

sounds cool Ill check it out...