Part III. Software Development
Part III describes important tools for software development. The Unix operating system earned its reputation by providing an unexcelled environment for software development. RCS, CVS, Subversion, make, and GDB are major contributors to the efficiency of this environment.
RCS allows multiple versions of a source file to be stored in a single archival file. CVS goes further, enabling easy multideveloper access to a group of shared source files. Subversion is a new version control system intended to “build a better CVS.” make automatically updates a group of interrelated programs. The GDB debugger lets you examine the state of your program as it runs in order to find and fix problems.
Finally, an important part of software development is program documentation. Unix programs traditionally come with a “man page,” a file that documents the program’s usage, for use with the man command. Manual pages are written using the venerable troff text formatting program. troff is no longer used for much else, though. Therefore, we have provided enough information to enable you to write a manual page.
Chapter 12, Source Code Management: An Overview
Chapter 13, The Revision Control System
Chapter 14, The Concurrent Versions System
Chapter 15, The Subversion Version Control System
Chapter 16, The GNU make Utility
Chapter 17, The GDB Debugger
Chapter 18, Writing Manual Pages
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