[cvsnt] CVS for non-technie users

[David Somers]

James Geldart wrote:

> Hi
> 
> A customer I'm working with has a requirement to roll out a file-sharing
> system to users in various locations - for various reasons they don't want
> to use SharePoint, and we're looking at alternatives. The key requirements
> are to be able to store files on a central server, and for ordinary,
> non-technical users to be able to set up clients with a minimum of
> technical support (ideally none at all). Version control is less
> important, although it's a nice-to-have.
> 
> I'm completely new to CVS/CVSNT, but it seems that the server
> functionality is pretty much what we're looking for. But, I'm not too
> convinced that the client software that's around is able to be set up by
> someone without a bit of understanding of the protocols involved, or that
> it's really able to provide a seemless interface for users used to a
> normal Windows Explorer type of environment.
> 
> So my question is, does anyone out there have any experience of using
> CVS(NT) for this kind of project, and if so can you give me any useful
> pointers as to the possible way forward?

Use TortoiseCVS (http://www.tortoisecvs.org/), which integrates cvs[nt] into
the Windows shell.

> Alternatively, if anyone has a 
> strong opinion that CVS isn't suitable for this, that would also be useful
> information.

It depends whether the users can cope with checkin/checkout... and that they
have to update to see new files.... possibly some WebDAV based system would
be better (e.g. stick up a NAS appliance with a WebDAV interface).

-- 
David Somers
typographer/programmer/whatever