LyX wiki | Mac / VersionControl

Categories: Mac, version control, RCS, Xcode

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How to get Version Control working in OS X

Table of contents (hide)

1. Read first
1. 1.1 Version Control
2. 1.2 RCS - Revision Control System
3. 1.3 Summary

1. Read first

Note that this page is terribly outdated and you should read additional manual instead.

1.1 Version Control

Version control is a fabulous tool that was implemented for Lyx by Lars Gullik Bj�nnes. Version Control is useful not only for managing source code, but any document. It is used to manage document development, so that many people can contribute to the same document without losing information. It is also used to keep track of changes, and those making the changes. It is used primarily for projects in which there are multiple developers working on the document, but for the sole user it is also very useful. For large documents such as dissertations, version control is excellent for tracking and verifying progress.

1.2 RCS - Revision Control System

LyX uses RCS in order to implement version control. By default RCS is not installed on OS X (10.5 at least). It is however part of Xcode. If you are a developer, you have no doubt installed Xcode already. However, not everyone who uses LyX is a coder, and they do not install Xcode. The simplest way to get RCS working, and therefore version control working, is to install the Xcode Tools package contained on the OS X install DVD. Because it is packaged with the OS X Install DVD, it is not readily available online for OS X. The source code for RCS can be obtained from GNU RCS although you will probably need Xcode installed to compile it ;-)

Mac OS X Mavericks with Xcode 5 doesn�t include RCS anymore. So the solution is to download the GNU-RCS from this site and using Control-Click option, open and install the RCS.

Note that OSX 10.11 El Capitan requires a newer version of rcs. You can fetch rcs 3.9.4 or better from Rudix (http://rudix.org/packages/rcs.html(approve sites))

1.3 Summary

The simplest way to get version control working, is to install the Xcode Tools package contained on the OS X install DVD.

Categories: Mac, version control, RCS, Xcode