Artifact 879d69a87c4db6e220f3d0e0afe18e48f15e143d
File www/cmd_checkout.wiki part of check-in [c8b86eae78] - adjust reference.wiki &c. by kejoki on 2009-01-07 22:45:17.
<h2>checkout</h2> The <code>checkout</code> command is how a project version goes from the repository to the chosen project directory. Without going into detail about getting/opening a repository, once you have a repository and a place in which the repository has been opened, you can "check out" a "version" of the files which make up the repository at somewhen. The term "checkout" is traditional in source management systems, but a bit of an anachronism in a distributed system like <b>fossil</b>. "Checking out" a version of a project means getting all of the source artifacts out into the standard environment---currently the shell/file-system. Traditionally, the version is some "incrementing" code like v1.3.2rcQuink or f451 or something. In distributed SCM systems it's some absolutely unique identifier, usually the result of a one-way hash (SHA1, in fossil's case.) The <b>fossil</b> term for these is <em>artifact IDs</em>. <code>fossil checkout </code> <i>id</i> will check out the version corresponding to <i>id</i> into the source tree. <code>checkout</code> requires you to pick a precise version to put into the "on-disk" source tree, and leaves any edited files which are already in the tree intact. <code>update</code>, on the other hand, <em>merges</em> edits into the version you choose (if you choose one; you can default the version.) Since a version is required, and <b>fossil</b>'s artifact IDs are fairly long, there are two good ways to refer to the version. You can use a unique proper prefix of the version (six or eight characters is more than enough in most cases) <em>or</em> you can [./cmd_tag.wiki | tag] your baselines and use the tags for checkouts, reverting, branching (tags are the best way to branch) and so forth. Both methods work throughout fossil. See also [./cmd_tag.wiki | fossil tag], [./cmd_revert.wiki | fossil revert], [./cmd_update.wiki | fossil update], [./cmd_push.wiki | fossil push], [./cmd_pull.wiki | fossil pull], [./cmd_clone.wiki | fossil clone], [./cmd_open.wiki | fossil open], [./cmd_close.wiki | fossil close], [./cmd_new.wiki | fossil new], [./reference.wiki | Reference]