Editing Revision Control System (section)

=== Mode of operation ===
RCS works well with standalone files and supports multi-file projects but, by modern standards, that support is limited: RCS can assemble the versions of multiple files into a single release (via "symbolic names")<ref>F. Tichy, Walter: "RCS: A System for Version Control", page 15. Department of Computer Science Technical Reports, Purdue University. Paper 394. https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cstech/394</ref> but it lacks support for [[Atomic commit#Revision control|atomic commit]] across those files. Although it provides branching, the version syntax is cumbersome.{{Citation needed|reason=what's cumbersome about it?!|date=February 2025}}<!-- need some proper lead-in to point out that tools which use RCS files such as CVS use the same branching, but make it simpler to use --> Instead of using branches, many teams just use the built-in locking mechanism and work on a single ''head'' branch.<ref name=":1" />