Pastwatch is a distributed version control system. It performs many of the same functions as CVS, but Pastwatch adds a number of very useful features. For example, Pastwatch allows users to perform repository operations while disconnected from the network and Pastwatch features integrated data replication.

Aqua is a free hosting service for Pastwatch projects. It is a distributed, service that uses many computers spread around the world to make sure Pastwatch projects are highly available. Even if some of the servers break down, Aqua will still work.

Features

• Supports Traditional Version Control Features: Pastwatch provides all the basic version control functions like CVS such as checkout, update, commit, diff, etc. Even its command line interface is similar to CVS.

• Aqua Service: Aqua is a free hosting service for Pastwatch projects. Pastwatch projects store a copy of their repository on Aqua, and Aqua makes sure that the repository is highly available. Aqua is composed of many redundant servers, so even if there are host failures or network failures, Aqua will still be available.

• Decentralized Architecture: Pastwatch does not rely on any single server to host the repository. Pastwatch replicates a project's repository on each project member's computer, as well as on Aqua. Even if some Aqua nodes or member computers become unavailable for any reason, the remaining Pastwatch users can continue to work without being affected.

• Disconnected Operations: Pastwatch allows users to update and commit changes to the repository while they are disconnected from the network. Pastwatch users have full access to the source repository while travelling and during network failures. Updates made while disconnected become visible when the user reconnects.

• Fast Updates: Updating a user's working directory is fast because Pastwatch users only use the network to retrieve new changes. The other operations like calculating diffs and patching files are completed locally. Committing changes is also fast for the same reasons.

• Integrated Peer Backup: The members of a software project cooperate with each other to automatically replicate the entire project repository.

• Atomic Commits: Pastwatch commits are atomic. Multiple files may be changed in a single commit. Pastwatch makes sure that for each commit, either all or none of the changes will be visible to users.

• CVS Conversion: Pastwatch comes with a convenient translator (cvs2past) that will translate a CVS repository into a Pastwatch repository while preserving the revision history.

Aqua is composed of many servers scattered around the United States. Here is a list of the current Aqua servers:

• Source code tar-balls
• Precompiled binaries for FedoraCore, Debian
• Anonymous Pastwatch
• Anonymous CVS

For more instructions on how to download and install Pastwatch (including how to use anonymous Pastwatch and CVS), please read Chapter 2 in the Pastwatch Manual.

This is the public key used to sign Pastwatch binaries:

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Version: GnuPG v1.2.6 (GNU/Linux)

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-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

Benjie Chen
Robert Morris
Alexander Yip

Acknowledgment