<s>
The	O
Distributed	B-Protocol
Concurrent	I-Protocol
Versions	I-Protocol
System	I-Protocol
(	O
DCVS	B-Protocol
)	O
is	O
a	O
distributed	B-Protocol
revision	I-Protocol
control	I-Protocol
system	I-Protocol
that	O
enables	O
software	O
developers	O
working	O
on	O
locally	O
distributed	O
sites	O
to	O
efficiently	O
collaborate	O
on	O
a	O
software	O
project	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
DCVS	B-Protocol
is	O
based	O
on	O
the	O
well	O
known	O
version	B-Architecture
control	I-Architecture
system	I-Architecture
Concurrent	B-Application
Versions	I-Application
System	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
CVS	B-Application
is	O
based	O
on	O
a	O
pure	O
centralistic	O
organizational	O
model	O
and	O
offers	O
very	O
little	O
offline	O
support	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Almost	O
all	O
version	B-Architecture
control	I-Architecture
operations	O
require	O
direct	O
access	O
to	O
the	O
repository	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Therefore	O
worldwide	O
distributed	O
software	O
development	O
efforts	O
face	O
heavy	O
performance	O
problems	O
when	O
using	O
CVS	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
DCVS	B-Protocol
tackles	O
this	O
issue	O
by	O
distributing	O
the	O
central	O
CVS	B-Application
repository	O
on	O
many	O
sites	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
DCVS	B-Protocol
provides	O
all	O
CVS	B-Application
functionality	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
But	O
unlike	O
CVS	B-Application
a	O
DCVS	B-Protocol
system	O
may	O
comprise	O
an	O
arbitrary	O
number	O
of	O
geographically	O
distributed	O
repositories	O
whose	O
contents	O
are	O
kept	O
equal	O
in	O
the	O
background	O
by	O
an	O
extended	O
version	O
of	O
CVSup	O
,	O
a	O
program	O
developed	O
by	O
John	O
D	O
.	O
Polstra	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
combination	O
of	O
DCVS	B-Protocol
repository	O
,	O
extended	O
CVSup	O
server	O
and	O
DCVS	B-Protocol
server	O
program	O
will	O
be	O
called	O
DCVS	B-Protocol
server	O
in	O
the	O
following	O
paragraphs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
All	O
contents	O
of	O
all	O
development	O
lines	O
can	O
be	O
checked	O
out	O
from	O
any	O
of	O
the	O
DCVS	B-Protocol
servers	O
into	O
a	O
DCVS	B-Protocol
workspace	O
owned	O
by	O
a	O
developer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
All	O
operations	O
that	O
do	O
not	O
modify	O
the	O
repository	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
diff	B-Application
,	O
patch	B-Application
,	O
log	O
,	O
annotate	O
etc.	O
,	O
work	O
just	O
like	O
in	O
CVS	B-Application
,	O
but	O
they	O
always	O
use	O
the	O
local	O
repository	O
and	O
so	O
are	O
much	O
faster	O
in	O
a	O
distributed	O
scenario	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
modifications	O
by	O
lines	O
of	O
development	O
makes	O
it	O
possible	O
to	O
automatically	O
transfer	O
and	O
distribute	O
changes	O
in	O
the	O
DCVS	B-Protocol
network	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Thus	O
all	O
changes	O
made	O
at	O
any	O
working	O
site	O
may	O
be	O
applied	O
to	O
the	O
original	O
branch	O
by	O
developers	O
on	O
the	O
responsible	O
DCVS	B-Protocol
server	O
performing	O
a	O
merge	B-General_Concept
operation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
functionality	O
of	O
change	B-Protocol
sets	I-Protocol
enables	O
developers	O
to	O
produce	O
small	O
sets	O
of	O
changes	O
related	O
to	O
a	O
feature	O
or	O
a	O
defect	O
,	O
which	O
can	O
then	O
be	O
applied	O
by	O
others	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
specific	O
numbering	O
scheme	O
ensures	O
that	O
development	O
lines	O
and	O
deltas	O
can	O
be	O
identified	O
as	O
belonging	O
to	O
a	O
certain	O
DCVS	B-Protocol
server	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
assigns	O
a	O
unique	O
range	B-General_Concept
of	O
branch	O
numbers	O
to	O
every	O
pair	O
(	O
server/collection	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
consulting	O
the	O
contents	O
of	O
this	O
file	O
,	O
every	O
DCVS	B-Protocol
server	O
can	O
decide	O
if	O
it	O
is	O
responsible	O
for	O
a	O
certain	O
branch	O
or	O
delta	O
of	O
a	O
given	O
file	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Also	O
the	O
actual	O
names	O
of	O
configurations	O
,	O
the	O
tags	B-General_Concept
,	O
are	O
uniquely	O
assigned	O
to	O
exactly	O
one	O
DCVS	B-Protocol
server	O
by	O
means	O
of	O
a	O
server-specific	O
suffix	O
extending	O
all	O
tags	B-General_Concept
(	O
i	O
.	O
e	O
.	O
_at_dcvs_mydomain_org	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Thus	O
no	O
conflicts	O
in	O
the	O
tag	B-General_Concept
name	O
space	O
may	O
arise	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
DCVS	B-Protocol
has	O
been	O
developed	O
by	O
team	O
members	O
of	O
Elego	O
Software	O
Solutions	O
GmbH	O
in	O
Berlin/Germany	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
first	O
release	O
of	O
DCVS	B-Protocol
was	O
in	O
August	O
2002	O
.	O
</s>
