r11@localhost: bob | 2007-02-19 16:06:17 -0600

[vcscommand.git] / doc / vcscommand.txt

*vcscommand.txt*        vcscommand
Copyright (c) 2007 Bob Hiestand

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to
deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the
rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or
sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING
FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS
IN THE SOFTWARE.

For instructions on installing this file, type
        :help add-local-help
inside Vim.

Author:  Bob Hiestand <bob.hiestand@gmail.com>
Credits:  Benji Fisher's excellent MatchIt documentation

==============================================================================
1. Contents                                             *vcscommand-contents*

        Installation            : |vcscommand-install|
        vcscommand Intro        : |vcscommand|
        vcscommand Manual       : |vcscommand-manual|
        Customization           : |vcscommand-customize|
        SSH "integration"       : |vcscommand-ssh|
        Bugs                    : |vcscommand-bugs|

==============================================================================

2. vcscommand Installation                              *vcscommand-install*

The vcscommand plugin comprises four files, vcscommand.vim, vcssvn.vim,
vcscvs.vim and vcscommand.txt (this file).  In order to install the plugin,
place the vcscommand.vim, vcssvn.vim, and vcscvs.vim files into a plugin
directory in your runtime path (please see |add-global-plugin| and
|'runtimepath'|. 

This help file can be included in the VIM help system by copying it into a
'doc' directory in your runtime path and then executing the |:helptags|
command, specifying the full path of the 'doc' directory.  Please see
|add-local-help| for more details.

vcscommand may be customized by setting variables, creating maps, and
specifying event handlers.  Please see |vcscommand-customize| for more
details.

==============================================================================

3. vcscommand Intro                                     *vcscommand*
                                                        *vcscommand-intro*

The vcscommand plugin provides global ex commands for manipulating
version-controlled source files, currently those controlled either by CVS or
Subversion.  In general, each command operates on the current buffer and
accomplishes a separate source control function, such as update, commit, log,
and others (please see |vcscommand-commands| for a list of all available
commands).  The results of each operation are displayed in a scratch buffer.
Several buffer variables are defined for those scratch buffers (please see
|vcscommand-buffer-variables|).

The notion of "current file" means either the current buffer, or, in the case
of a directory buffer (such as Explorer or netrw buffers), the directory (and
all subdirectories) represented by the the buffer.

For convenience, any vcscommand invoked on a vcscommand scratch buffer acts as
though it was invoked on the original file and splits the screen so that the
output appears in a new window.

Many of the commands accept revisions as arguments.  By default, most operate
on the most recent revision on the current branch if no revision is specified.

Each vcscommand is mapped to a key sequence starting with the <Leader>
keystroke.  The default mappings may be overridden by supplying different
mappings before the plugin is loaded, such as in the vimrc, in the standard
fashion for plugin mappings.  For examples, please see
|vcscommand-mappings-override|.

The vcscommand plugin may be configured in several ways.  For more details,
please see |vcscommand-customize|.

==============================================================================

4. vcscommand Manual                                    *vcscommand-manual*

4.1 vcscommand commands                                 *vcscommand-commands*

vcscommand defines the following commands:

|:VCSAdd|
|:VCSAnnotate|
|:VCSCommit|
|:VCSDelete|
|:VCSDiff|
|:VCSGotoOriginal|
|:VCSLog|
|:VCSRevert|
|:VCSReview|
|:VCSStatus|
|:VCSUpdate|
|:VCSVimDiff|

The following commands are specific to CVS files:

|:CVSEdit|
|:CVSEditors|
|:CVSUnedit|
|:CVSWatch|
|:CVSWatchAdd|
|:CVSWatchOn|
|:CVSWatchOff|
|:CVSWatchRemove|
|:CVSWatchers|

The following commands are specific to SVN files:

|:SVNInfo|

:VCSAdd                                                 *:VCSAdd*

This command adds the current file to source control.  Please note, this does
not commit the newly-added file.  All parameters to the command are passed to
the underlying VCS.

