Eclipse vs. CVS: Same Modules, Multiple Branches/Tags

I work on two products, each residing in its own CVS module; call them B (Base) and D (Dependent). D is dependent on B; B can exist on its own. Typically I want to have them together in my IDE environment so that I can e.g. follow API calls from D to B in the editor and debugger. These products are on distinct release schedules; a given branch/tag of D is dependent on a specific branch/tag of B. At any given time, I may be working on several different B/D branch/tag combinations.

I'm an Eclipse noob, but I believe what we are talking about here is multiple workspaces, one for each B/D combination, and each with projects for B and D. I need to be able to create these workspaces relatively quickly, without starting completely over each time, and in such a way that the environment does not vary across the workspaces, except of course for the fact that the branch/tags are different.

So: What do I have to do in Eclipse to accomplish my goals here? Thanks in advance...

Mark

You can use separate workspaces, but creating a new workspace for each new B/D combination seems a bit impractical.

I am in a similar situation, although I probably have less combinations. I use a single workspace where I check out each branch when I need it. You can safely check out multiple branches in Eclipse, as long as each project name is unique. I add a branch tag after the project name when I check it out so I can easily identify the correct version. When I'm working on one combination of projects, I close the all other projects that I checked out earlier so I don't edit the wrong version by mistake. The only thing that you have to adjust manually each time is which dependent project you will be working on in your project's classpath and run configuration.

Alternatively, if you still would like to use multiple workspaces you can try creating a new workspace folder and copying the .metadata folder of an existing workspace to it. This will copy your workspace settings. The only drawback is that you have to remove all project references after startup since they won't exist in your new workspace.