by Bob Aiello

Making sense of a large-scale CVS repository can be challenging to say the least. Hundreds or even thousands of files going back years can hold important information about your development project and trying to get to that information can be a difficult and time-consuming task. For example, trying to find a specific version of a Java class file and understanding how the code has evolved can be similar to looking for a needle in a haystack. Sometimes the information is there, but accessing the history can be a data mining effort most developers just do not have time to do.

Cenqua, based in Australia, has taken on the challenge with impressive results and a remarkable product that, based upon customer feedback, should be used by every serious CVS user. FishEye is 100% pure java and designed to run in a server environment, although the product can also run on a Windows PC as well. The primary benefits of FishEye are source code discovery, analysis of meta-data and communication (through RSS feeds). For this article, I have solicited input from several current customers in addition to my own review of the product and have produced some impressive results.