:VCSAnnotate                                            *:VCSAnnotate*

This command displays the current file with each line annotated with the
version in which it was most recently changed.  If an argument is given, the
argument is used as a revision number to display.  If not given an argument,
it uses the most recent version of the file (on the current branch, if under
CVS control).  Additionally, if the current buffer is a VCSAnnotate buffer
already, the version number on the current line is used.

The filetype of the vcscommand scratch buffer is set to either 'CVSAnnotate'
or 'SVNAnnotate' as appropriate, to take advantage of the bundled syntax
files.

:VCSCommit[!]                                           *:VCSCommit*

This command commits changes to the current file to source control.

If called with arguments, the arguments are the log message.

If '!' is used, an empty log message is committed.

If called with no arguments, this is a two-step command.  The first step opens
a buffer to accept a log message.  When that buffer is written, it is
automatically closed and the file is committed using the information from that
log message.  The commit can be abandoned if the log message buffer is deleted
or wiped before being written.

Alternatively, the mapping that is used to invoke :VCSCommit (by default
<Leader>cc) can be used in the log message buffer to immediately commit.  This
is useful if the |VCSCommandCommitOnWrite| variable is set to 0 to disable the
normal commit-on-write behavior.

:VCSDelete                                              *:VCSDelete*

Deletes the current file and removes it from source control.  All parameters
to the command are passed to the underlying VCS.

:VCSDiff                                                *:VCSDiff*

With no arguments, this displays the differences between the current file and
its parent version under source control in a new scratch buffer.

With one argument, the diff is performed on the current file against the
specified revision.

With two arguments, the diff is performed between the specified revisions of
the current file.

For CVS, this command uses the |VCSCommandCVSDiffOpt| variable to specify diff
options.  If that variable does not exist, a plugin-specific default is used.
If you wish to have no options, then set it to the empty string.

For SVN, this command uses the |VCSCommandSVNDiffOpt| variable to specify diff
options.  If that variable does not exist, the SVN default is used.
Additionally, |VCSCommandSVNDiffExt| can be used to select an external diff
application.

:VCSGotoOriginal                                        *:VCSGotoOriginal*

This command jumps to the source buffer if the current buffer is a VCS scratch
buffer.

:VCSGotoOriginal!

Like ":VCSGotoOriginal" but also executes :bufwipeout on all VCS scrach
buffers associated with the original file.

:VCSLock                                                *:VCSLock*

This command locks the current file in order to prevent other users from
concurrently modifying it.  The exact semantics of this command depend on the
underlying VCS.  This does nothing in CVS.  All parameters are passed to the
underlying VCS.

:VCSLog                                                 *:VCSLog*

Displays the version history of the current file in a new scratch buffer.  If
there is one parameter supplied, it is taken as as a revision parameters to be
passed through to the underlying VCS.  Otherwise, all parameters are passed to
the underlying VCS.

:VCSRevert                                              *:VCSRevert*

This command replaces the current file with the most recent version from the
repository in order to wipe out any undesired changes.

:VCSReview                                              *:VCSReview*

Displays a particular version of the current file in a new scratch buffer.  If
no argument is given, the most recent version of the file on the current
branch is retrieved.

:VCSStatus                                              *:VCSStatus*

Displays versioning information about the current file in a new scratch
buffer.  All parameters are passed to the underlying VCS.


:VCSUnlock                                              *:VCSUnlock*

Unlocks the current file in order to allow other users from concurrently
modifying it.  The exact semantics of this command depend on the underlying
VCS.  All parameters are passed to the underlying VCS.

:VCSUpdate                                              *:VCSUpdate*

Updates the current file with any relevant changes from the repository.  This
intentionally does not automatically reload the current buffer, though vim
should prompt the user to do so if the underlying file is altered by this
command.

:VCSVimDiff                                             *:VCSVimDiff*

Uses vimdiff to display differences between versions of the current file.

