This is Info file cvs.info, produced by Makeinfo-1.64 from the input file ../../work/ccvs/doc/cvs.texinfo. Copyright (C) 1992, 1993 Signum Support AB Copyright (C) 1993, 1994 Free Software Foundation, Inc. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies. Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided also that the section entitled "GNU General Public License" is included exactly as in the original, and provided that the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a permission notice identical to this one. Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions, except that the section entitled "GNU General Public License" and this permission notice may be included in translations approved by the Free Software Foundation instead of in the original English.  File: cvs.info, Node: Top, Next: Preface, Up: (dir) This info manual describes how to use and administer CVS version 1.9.2. * Menu: * Preface:: About this manual * What is CVS?:: What is CVS? * Basic concepts:: Basic concepts of revision management * A sample session:: A tour of basic CVS usage * Repository:: Where all your sources are stored * Starting a new project:: Starting a project with CVS * Multiple developers:: How CVS helps a group of developers * Branches:: Parallel development explained * Merging:: How to move changes between branches * Recursive behavior:: CVS descends directories * Adding files:: Adding files * Removing files:: Removing files * Removing directories:: Removing directories * Tracking sources:: Tracking third-party sources * Moving files:: Moving and renaming files * Moving directories:: Moving and renaming directories * History browsing:: Viewing the history of files in various ways * Keyword substitution:: CVS can include the revision inside the file * Binary files:: CVS can handle binary files * Builds:: Issues related to CVS and builds * Compatibility:: Upgrading CVS versions * Revision management:: Policy questions for revision management * CVS commands:: CVS commands share some things * Invoking CVS:: Quick reference to CVS commands * Administrative files:: Reference manual for the Administrative files * Environment variables:: All environment variables which affect CVS * Troubleshooting:: Some tips when nothing works * Copying:: GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE * Index:: Index  File: cvs.info, Node: Preface, Next: What is CVS?, Prev: Top, Up: Top About this manual ***************** Up to this point, one of the weakest parts of CVS has been the documentation. CVS is a complex program. Previous versions of the manual were written in the manual page format, which is not really well suited for such a complex program. When writing this manual, I had several goals in mind: * No knowledge of RCS should be necessary. * No previous knowledge of revision control software should be necessary. All terms, such as "revision numbers", "revision trees" and "merging" are explained as they are introduced. * The manual should concentrate on the things CVS users want to do, instead of what the CVS commands can do. The first part of this manual leads you through things you might want to do while doing development, and introduces the relevant CVS commands as they are needed. * Information should be easy to find. In the reference manual in the appendices almost all information about every CVS command is gathered together. There is also an extensive index, and a lot of cross references. This manual was contributed by Signum Support AB in Sweden. Signum is yet another in the growing list of companies that support free software. You are free to copy both this manual and the CVS program. *Note Copying::, for the details. Signum Support offers support contracts and binary distribution for many programs, such as CVS, GNU Emacs, the GNU C compiler and others. Write to us for more information. Signum Support AB Box 2044 S-580 02 Linkoping Sweden Email: info@signum.se Phone: +46 (0)13 - 21 46 00 Fax: +46 (0)13 - 21 47 00 Another company selling support for CVS is Cyclic Software, web: `http://www.cyclic.com/', email: `info@cyclic.com'. * Menu: * Checklist:: * Credits:: * BUGS::  File: cvs.info, Node: Checklist, Next: Credits, Up: Preface Checklist for the impatient reader ================================== CVS is a complex system. You will need to read the manual to be able to use all of its capabilities. There are dangers that can easily be avoided if you know about them, and this manual tries to warn you about them. This checklist is intended to help you avoid the dangers without reading the entire manual. If you intend to read the entire manual you can skip this table. Binary files CVS can handle binary files, but you must have RCS release 5.5 or later and a release of GNU diff that supports the `-a' flag (release 1.15 and later are OK). You must also configure both RCS and CVS to handle binary files when you install them. Keword substitution can be a source of trouble with binary files. *Note Keyword substitution::, for solutions. The `admin' command Careless use of the `admin' command can cause CVS to cease working. *Note admin::, before trying to use it.  