ci

ci [options] file...

ci (check in) deposits the contents of a working file into an RCS (Revision Control System) archive file. RCS files store all revisions of a file, enabling version tracking and history management.By default, ci removes the working file after check-in, leaving only the RCS archive. Use -u to keep a read-only copy or -l to keep a locked (editable) copy.The command prompts for a log message describing the changes. This message is stored with the revision for future reference.

-l[rev]

Check in and immediately check out locked for continued editing.

Check in and leave a read-only (unlocked) working copy.

Assign specific revision number to the new revision.

Force check-in even if file is unchanged from the previous revision.

Use msg as the log message instead of prompting interactively.

Assign a symbolic name to the checked-in revision.

Same as -n, but overrides any existing assignment of the name.

Set the state of the checked-in revision (e.g. Exp, Stab, Rel).

Use the specified date as the check-in date instead of the current time.

Use login as the author field of the deposited revision.

Search working file for RCS keyword values to determine the revision number, date, author, and state.

Quiet mode; suppress diagnostic output.

Set the RCS file's modification time to the new revision's time only if the former precedes the latter. Preserves make dependencies.

Set the modification time of the working file (with -l or -u) to the date of the retrieved revision.

Requires the caller's login to be on the RCS access list (unless the list is empty, or the caller is the superuser or file owner). To add a revision to an existing branch, the tip must be locked by the caller.If the revision is unchanged from the previous one, ci reverts to that revision unless -f is specified.

RCS (Revision Control System) was developed by Walter Tichy at Purdue University and first released in 1982. It was one of the earliest version control systems and influenced later systems like CVS. While largely superseded by Git and other distributed systems, RCS remains useful for simple single-file versioning.

co(1), rcs(1), rcsdiff(1), rlog(1)