If no revision is specified, the most recent version of the file on the
current branch is used.  With one argument, that argument is used as the
revision as above.  With two arguments, the differences between the two
revisions is displayed using vimdiff.
                                                            
With either zero or one argument, the original buffer is used to perform the
vimdiff.  When the scratch buffer is closed, the original buffer will be
returned to normal mode.
                                                            
Once vimdiff mode is started using the above methods, additional vimdiff
buffers may be added by passing a single version argument to the command.
There may be up to 4 vimdiff buffers total.
                                                            
Using the 2-argument form of the command resets the vimdiff to only those 2
versions.  Additionally, invoking the command on a different file will close
the previous vimdiff buffers.

:CVSEdit                                                *:CVSEdit*

This command performs "cvs edit" on the current file.  Yes, the output buffer
in this case is almost completely useless.

:CVSEditors                                             *:CVSEditors*

This command performs "cvs edit" on the current file.

:CVSUnedit                                              *:CVSUnedit*

Performs "cvs unedit" on the current file.  Again, yes, the output buffer here
is basically useless.

:CVSWatch                                               *:CVSWatch*

This command takes an argument which must be one of [on|off|add|remove].  The
command performs "cvs watch" with the given argument on the current file.

:CVSWatchAdd                                            *:CVSWatchAdd*

This command is an alias for ":CVSWatch add"

:CVSWatchOn                                             *:CVSWatchOn*

This command is an alias for ":CVSWatch on"

:CVSWatchOff                                            *:CVSWatchOff*

This command is an alias for ":CVSWatch off"

:CVSWatchRemove                                         *:CVSWatchRemove*

This command is an alias for ":CVSWatch remove"

:CVSWatchers                                            *:CVSWatchers*

This command performs "cvs watchers" on the current file.

:SVNInfo                                                *:SVNInfo*

This command performs "svn info" on the current file.  All parameters are
passed directly to svn.

4.2 Mappings                                            *vcscommand-mappings*

By default, a mapping is defined for each command.  These mappings execute the
default (no-argument) form of each command.

<Leader>ca VCSAdd
<Leader>cn VCSAnnotate
<Leader>cc VCSCommit
<Leader>cd VCSDiff
<Leader>cg VCSGotoOriginal
<Leader>cG VCSGotoOriginal!
<Leader>cl VCSLog
<Leader>cr VCSReview
<Leader>cs VCSStatus
<Leader>cu VCSUpdate
<Leader>cv VCSVimDiff

Only for CVS buffers:

<Leader>ce CVSEdit
<Leader>ci CVSEditors
<Leader>ct CVSUnedit
<Leader>cwv CVSWatchers
<Leader>cwa CVSWatchAdd
<Leader>cwn CVSWatchOn
<Leader>cwf CVSWatchOff
<Leader>cwf CVSWatchRemove

Only for SVN buffers:

<Leader>ci SVNInfo

                                                *vcscommand-mappings-override*

The default mappings can be overriden by user-provided instead by mapping to
<Plug>CommandName.  This is especially useful when these mappings collide with
other existing mappings (vim will warn of this during plugin initialization,
but will not clobber the existing mappings).

For instance, to override the default mapping for :VCSAdd to set it to '\add',
add the following to the vimrc:

nmap \add <Plug>VCSAdd

4.3 Automatic buffer variables                  *vcscommand-buffer-variables*

Several buffer variables are defined in each vcscommand result buffer.  These
may be useful for additional customization in callbacks defined in the event
handlers (please see |vcscommand-events|).

