CVS release tag for current patched release

[Jeffrey Goldberg]

The short version of my question is whether the cvs tag RELENG_6_2  
refers to the latest on the 6.2 STABLE branch or the 6.2 RELEASE Branch.

The background (somewhat long winded) to the question and why I'm  
confused follows.


I wish to make some minor local modifications to my system running  
6.2 RELEASE p4.  So far, I've been maintaining my system using csup  
with a sup file based on

   /usr/share/examples/cvsup/standard-supfile

But my local changes get overwritten with each new update using  
csup.  I was advised earlier on this list to use cvs instead (which I  
thought csup did, but now I see that csup (and cvsup) will use  
"checkout" mode instead of "CVS mode" unless I'm on the bleeding edge.

So, if I understand things correctly, I should be using cvs directly  
and using "update" instead of "checkout" so that my local changes  
will be merged locally with what is in the repository.

I've been using rcs (and even sccs) for as long as I can remember,  
but only in the  most primitive of ways (I never used nor grokked  
branches, although "Open Source Development with CVS: Learn How to  
Work With Open Source Software" (ISBN 1576104907), which has been on  
my shelves for years about I just started reading last night, has  
been a great help).

Now my impression from looking at the standard-supfile is that if I do a

   cvs update -r RELENG_6_2

I'll get what I need (the latest fix of the 6.2 release).  However  
there is a bit in the handbook that suggests that RELENG_6_2 will get  
me the latest in the STABLE branch instead of RELEASE branch.

From

   http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/ 
anoncvs.html

  Example A-3. Checking Out the Version of ls(1) in the 6-STABLE Branch:

  % setenv CVSROOT :pserver:anoncvs at anoncvs.jp.FreeBSD.org:/home/ncvs
  % cvs login
  At the prompt, enter the password “anoncvs”.
  % cvs co -rRELENG_6 ls

That suggests that -r RELENG_6 will get the latest on the *STABLE*  
branch.  Is that an error in the docs, an error in my understanding,  
or something else altogether.

Finally it might help me if I knew where the term "RELENG" came  
from.  Things like "RELEASE", "CURRENT" and "STABLE" all make sense,  
but "RELENG" doesn't seem to have some human meaning (well, not to  
this human at least).

Cheers,

-j


-- 
Jeffrey Goldberg                        http://www.goldmark.org/jeff/