Annotations And Branches

By default, annotation always shows activity on the main trunk of development. Even when invoked from a branch working copy, it shows annotations for the trunk unless you specify otherwise. (This tendency to favor the trunk is either a bug or a feature, depending on your point of view.) You can force CVS to annotate a branch by passing the branch tag as an argument to -r. Here is an example from a working copy in which hello.c is on a branch named Brancho_Gratuito, with at least one change committed on that branch:

     floss$ cvs status hello.c
     ===================================================================
     File: hello.c           Status: Up-to-date
     
       Working revision:    1.10.2.2        Sun Jul 25 21:29:05 1999
       Repository revision: 1.10.2.2        /usr/local/newrepos/myproj/hello.c,v
       Sticky Tag:          Brancho_Gratuito (branch: 1.10.2)
       Sticky Date:         (none)
       Sticky Options:      (none)
     
     floss$ cvs annotate hello.c
     Annotations for hello.c
     ***************
     1.1          (jrandom  20-Jun-99): #include <stdio.h>
     1.1          (jrandom  20-Jun-99):
     1.1          (jrandom  20-Jun-99): void
     1.1          (jrandom  20-Jun-99): main ()
     1.1          (jrandom  20-Jun-99): {
     1.10         (jrandom  12-Jul-99):   /* test */
     1.1          (jrandom  20-Jun-99):   printf ("Hello, world!\n");
     1.3          (jrandom  21-Jun-99):   printf ("hmmm\n");
     1.4          (jrandom  21-Jun-99):   printf ("double hmmm\n");
     1.2          (jrandom  21-Jun-99):   printf ("Goodbye, world!\n");
     1.1          (jrandom  20-Jun-99): }
     floss$ cvs annotate -r Brancho_Gratuito hello.c
     Annotations for hello.c
     ***************
     1.1          (jrandom  20-Jun-99): #include <stdio.h>
     1.1          (jrandom  20-Jun-99):
     1.1          (jrandom  20-Jun-99): void
     1.1          (jrandom  20-Jun-99): main ()
     1.1          (jrandom  20-Jun-99): {
     1.10         (jrandom  12-Jul-99):   /* test */
     1.1          (jrandom  20-Jun-99):   printf ("Hello, world!\n");
     1.10.2.2     (jrandom  25-Jul-99):   printf ("hmmmmm\n");
     1.4          (jrandom  21-Jun-99):   printf ("double hmmm\n");
     1.10.2.1     (jrandom  25-Jul-99):   printf ("added this line");
     1.2          (jrandom  21-Jun-99):   printf ("Goodbye, world!\n");
     1.1          (jrandom  20-Jun-99): }
     floss$

You can also pass the branch number itself:

     floss$ cvs annotate -r 1.10.2 hello.c
     Annotations for hello.c
     ***************
     1.1          (jrandom  20-Jun-99): #include <stdio.h>
     1.1          (jrandom  20-Jun-99):
     1.1          (jrandom  20-Jun-99): void
     1.1          (jrandom  20-Jun-99): main ()
     1.1          (jrandom  20-Jun-99): {
     1.10         (jrandom  12-Jul-99):   /* test */
     1.1          (jrandom  20-Jun-99):   printf ("Hello, world!\n");
     1.10.2.2     (jrandom  25-Jul-99):   printf ("hmmmmm\n");
     1.4          (jrandom  21-Jun-99):   printf ("double hmmm\n");
     1.10.2.1     (jrandom  25-Jul-99):   printf ("added this line");
     1.2          (jrandom  21-Jun-99):   printf ("Goodbye, world!\n");
     1.1          (jrandom  20-Jun-99): }
     floss$

or a full revision number from the branch:

     floss$ cvs annotate -r 1.10.2.1 hello.c
     Annotations for hello.c
     ***************
     1.1          (jrandom  20-Jun-99): #include <stdio.h>
     1.1          (jrandom  20-Jun-99):
     1.1          (jrandom  20-Jun-99): void
     1.1          (jrandom  20-Jun-99): main ()
     1.1          (jrandom  20-Jun-99): {
     1.10         (jrandom  12-Jul-99):   /* test */
     1.1          (jrandom  20-Jun-99):   printf ("Hello, world!\n");
     1.3          (jrandom  21-Jun-99):   printf ("hmmm\n");
     1.4          (jrandom  21-Jun-99):   printf ("double hmmm\n");
     1.10.2.1     (jrandom  25-Jul-99):   printf ("added this line");
     1.2          (jrandom  21-Jun-99):   printf ("Goodbye, world!\n");
     1.1          (jrandom  20-Jun-99): }
     floss$

If you do this, remember that the numbers are only valid for that particular file. In general, it's probably better to use the branch name wherever possible.