The following variables are automatically defined:

b:VCSCommandOriginalBuffer                      *b:VCSCommandOriginalBuffer*

This variable is set to the buffer number of the source file.

b:VCSCommandCommand                             *b:VCSCommandCommand*

This variable is set to the name of the vcscommand that created the result
buffer.

b:VCSCommandSourceFile                          *b:VCSCommandSourceFile*

This variable is set to the name of the original file under source control.

b:VCSCommandVCSType                             *b:VCSCommandVCSType*

This variable is set to the type of the source control.  This variable is also
set on the original file itself.
==============================================================================

5. Configuration and customization                      *vcscommand-customize*
                                                        *vcscommand-config*

The vcscommand plugin can be configured in several ways:  by setting
configuration variables (see |vcscommand-options|) or by defining vcscommand
event handlers (see |vcscommand-events|).  Additionally, the vcscommand plugin
supports a customized status line (see |vcscommand-statusline| and
|vcscommand-buffer-management|).

5.1 vcscommand configuration variables                  *vcscommand-options*

Several variables affect the plugin's behavior.  These variables are checked
at time of execution, and may be defined at the window, buffer, or global
level and are checked in that order of precedence.


The following variables are available:

|VCSCommandCommitOnWrite|
|VCSCommandCVSDiffOpt|
|VCSCommandCVSExec|
|VCSCommandDeleteOnHide|
|VCSCommandDiffSplit|
|VCSCommandEdit|
|VCSCommandEnableBufferSetup|
|VCSCommandResultBufferNameExtension|
|VCSCommandResultBufferNameFunction|
|VCSCommandSplit|
|VCSCommandSVNDiffExt|
|VCSCommandSVNDiffOpt|
|VCSCommandSVNExec|

VCSCommandCommitOnWrite                         *VCSCommandCommitOnWrite*

This variable, if set to a non-zero value, causes the pending commit
to take place immediately as soon as the log message buffer is written.
If set to zero, only the VCSCommit mapping will cause the pending commit to
occur.  If not set, it defaults to 1.

VCSCommandCVSExec                               *VCSCommandCVSExec*

This variable controls the executable used for all CVS commands  If not set,
it defaults to "cvs".

VCSCommandDeleteOnHide                          *VCSCommandDeleteOnHide*

This variable, if set to a non-zero value, causes the temporary result buffers
to automatically delete themselves when hidden.

VCSCommandCVSDiffOpt                            *VCSCommandCVSDiffOpt*

This variable, if set, determines the options passed to the diff command of
CVS.  If not set, it defaults to 'u'.

VCSCommandDiffSplit                             *VCSCommandDiffSplit*

This variable overrides the |VCSCommandSplit| variable, but only for buffers
created with |:VCSVimDiff|.

VCSCommandEdit                                  *VCSCommandEdit*

This variable controls whether the original buffer is replaced ('edit') or
split ('split').  If not set, it defaults to 'split'.

VCSCommandEnableBufferSetup                     *VCSCommandEnableBufferSetup*

This variable, if set to a non-zero value, activates VCS buffer management
mode see (|vcscommand-buffer-management|).  This mode means that the
'VCSCommandBufferInfo' variable is filled with version information if the file
is VCS-controlled.  This is useful for displaying version information in the
status bar.

VCSCommandResultBufferNameExtension     *VCSCommandResultBufferNameExtension*

This variable, if set to a non-blank value, is appended to the name of the VCS
command output buffers.  For example, '.vcs'.  Using this option may help
avoid problems caused by autocommands dependent on file extension.

VCSCommandResultBufferNameFunction      *VCSCommandResultBufferNameFunction*

This variable, if set, specifies a custom function for naming VCS command
output buffers.  This function is expected to return the new buffer name, and
will be passed the following arguments:

  command - name of the VCS command being executed (such as 'Log' or
  'Diff').
  
  originalBuffer - buffer number of the source file.
  
  vcsType - type of VCS controlling this file (such as 'CVS' or 'SVN').
  
  statusText - extra text associated with the VCS action (such as version
  numbers).

VCSCommandSplit                                 *VCSCommandSplit*

This variable controls the orientation of the various window splits that
may occur.

If set to 'horizontal', the resulting windows will be on stacked on top of
one another.  If set to 'vertical', the resulting windows will be
side-by-side.  If not set, it defaults to 'horizontal' for all but
VCSVimDiff windows.