File: cvs.info, Node: Credits, Next: BUGS, Prev: Checklist, Up: Preface Credits ======= Roland Pesch, then of Cygnus Support wrote the manual pages which were distributed with CVS 1.3. Appendix A and B contain much text that was extracted from them. He also read an early draft of this manual and contributed many ideas and corrections. The mailing-list `info-cvs' is sometimes informative. I have included information from postings made by the following persons: David G. Grubbs . Some text has been extracted from the man pages for RCS. The CVS FAQ by David G. Grubbs has provided useful material. The FAQ is no longer maintained, however, and this manual about the closest thing there is to a successor (with respect to documenting how to use CVS, at least). In addition, the following persons have helped by telling me about mistakes I've made: Roxanne Brunskill , Kathy Dyer , Karl Pingle , Thomas A Peterson , Inge Wallin , Dirk Koschuetzki and Michael Brown .  File: cvs.info, Node: BUGS, Prev: Credits, Up: Preface BUGS ==== This manual is known to have room for improvement. Here is a list of known deficiencies: * In the examples, the output from CVS is sometimes displayed, sometimes not. * The input that you are supposed to type in the examples should have a different font than the output from the computer. * This manual should be clearer about what file permissions you should set up in the repository, and about setuid/setgid. * Some of the chapters are not yet complete. They are noted by comments in the `cvs.texinfo' file. * This list is not complete. If you notice any error, omission, or something that is unclear, please send mail to bug-cvs@prep.ai.mit.edu. I hope that you will find this manual useful, despite the above-mentioned shortcomings. Linkoping, October 1993 Per Cederqvist  File: cvs.info, Node: What is CVS?, Next: Basic concepts, Prev: Preface, Up: Top What is CVS? ************ CVS is a version control system. Using it, you can record the history of your source files. For example, bugs sometimes creep in when software is modified, and you might not detect the bug until a long time after you make the modification. With CVS, you can easily retrieve old versions to see exactly which change caused the bug. This can sometimes be a big help. You could of course save every version of every file you have ever created. This would however waste an enormous amount of disk space. CVS stores all the versions of a file in a single file in a clever way that only stores the differences between versions. CVS also helps you if you are part of a group of people working on the same project. It is all too easy to overwrite each others' changes unless you are extremely careful. Some editors, like GNU Emacs, try to make sure that the same file is never modified by two people at the same time. Unfortunately, if someone is using another editor, that safeguard will not work. CVS solves this problem by insulating the different developers from each other. Every developer works in his own directory, and CVS merges the work when each developer is done. CVS started out as a bunch of shell scripts written by Dick Grune, posted to `comp.sources.unix' in the volume 6 release of December, 1986. While no actual code from these shell scripts is present in the current version of CVS much of the CVS conflict resolution algorithms come from them. In April, 1989, Brian Berliner designed and coded CVS. Jeff Polk later helped Brian with the design of the CVS module and vendor branch support. You can get CVS via anonymous FTP from a number of sites; for example see http://www.gnu.ai.mit.edu/order/ftp.html for a list of the GNU FTP sites. There is a mailing list, known as `info-cvs', devoted to CVS. To subscribe or unsubscribe send a message to `info-cvs-request@prep.ai.mit.edu'. Please be specific about your email address. As of May 1996, subscription requests are handled by a busy human being, so you cannot expect to be added or removed immediately. If you prefer a usenet group, the right group is `comp.software.config-mgmt' which is for CVS discussions (along with other configuration management systems). In the future, it might be possible to create a `comp.software.config-mgmt.cvs', but probably only if there is sufficient CVS traffic on `comp.software.config-mgmt'. To report bugs in CVS send mail to `bug-cvs@prep.ai.mit.edu'. Do note that someone may or may not feel like taking care of your bug report--if you need a response consider a support contract from Cyclic Software (`http://www.cyclic.com' or `info@cyclic.com'). This is also the procedure for submitting suggested changes to CVS (see the file HACKING in the source distribution for more details). Note that all submitted changes may be distributed under the terms of the GNU Public License, so if you don't like this, don't submit them. CVS is not... ============= CVS can do a lot of things for you, but it does not try to be everything for everyone. CVS is not a build system. Though the structure