Shell Programming and Scripting

Version Control Through the Shell Script

Hi Guys,
Apologize for the big request, please take some time and read it completely... This is Very important for me, and ur help is Very much Appriciated.

I want to maintain the Version control to all my scripts running in Production server, I am not allowed to use any tool like Perforce,clearcase, etc... So thought to write the script for it, which manages the Version control to my scripts which are changing everytim,

Here is the brief about my plan about it, please suggest how can I implement it, or also if there is another way to do it through script,that will be v helpful...

I have around 100 scripts under one folder, for example /home/Anji
I am planning to create one more folder under it namely Versions, like /home/Anji/Versions.
and copy all the 100 scripts under the versions folder without any content in it(Blank Scripts) with VC extension[To understand this is a VersionContraol file for the script]

For Ex:
One of my script under /home/Anji is batch_Trades.sh, which contaned 1000 lines of code,which will be changed when ever there is a request from users...

I will create the same script name batch_Trades.sh_VC /home/Anji/Versions folder...


So Everytime when I change the original script batch_Trades.sh I want to record the Version control in batch_Trades.sh_VC file in below manner,

####################################################
Version: 1.0
Script Name:
CR Number:
Date:
Reason for changing the script:
Change Implementer:
####################################################

For the first We need to define the pattern, and from 2nd time onwords,Version must be change dynamically [may be we can get the version id from previous version and do +1 to that) For all the other fields in the pattern, we need to give them from the command line when we run the script like below..

$./Version.sh batch_Trades.sh [Below is the command output script needs to ask when we run]
Do you want to continue (y/n) : y
What is the Script Name: batch_Trades.sh
What is the CR Number: 12345
What is Change Date: 02-11-2010
Reason for changing the script: Businmess Requst
Who is the Change Implementer: Anji
Finished Script....
$

Once all the Information is Given then, automatically this information should append to the VC file which is under /Home/Anji/Versions folder, i.e., batch_Trades.sh_VC

This is little bit big mail.... but i just wnated to give the full details to understand better.

Thanks In Advance Guys

There is an inbuilt version control facility available in UNIX. You can manage your versions using SCCS facility of UNIX. Go through man pages of SCCS or contact your system administrator for more information.

I use this approach in following way.

Whenever changes are made, coder simply appends his/her name under History tag along with the changes. Rest are automatically updated by SCCS itself.

Thanks ROHON for the reply..
I found the usage and the use of this SCCS facility, But dint find more about how Can I use this in my scenario..
Can you please let me know How can I use it?

On top of the every script you can introduce these lines and SCCS will automatically track the version information.

so your script will look like:
now if changes required after line 4 then

Thanks Rohon...
I tried as you suggested for one of my script for testing, but i dont see any changes in script? Where will be this Version information can see in?
Is there any other file will generate with the version information or In the same script it will update the version?
Please help

Did u explore how to create a new SCCS file? Please read some books and get some knowledge on it first. Please refer Sumitabha Das books on Unix. This topic is very well explained in it.

Hi.

Observations:

I agree with R0H0N: you need to do some reading and experimenting. This subject is complex, too complex to address in a q/a session like a forum.

I have been involved in version-control (source-code-control) for a long time, dating back to the mainframe era.

From my perspective, the movement along systems (with most emphasis on *nix) has been:

Code:

(MF) cosy/etc ->  (*nix) sccs -> rcs -> cvs -> subversion -> bazaar -> mercurial

You can see some of these at Comparison of revision control software - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The sccs system was one of the first, and is now considered by many to be obsolete. If you are looking for something that is simple and local, I'd suggest RCS.

If you are looking for client-server (repository may be on a network node), or distributed, see the later systems.

For a very simple system, you might be interested in Amazon.com: Unix Programming Environment (Prentice-Hall Software Series) (9780139376818): Brian W. Kernighan, Rob Pike: Books wherein a short set of scripts is developed that will do source control. The book addresses many other topics. Lest you think this is too old, note that, while the publication date is 1984, it is still in print and available.

Good luck ... cheers, drl