VCSCommandSVNDiffExt                            *VCSCommandSVNDiffExt*

This variable, if set, is passed to SVN via the --diff-cmd command to select
an external application for performing the diff.

VCSCommandSVNDiffOpt                            *VCSCommandSVNDiffOpt*

This variable, if set, determines the options passed with the '-x' parameter
to the SVN diff command.  If not set, no options are passed.

VCSCommandSVNExec                               *VCSCommandSVNExec*

This variable controls the executable used for all SVN commands  If not set,
it defaults to "svn".

5.2 VCSCommand events                           *vcscommand-events*

For additional customization, vcscommand can trigger user-defined events.
Event handlers are provided by defining User event autocommands (see
|autocommand|, |User|) in the vcscommand group with patterns matching the
event name.

For instance, the following could be added to the vimrc to provide a 'q'
mapping to quit a vcscommand scratch buffer:

augroup VCSCommand
  au User VCSBufferCreated silent! nmap <unique> <buffer> q: bwipeout<cr>
augroup END

The following hooks are available:

VCSBufferCreated                This event is fired just after a vcscommand
                                result buffer is created and populated.  It is
                                executed within the context of the vcscommand
                                buffer.  The vcscommand buffer variables may
                                be useful for handlers of this event (please
                                see |vcscommand-buffer-variables|).

VCSBufferSetup                  This event is fired just after vcscommand buffer
                                setup occurs, if enabled.

VCSPluginInit                   This event is fired when the vcscommand plugin
                                first loads.

VCSPluginFinish                 This event is fired just after the vcscommand
                                plugin loads.

VCSVimDiffFinish                This event is fired just after the VCSVimDiff
                                command executes to allow customization of,
                                for instance, window placement and focus.

Additionally, there is another hook which is used internally to handle loading
the multiple scripts in order.  This hook should probably not be used by an
end user without a good idea of how it works.  Among other things, any events
associated with this hook are cleared after they are executed (during
vcscommand.vim script initialization).

VCSLoadExtensions               This event is fired just before the
                                VCSPluginFinish.  It is used internally to
                                execute any commands from the VCS
                                implementation plugins that needs to be
                                deferred until the primary plugin is
                                initialized.

5.3 vcscommand buffer naming                            *vcscommand-naming*

vcscommand result buffers use the following naming convention:
[{VCS type} {VCS command} {Source file name}]

If additional buffers are created that would otherwise conflict, a
distinguishing number is added:

[{VCS type} {VCS command} {Source file name}] (1,2, etc)

5.4 vcscommand status line support                      *vcscommand-statusline*

It is intended that the user will customize the |'statusline'| option to
include vcscommand result buffer attributes.  A sample function that may be
used in the |'statusline'| option is provided by the plugin,
VCSCommandGetStatusLine().  In order to use that function in the status line, do
something like the following:

set statusline=%<%f\ %{VCSCommandGetStatusLine()}\ %h%m%r%=%l,%c%V\ %P

of which %{VCSCommandGetStatusLine()} is the relevant portion.

The sample VCSCommandGetStatusLine() function handles both vcscommand result
buffers and VCS-managed files if vcscommand buffer management is enabled
(please see |vcscommand-buffer-management|).

5.5 vcscommand buffer management                *vcscommand-buffer-management*

The vcscommand plugin can operate in buffer management mode, which means that
it attempts to set a buffer variable ('VCSCommandBufferInfo') upon entry into
a buffer.  This is rather slow because it means that the VCS will be invoked
at each entry into a buffer (during the |BufEnter| autocommand).

This mode is disabled by default.  In order to enable it, set the
|VCSCommandEnableBufferSetup| variable to a true (non-zero) value.  Enabling
this mode simply provides the buffer variable mentioned above.  The user must
explicitly include information from the variable in the |'statusline'| option
if they are to appear in the status line (but see |vcscommand-statusline| for
a simple way to do that).

