Revision Control System

The Revision Control System (RCS) is a simple open source software revision control system. It works on individual files rather than projects and makes no use of repositories or a client/server architecture, making it better suited to individual use or as a background versioning system for small applications that require an automated system but is hidden away from the user and thus does not represent a user interface to the end user, like in for instance a Wiki system that does not use a database or a simple document management system.

Because of its relative simplicity and the fact that it handles alien formats better than CVS does for instance, RCS has its uses in the modern day, for simple personal setups it handles basic revision control with aplomb and oddly enough is still available in a 16 bit version for OS/2 1.x.

Version

 * 5.7 (1999-03-28)
 * 5.8

Articles

 * A Warped RCS/CVS HowTo by Henry Sobotka (May 1999)

Links

 * Official original Revision Control System
 * RCS—A System for Version Control - By the original RCS author.
 * GNU RCS Fork

License

 * Open source, originally non-redistributable freeware, later versions and forks released under the GPL v2 and GPL v3.

Authors

 * Walter F. Tichy (Original developer)
 * Frank Whaley (MS-DOS and OS/2 1.x port)
 * Rich Braun (Novell support).
 * Kai-Uwe Rommel (OS/2 32-bit port)
 * Paul Eggert
 * Thien-Thi Nguyen (Current maintainer)