of your repository and modules file interact with your build system (e.g. `Makefile's), they are essentially independent. CVS does not dictate how you build anything. It merely stores files for retrieval in a tree structure you devise. CVS does not dictate how to use disk space in the checked out working directories. If you write your `Makefile's or scripts in every directory so they have to know the relative positions of everything else, you wind up requiring the entire repository to be checked out. If you modularize your work, and construct a build system that will share files (via links, mounts, `VPATH' in `Makefile's, etc.), you can arrange your disk usage however you like. But you have to remember that *any* such system is a lot of work to construct and maintain. CVS does not address the issues involved. Of course, you should place the tools created to support such a build system (scripts, `Makefile's, etc) under CVS. Figuring out what files need to be rebuilt when something changes is, again, something to be handled outside the scope of CVS. One traditional approach is to use `make' for building, and use some automated tool for generating the dependencies which `make' uses. See *Note Builds::, for more information on doing builds in conjunction with CVS. CVS is not a substitute for management. Your managers and project leaders are expected to talk to you frequently enough to make certain you are aware of schedules, merge points, branch names and release dates. If they don't, CVS can't help. CVS is an instrument for making sources dance to your tune. But you are the piper and the composer. No instrument plays itself or writes its own music. CVS is not a substitute for developer communication. When faced with conflicts within a single file, most developers manage to resolve them without too much effort. But a more general definition of "conflict" includes problems too difficult to solve without communication between developers. CVS cannot determine when simultaneous changes within a single file, or across a whole collection of files, will logically conflict with one another. Its concept of a "conflict" is purely textual, arising when two changes to the same base file are near enough to spook the merge (i.e. `diff3') command. CVS does not claim to help at all in figuring out non-textual or distributed conflicts in program logic. For example: Say you change the arguments to function `X' defined in file `A'. At the same time, someone edits file `B', adding new calls to function `X' using the old arguments. You are outside the realm of CVS's competence. Acquire the habit of reading specs and talking to your peers. CVS does not have change control Change control refers to a number of things. First of all it can mean "bug-tracking", that is being able to keep a database of reported bugs and the status of each one (is it fixed? in what release? has the bug submitter agreed that it is fixed?). For interfacing CVS to an external bug-tracking system, see the `rcsinfo' and `verifymsg' files (*note Administrative files::.). Another aspect of change control is keeping track of the fact that changes to several files were in fact changed together as one logical change. If you check in several files in a single `cvs commit' operation, CVS then forgets that those files were checked in together, and the fact that they have the same log message is the only thing tying them together. Keeping a GNU style `ChangeLog' can help somewhat. Another aspect of change control, in some systems, is the ability to keep track of the status of each change. Some changes have been written by a developer, others have been reviewed by a second developer, and so on. Generally, the way to do this with CVS is to generate a diff (using `cvs diff' or `diff') and email it to someone who can then apply it using the `patch' utility. This is very flexible, but depends on mechanisms outside CVS to make sure nothing falls through the cracks. CVS is not an automated testing program It should be possible to enforce mandatory use of a testsuite using the `commitinfo' file. I haven't heard a lot about projects trying to do that or whether there are subtle gotchas, however. CVS does not have a builtin process model Some systems provide ways to ensure that changes or releases go through various steps, with various approvals as needed. Generally, one can accomplish this with CVS but it might be a little more work. In some cases you'll want to use the `commitinfo', `loginfo', `rcsinfo', or `verifymsg' files, to require that certain steps be performed before cvs will allow a checkin. Also consider whether features such as branches and tags can be used to perform tasks such as doing work in a development tree and then merging certain changes over to a stable tree only once they have been proven.  