<html><head><title>vcp - Copy versions of files between repositories and/or RevML</title></head><body><h1><a name="NAME">NAME
</a></h1><p>vcp - Copy versions of files between repositories and/or RevML
<p><hr><h1><a name="SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS
</a></h1><pre> # interactive mode:
</pre><pre> vcp [vcp_opts]
</pre><pre> # scriptable command line mode:
</pre><pre> vcp [vcp_opts] <source> <dest>
</pre><pre> # getting options from a file:
</pre><pre> vcp vcp:config.vcp
</pre><pre> # help output:
</pre><pre> vcp help
vcp help [topic]
</pre><p><hr><h1><a name="DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION
</a></h1><p><code>vcp</code> ('version copy') copies versions of files from one repository to another,
translating as much metadata as possible along the way. This allows you to
copy and translate files and their histories between revision storage systems.
<p>Supported source and destination types are <code>cvs:</code>, <code>p4:</code>, and <code>revml:</code>.
<h2><a name="Copying_Versions">Copying Versions
</a></h2><p>The general syntax of the vcp command line is:
<pre> vcp [<vcp options>] <source> <dest>
</pre><p>The three portions of the command line are:
<dl><dt><a name="_vcp_options_"><strong><p><code><vcp options></code>
</strong></a><dd>Command line options that control the operation of the <code>vcp</code> command, like
<code>-d</code> for debugging or <code>-h</code> for help. There are very few global options,
these are covered below. Note that they must come before the
<code><source></code> specification.
<dt><a name="_source_"><strong><p><code><source></code>
</strong></a><dd>Were to extract versions from, including any command line options needed to
control what is extracted and how. See the next section.
<dt><a name="_dest_"><strong><p><code><dest></code>
</strong></a><dd>Where to insert versions, including any command line options needed to control
how files are stored. See the next section.
</dl><h2><a name="Specifying_Repositories">Specifying Repositories
</a></h2><p>The <code><source></code> and <code><dest></code> specifications specify a
repository and provide any options needed for accessing that repository.
<p>These spefications may be a simple filename for reading or writing RevML
files (if the requisite XML handling modules are installed). or a full
repository specification like <code>cvs:/home/cvs/root:module</code> or
<code>p4:user:password@server:port://depot/dir</code>.
<p>When using the long form to access a repository, <code><source></code> and
<code><dest></code> specification have several fields delimited by <code>:</code>
and <code>@</code>, and may have trailing command line options. The full (rarely
used) syntax is:
<pre> scheme:user(view):password@repository:filespec [<options>]
</pre><p>where
<dl><dt><a name="scheme_"><strong><p><code>scheme:</code>
</strong></a><dd>The repository type (<code>p4:</code>, <code>cvs:</code>, <code>revml:</code>).
<dt><a name="user"><strong><p><code>user</code>, <code>view</code>, and <code>password</code>
</strong></a><dd>Optional values for authenticating with the repository and identifying which
view to use. <code>cvs</code> does not use <code>view</code>. For <code>p4</code>, <code>view</code> is the client
setting (equibalent to setting <code>P4CLIENT</code> or using <code>p4</code>'s <code>-c</code> option).
<dt><a name="repository"><strong><p><code>repository</code>
</strong></a><dd>The repository spec, CVSROOT for CVS or P4PORT for p4.
<dt><a name="filespec"><strong><p><code>filespec</code>
</strong></a><dd>Which versions of what files to move. As much as possible, this spec is
similar to the native filespecs used by the repository indicated by the scheme.
<dt><a name="_options_"><strong><p><code><options></code>
</strong></a><dd>Command line options that usually mimic the options provided by the underlying
repositories' command line tools (<code>cvs</code>, <code>p4</code>, etc).
</dl><p>Most of these fields are omitted in practice, only the <code>scheme</code> field is
required, though (in most cases) the <code>repository</code> field is also needed unless
you set the appropriate environment variables (<code>CVSROOT</code>, <code>P4PORT</code>, etc).
<p>The a bit confusing, here are some examples specs:
<pre> cvs:server:/foo
p4:user@server://depot/foo/...
p4:user:password@public.perforce.com:1666://depot/foo/...
</pre><p>Options and formats for of individual schemes can be found in the relevant
help topics, for instance:
<pre> vcp help source::cvs
</pre><p>Run <code>vcp help</code> for a list of topics.
<p>When reading and writing RevML files, a simple filename will do
(although the long form may also be used). The special value "-" means
to read/write stdin and stdout when used as a source or destination
name, respectively. "-" is assumed if a specification is not provided,
so these invocations all accomplish the same thing, reading and writing
RevML:
<pre> vcp
vcp -
vcp revml:-
vcp revml:
vcp - -
vcp - revml:-
vcp - revml:
vcp revml:- revml:-
vcp revml: revml:
</pre><h2><a name="vcp_Options"><code>vcp</code> Options
</a></h2><p>All general options to vcp must precede the <code><source></code>.
