1.3.3. Checking Out a Working Copy

To check out a working copy of a project in a CVS repository, run the following command:

cvs -d cvs_repository checkout module

This creates a new directory called module with a working copy of a project in it. Note that cvs_repository is a URL of the CVS repository and module is the subdirectory in which the project is stored (such as project). Alternatively, you can set the $CVSROOT environment variable as follows:

export CVSROOT=cvs_repository

Then you can use the cvs checkout command without the -d option:

cvs checkout module

~]$ export CVSROOT=~/cvs
~]$ cvs checkout project
cvs checkout: Updating project
U project/AUTHORS
U project/INSTALL
U project/LICENSE
U project/Makefile
U project/TODO