The 'VCSCommandBufferInfo' variable is a list which contains, in order, the
revision of the current file, the latest revision of the file in the
repository, and (for CVS) the name of the branch.  If those values cannot be
determined, the list is a single element:  'Unknown'.

==============================================================================

6. SSH "integration"                                    *vcscommand-ssh*

The following instructions are intended for use in integrating the
vcscommand.vim plugin with an SSH-based CVS environment.

Familiarity with SSH and CVS are assumed.

These instructions assume that the intent is to have a message box pop up in
order to allow the user to enter a passphrase.  If, instead, the user is
comfortable using certificate-based authentication, then only instructions
6.1.1 and 6.1.2 (and optionally 6.1.4) need to be followed; ssh should then
work transparently.

6.1 Environment settings                                *vcscommand-ssh-env*

6.1.1 CVSROOT should be set to something like:

        :ext:user@host:/path_to_repository

6.1.2 CVS_RSH should be set to:

        ssh

        Together, those settings tell CVS to use ssh as the transport when
        performing CVS calls.

6.1.3 SSH_ASKPASS should be set to the password-dialog program.  In my case,
        running gnome, it's set to:

        /usr/libexec/openssh/gnome-ssh-askpass

        This tells SSH how to get passwords if no input is available.

6.1.4 OPTIONAL.  You may need to set SSH_SERVER to the location of the cvs
        executable on the remote (server) machine.

6.2 CVS wrapper program                         *vcscommand-ssh-wrapper*

Now you need to convince SSH to use the password-dialog program.  This means
you need to execute SSH (and therefore CVS) without standard input.  The
following script is a simple perl wrapper that dissasociates the CVS command
from the current terminal.  Specific steps to do this may vary from system to
system; the following example works for me on linux.

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
use POSIX qw(setsid);
open STDIN, '/dev/null';
fork and do {wait; exit;};
setsid;
exec('cvs', @ARGV);

6.3 Configuring vcscommand.vim                  *vcscommand-ssh-config*

At this point, you should be able to use your wrapper script to invoke CVS with
various commands, and get the password dialog.  All that's left is to make CVS
use your newly-created wrapper script.

6.3.1 Tell vcscommand.vim what CVS executable to use.  The easiest way to do this
        is globally, by putting the following in your .vimrc:

        let VCSCommandCVSExec=/path/to/cvs/wrapper/script

6.4 Where to go from here                       *vcscommand-ssh-other*

The script given above works even when non-SSH CVS connections are used,
except possibly when interactively entering the message for CVS commit log
(depending on the editor you use... VIM works fine).  Since the vcscommand.vim
plugin handles that message without a terminal, the wrapper script can be used
all the time.

This allows mixed-mode operation, where some work is done with SSH-based CVS
repositories, and others with pserver or local access.

It is possible, though beyond the scope of the plugin, to dynamically set the
CVS executable based on the CVSROOT for the file being edited.  The user
events provided (such as VCSBufferCreated and VCSBufferSetup) can be used to
set a buffer-local value (b:VCSCommandCVSExec) to override the CVS executable
on a file-by-file basis.  Alternatively, much the same can be done (less
automatically) by the various project-oriented plugins out there.

It is highly recommended for ease-of-use that certificates with no passphrase
or ssh-agent are employed so that the user is not given the password prompt
too often.

==============================================================================

7. Known bugs                                           *vcscommand-bugs*

Please let me know if you run across any.

CVSUnedit may, if a file is changed from the repository, provide prompt text
to determine whether the changes should be thrown away.  Currently, that text
shows up in the CVS result buffer as information; there is no way for the user
to actually respond to the prompt and the CVS unedit command does nothing.  If
this really bothers anyone, please let me know.

VCSVimDiff, when using the original (real) source buffer as one of the diff
buffers, uses some hacks to try to restore the state of the original buffer
when the scratch buffer containing the other version is destroyed.  There may
still be bugs in here, depending on many configuration details.

vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help