Being the lazy sot that I am, I have a script that recursively makes every file in the tree writable:
chmod a+rw -R *
chmod a+rw -R *.*then I edit to my heart's content (it's the way we work here. In prior lives I would check out a file or two - exclusively for my use while they were locked, like in the real world)
When I'm done, MKS (it's the way we work here. In prior lives...) tells me which files have changed. I lock them, check them in, and hope I don't have to merge someone else's changes.
Hope this helps.