23.8.3 Basic Editing under Version Control

The principal VC command is an all-purpose command that performs either locking or check-in, depending on the situation.

C-x v v

Perform the next logical version control operation on this file.

The precise action of this command depends on the state of the file, and whether the version control system uses locking or not. SCCS and RCS normally use locking; CVS normally does not use locking.

As a special convenience that is particularly useful for files with locking, you can let Emacs check a file in or out whenever you change its read-only flag. This means, for example, that you cannot accidentally edit a file without properly checking it out first. To achieve this, bind the key C-x C-q to vc-toggle-read-only in your ‘~/.emacs’ file. (See section Rebinding Keys in Your Init File.)