Switch from cscope

Ripscope takes the command lines you already give cscope and prints rows in the same format, so switching is mostly a matter of changing the program name. Scripts, Vim and Emacs each take one small step, and a few differences are worth knowing before you start.

In scripts

Replace cscope with ripscope and keep the options.

$ ripscope -Rbqk
$ ripscope -dL -3 greet
main.c main 5 greet("world");

The index is ripscope.db instead of cscope.out. Ripscope never reads or overwrites a cscope database, so both tools can run side by side in one directory while you compare them. Pointing Ripscope at an existing cscope.out fails and leaves the file alone:

$ ripscope -b -f cscope.out
ripscope: cscope.out is not a ripscope index; it was left unchanged

Your cscope.files works as it is, including the -I and -k lines in it. So do INCLUDEDIRS and INCDIR.

You can drop the rebuild step from most scripts. A -L search brings the index up to date first and reads only the files that changed. Keep -d where you want an answer from the index as it is.

In Vim

Install the Vim plugin. Your :cs find commands and mappings keep working, and you no longer build or add a database yourself.

Remove the lines in your vimrc that run cs add or set cscopeprg. Ripscope stays out of the way while another cscope connection is open or cscopeprg names another program.

In Neovim, which has no built-in cscope support, use the Neovim plugin and :RipscopeFind.

In Emacs

Install the Emacs package. M-. and M-? work at once. To keep the keys xcscope gave you, bind its prefix to Ripscope’s command map:

(define-key ripscope-mode-map (kbd "C-c s") 'ripscope-command-map)

What is different

• No full-screen interface. Running ripscope without -b, -L or -l prints ripscope: cscope's full-screen interface is not supported; use -b, -L or -l. Search from your editor or with -L. Field 5 is a text search, as in cscope’s line mode, and never changes text.
• Two options are refused. -T and -s would change the answers, so Ripscope stops with a message instead of ignoring them.
• Some options do nothing. -q, -e, -U, -v, -c, -p N and -F FILE are accepted so your command lines keep working. The index is always fast, with or without -q.
• Some answers change. Ripscope finds increments, indexed stores and definitions that cscope misses. It also works out each row’s function within its own file, so some rows name a different function than cscope’s do. Where alternative function heads under #if share one body, a call names only the last head as its caller. A script that compares output byte for byte with cscope’s can see those rows change.

Differences from cscope lists every deliberate difference with examples.