Scheme-specific options must be placed immediately after the
<code><source></code> or <code><dest></code> spec and before the next one.
<dl><dt><a name="_debug_d_"><strong><p>--debug, -d
</strong></a><dd>Enables logging of debugging information.
<dt><a name="_help_h_"><strong><p>--help, -h, -?
</strong></a><dd>These are all equivalent to <code>vcp help</code>.
<dt><a name="_output_config_file_filename_"><strong><p>--output-config-file=$filename
</strong></a><dd>Write the settings (parsed from the UI, the command line, or a config
file to a file. Useful for capturing settings or user interface output.
Does not affect running. Use "-" to emit to STDOUT.
<p><b>NOTE 1</b>: This does <i>not</i> emit an "Options:" section containing global
options (those listed here). Almost all of these options are not useful
to emit; we can add an option to force their emission if need be.
<p><b>NOTE 2</b>: When using the interactive user interface, this option takes
effect after the last interactive portion and, if vcp goes on to run a
conversion, before any conversion is run. This occurs in addition to
any configuration files the user may ask the interactive interface to
write. This may change in the future (for instance, if the interactive
dialog includes an option to extract and analyze metadata).
<dt><a name="_dont_convert_"><strong><p>--dont-convert
</strong></a><dd>Do not run a conversion. Useful when you just want to emit a .vcp file.
<dt><a name="_versions_"><strong><p>--versions
</strong></a><dd>Emits the version numbers of bundled files.
<dt><a name="_terse_t_"><strong><p>--terse, -t
</strong></a><dd>Suppress verbose explanations when running the interactive UI. Has
no effect on operation if all settings are read from the command line
or a .vcp file.
</dl><h2><a name="Getting_help">Getting help
</a></h2><p>(See also <a href="#Generating_HTML_Documentation">Generating HTML Documentation</a>,
below).
<p>There is a slightly different command line format for requesting help:
<pre> vcp help [<topic>]
</pre><p>where <code><topic></code> is the optional name of a topic. <code>vcp help</code> without
a <code><</code>topic<code>></code> prints out a list of topics, and <code>vcp help vcp</code>
emits this page.
<p>All help documents are also available as Unix <code>man</code> pages and using the
<code>perldoc</code> command, although the names are slightly different:
<pre> with vcp via perldoc
================ ===========
vcp help vcp perldoc vcp
vcp help source::cvs perldoc VCP::Source::cvs
vcp help source::cvs perldoc VCP::Dest::p4
</pre><p><code>vcp help</code> is case insensitive, <code>perldoc</code> and <code>man</code> may or may not be
depending on your filesystem. The <code>man</code> commands look just like the example
<code>perldoc</code> commands except for the command name. Both have the advantage that
they use your system's configured pager if possible.
<h2><a name="Environment_Variables">Environment Variables
</a></h2><p>The environment is often used to set context for the source and
destination by way of variables like P4USER, P4CLIENT, CVSROOT, etc.
<dl><dt><a name="VCPDEBUG_"><strong><p>VCPDEBUG
</strong></a><dd>The VCPDEBUG variable acts just like <code>-d=$VCPDEBUG</code> was present on the
command line:
<pre> VCPDEBUG=1
</pre><p>(see <a href="#_debug_d">"--debug, -d"</a> for more info). This is useful when VCP is
embedded in another application, like a makefile or a test suite.
</dl><p><hr><h1><a name="SEE_ALSO">SEE ALSO
</a></h1><p><a>VCP::Process</a>, <a>VCP::Newlines</a>, <a href="VCP/Source/p4.html">VCP::Source::p4</a>, <a href="VCP/Dest/p4.html">VCP::Dest::p4</a>,
<a href="VCP/Source/cvs.html">VCP::Source::cvs</a>, <a href="VCP/Dest/cvs.html">VCP::Dest::cvs</a>, <a href="VCP/Source/revml.html">VCP::Source::revml</a>,
<a href="VCP/Dest/revml.html">VCP::Dest::revml</a>, <a>VCP::Newlines</a>. All are also available using <code>vcp
help</code>.
<p><hr><h1><a name="AUTHOR">AUTHOR
</a></h1><p>Barrie Slaymaker <barries@slaysys.com>
<p><hr><h1><a name="COPYRIGHT">COPYRIGHT
</a></h1><p>Copyright (c) 2000, 2001, 2002 Perforce Software, Inc.
All rights reserved.
<p>See <a>VCP::License</a> (<code>vcp help license</code>) for the terms of use.
<p><hr><i><font size="-1">Last updated: Fri Jun 4 14:21:27 2004</font></i></body></html>