ChangeLog Task

## CvsChangeLog

### Description

Generates an XML-formatted report file of the change logs recorded in a CVS repository.

Important: This task needs "`cvs`" on the path. If it isn't, you will get an error (such as error `2` on windows). If `<cvs>` doesn't work, try to execute `cvs.exe` from the command line in the target directory in which you are working. Also note that this task assumes that the cvs executable is compatible with the Unix version from cvshome.org, this is not completely true for certain other cvs clients - like CVSNT for example - and some operation may fail when using such an incompatible client.

### Parameters

Attribute | Description | Required
Attributes from parent Cvs task which are meaningful here Since Apache Ant 1.6.1
cvsRoot | the `CVSROOT` variable. | No
cvsRsh | the `CVS_RSH` variable. | No
package | the package/module to check out. Note: multiple attributes can be split using spaces. Use a nested <module> element if you want to specify a module with spaces in its name. | No
port | Port used by CVS to communicate with the server. | No, default port 2401.
passfile | Password file to read passwords from. | No, default file `~/.cvspass`.
failonerror | Stop the build process if the command exits with a return code other than `0`. Defaults to false | No
tag | query the changelog for a specific branch. | No
Specific attributes
dir | The directory from which to run the CVS log command. | No; defaults to ${basedir}.
destfile | The file in which to write the change log report. | Yes
usersfile | Property file that contains name-value pairs mapping user IDs and names that should be used in the report in place of the user ID. | No
daysinpast | Sets the number of days into the past for which the change log information should be retrieved. | No
start | The earliest date from which change logs are to be included in the report. | No
end | The latest date to which change logs are to be included in the report. | No
remote | If set to true, works against the repository (using rlog) without a working copy. Default is false. Since Ant 1.8.0 | No
startTag | The start of a tag range. If endTag is also specified, they must both be on the same branch. If endTag is not specified, the end of the range will be the latest on the same branch on which startTag lives. Since Ant 1.8.0 | No
endTag | The end of a tag range. If startTag is also specified, they must both be on the same branch. If startTag is not specified, the start of the range will be the top of the branch on which endTag lives. included in the report. Since Ant 1.8.0 | No

### Parameters specified as nested elements

#### user

The nested `<user>` element allows you to specify a mapping between a user ID as it appears on the CVS server and a name to include in the formatted report. Anytime the specified user ID has made a change in the repository, the `<author>` tag in the report file will include the name specified in `displayname` rather than the user ID.

Attribute | Description | Required
displayname | The name to be used in the CVS change log report. | Yes
userid | The userid of the person as it exists on the CVS server. | Yes

#### module

Specifies a package/module to work on, unlike the package attribute modules specified using this attribute can contain spaces in their name.

Attribute | Description | Required
name | The module's/package's name. | Yes.

### Examples

      <cvschangelog dir="dve/network"
                    destfile="changelog.xml"
      />

Generates a change log report for all the changes that have been made under the `dve/network` directory. It writes these changes into the file `changelog.xml`.

      <cvschangelog dir="dve/network"
                    destfile="changelog.xml"
                    daysinpast="10"
      />

Generates a change log report for any changes that were made under the `dve/network` directory in the past 10 days. It writes these changes into the file `changelog.xml`.

      <cvschangelog dir="dve/network"
                    destfile="changelog.xml"
                    start="20 Feb 2002"
                    end="20 Mar 2002"
      />

Generates a change log report for any changes that were made between February 20, 2002 and March 20, 2002 under the `dve/network` directory. It writes these changes into the file `changelog.xml`.

      <cvschangelog dir="dve/network"
                    destfile="changelog.xml"
                    start="20 Feb 2002"
      />

Generates a change log report for any changes that were made after February 20, 2002 under the `dve/network` directory. It writes these changes into the file `changelog.xml`.

      <cvschangelog dir="dve/network"
                    destfile="changelog.xml">
           <user displayname="Peter Donald" userid="donaldp"/>
      </cvschangelog>

Generates a change log report for all the changes that were made under the `dve/network` directory, substituting the name "Peter Donald" in the `<author>` tags anytime it encounters a change made by the user ID "donaldp". It writes these changes into the file `changelog.xml`.

Generates a change log report on the `ANT_16_BRANCH`.

     <cvschangelog dir="c:/dev/asf/ant.head" passfile="c:/home/myself/.cvspass"
                    destfile="changelogant.xml" tag="ANT_16_BRANCH"/>

#### Generate Report

Ant includes a basic XSLT stylesheet that you can use to generate a HTML report based on the xml output. The following example illustrates how to generate a HTML report from the XML report.

            <style in="changelog.xml"
                   out="changelog.html"
                   style="${ant.home}/etc/changelog.xsl">
              <param name="title" expression="Ant ChangeLog"/>
              <param name="module" expression="ant"/>
              <param name="cvsweb" expression="http://cvs.apache.org/viewcvs/"/>
            </style>

#### Sample Output

    <changelog>
      <entry>
        <date>2002-03-06</date>
        <time>12:00</time>
        <author>Peter Donald</author>
        <file>
          <name>org/apache/myrmidon/build/AntlibDescriptorTask.java</name>
          <revision>1.3</revision>
          <prevrevision>1.2</prevrevision>
        </file>
        <msg><![CDATA[Use URLs directly rather than go via a File.

    This allows templates to be stored inside jar]]></msg>
      </entry>
    </changelog>