File: cvs.info, Node: Basic concepts, Next: A sample session, Prev: What is CVS?, Up: Top Basic concepts ************** CVS stores all files in a centralized "repository" (*note Repository::.). The repository contains directories and files, in an arbitrary tree. The "modules" feature can be used to group together a set of directories or files into a single entity (*note modules::.). A typical usage is to define one module per project. * Menu: * Revision numbers:: The meaning of a revision number * Versions revisions releases:: Terminology used in this manual  File: cvs.info, Node: Revision numbers, Next: Versions revisions releases, Up: Basic concepts Revision numbers ================ Each version of a file has a unique "revision number". Revision numbers look like `1.1', `1.2', `1.3.2.2' or even `1.3.2.2.4.5'. A revision number always has an even number of period-separated decimal integers. By default revision 1.1 is the first revision of a file. Each successive revision is given a new number by increasing the rightmost number by one. The following figure displays a few revisions, with newer revisions to the right. +-----+ +-----+ +-----+ +-----+ +-----+ ! 1.1 !----! 1.2 !----! 1.3 !----! 1.4 !----! 1.5 ! +-----+ +-----+ +-----+ +-----+ +-----+ CVS is not limited to linear development. The "revision tree" can be split into "branches", where each branch is a self-maintained line of development. Changes made on one branch can easily be moved back to the main trunk. Each branch has a "branch number", consisting of an odd number of period-separated decimal integers. The branch number is created by appending an integer to the revision number where the corresponding branch forked off. Having branch numbers allows more than one branch to be forked off from a certain revision. All revisions on a branch have revision numbers formed by appending an ordinal number to the branch number. The following figure illustrates branching with an example. +-------------+ Branch 1.2.2.3.2 -> ! 1.2.2.3.2.1 ! / +-------------+ / / +---------+ +---------+ +---------+ +---------+ Branch 1.2.2 -> _! 1.2.2.1 !----! 1.2.2.2 !----! 1.2.2.3 !----! 1.2.2.4 ! / +---------+ +---------+ +---------+ +---------+ / / +-----+ +-----+ +-----+ +-----+ +-----+ ! 1.1 !----! 1.2 !----! 1.3 !----! 1.4 !----! 1.5 ! <- The main trunk +-----+ +-----+ +-----+ +-----+ +-----+ ! ! ! +---------+ +---------+ +---------+ Branch 1.2.4 -> +---! 1.2.4.1 !----! 1.2.4.2 !----! 1.2.4.3 ! +---------+ +---------+ +---------+ The exact details of how the branch number is constructed is not something you normally need to be concerned about, but here is how it works: When CVS creates a branch number it picks the first unused even integer, starting with 2. So when you want to create a branch from revision 6.4 it will be numbered 6.4.2. All branch numbers ending in a zero (such as 6.4.0) are used internally by CVS (*note Magic branch numbers::.). The branch 1.1.1 has a special meaning. *Note Tracking sources::.  File: cvs.info, Node: Versions revisions releases, Prev: Revision numbers, Up: Basic concepts Versions, revisions and releases ================================ A file can have several versions, as described above. Likewise, a software product can have several versions. A software product is often given a version number such as `4.1.1'. Versions in the first sense are called "revisions" in this document, and versions in the second sense are called "releases". To avoid confusion, the word "version" is almost never used in this document.  File: cvs.info, Node: A sample session, Next: Repository, Prev: Basic concepts, Up: Top A sample session **************** This section describes a typical work-session using CVS. It assumes that a repository is set up (*note Repository::.). Suppose you are working on a simple compiler. The source consists of a handful of C files and a `Makefile'. The compiler is called `tc' (Trivial Compiler), and the repository is set up so that there is a module called `tc'. * Menu: * Getting the source:: Creating a workspace * Committing your changes:: Making your work available to others * Cleaning up:: Cleaning up * Viewing differences:: Viewing differences  File: cvs.info, Node: Getting the source, Next: Committing your changes, Up: A sample session Getting the source ================== The first thing you must do is to get your own working copy of the source for `tc'. For this, you use the `checkout' command: $ cvs checkout tc This will create a new directory called `tc' and populate it with the source files. $ cd tc $ ls CVS Makefile backend.c driver.c frontend.c parser.c The `CVS' directory is used internally by CVS. Normally, you should not modify or remove any of the files in it. You start your favorite editor, hack away at `backend.c', and a couple of hours later you have added an optimization pass to the compiler. A note to RCS and SCCS users: There is no need to lock the files that you want to edit. *Note Multiple developers::, for an explanation.  File: cvs.info, Node: Committing your changes, Next: Cleaning up, Prev: Getting the source, Up: A sample session Committing your changes ======================= When you have checked that the compiler is still compilable you decide to make a new version of `backend.c'. $ cvs commit backend.c CVS starts an editor, to allow you to enter a log message. You type in "Added an optimization pass.", save the temporary file, and exit the editor. The environment variable `$CVSEDITOR' determines which editor is started. If `$CVSEDITOR' is not set, then if the environment variable `$EDITOR' is set, it will be used. If both `$CVSEDITOR' and `$EDITOR' are not set then the editor defaults to `vi'. If you want to avoid the overhead of starting an editor you can specify the log message on the command line using the `-m' flag instead, like this: $ cvs commit -m "Added an optimization pass" backend.c  File: cvs.info, Node: Cleaning up, Next: Viewing differences, Prev: Committing your changes, Up: A sample session Cleaning up =========== Before you turn to other tasks you decide to remove your working copy of tc. One acceptable way to do that is of course $ cd .. $ rm -r tc but a better way is to use the `release' command (*note release::.): $ cd .. $ cvs release -d tc M driver.c ? tc You have [1] altered files in this repository. Are you sure you want to release (and delete) module `tc': n ** `release' aborted by user choice. The `release' command checks that all your modifications have been committed. If history logging is enabled it also makes a note in the history file. *Note history file::. When you use the `-d' flag with `release', it also removes your working copy. In the example above, the `release' command wrote a couple of lines of output. `? tc' means that the file `tc' is unknown to CVS. That is nothing to worry about: `tc' is the executable compiler, and it should not be stored in the repository. *Note cvsignore::, for information about how to make that warning go away. *Note release output::, for a complete explanation of all possible output from `release'. `M driver.c' is more serious. It means that the file `driver.c' has been modified since it was checked out. The `release' command always finishes by telling you how many modified files you have in your working copy of the sources, and then asks you for confirmation before deleting any files or making any note in the history file. You decide to play it safe and answer `n RET' when `release' asks for confirmation.  File: cvs.info, Node: Viewing differences, Prev: Cleaning up, Up: A sample session Viewing differences =================== You do not remember modifying `driver.c', so you want to see what has happened to that file. $ cd tc $ cvs diff driver.c This command runs `diff' to compare the version of `driver.c' that you checked out with your working copy. When you see the output you remember that you added a command line option that enabled the optimization pass. You check it in, and release the module. $ cvs commit -m "Added an optimization pass" driver.c Checking in driver.c; /usr/local/cvsroot/tc/driver.c,v <-- driver.c new revision: 1.2; previous revision: 1.1 done $ cd .. $ cvs release -d tc ? tc You have [0] altered files in this repository. Are you sure you want to release (and delete) module `tc': y  File: cvs.info, Node: Repository, Next: Starting a new project, Prev: A sample session, Up: Top The Repository ************** The CVS "repository" stores a complete copy of all the files and directories which are under version control. Normally, you never access any of the files in the repository directly. Instead, you use CVS commands to get your own copy of the files, and then work on that copy. When you've finished a set of changes, you check (or "commit") them back into the repository. The repository then contains the changes which you have made, as well as recording exactly what you changed, when you changed it, and other such information. CVS can access a repository by a variety of means. It might be on the local computer, or it might be on a computer across the room or across the world. To distinguish various ways to access a repository, the repository name can start with an "access method". For example, the access method `:local:' means to access a repository directory, so the repository `:local:/usr/local/cvsroot' means that the repository is in `/usr/local/cvsroot' on the computer running CVS. For information on other access methods, see *Note Remote repositories::. If the access method is omitted, then if the repository does not contain `:', then `:local:' is assumed. If it does contain `:' than either `:ext:' or `:server:' is assumed. For example, if you have a local repository in `/usr/local/cvsroot', you can use `/usr/local/cvsroot' instead of `:local:/usr/local/cvsroot'. But if (under Windows NT, for example) your local repository is `c:\src\cvsroot', then you must specify the access method, as in `:local:c:\src\cvsroot'. The repository is split in two parts. `$CVSROOT/CVSROOT' contains administrative files for CVS. The other directories contain the actual user-defined modules. * Menu: * Specifying a repository:: Telling CVS where your repository is * Repository storage:: The structure of the repository * Intro administrative files:: Defining modules * Multiple repositories:: Multiple repositories * Creating a repository:: Creating a repository * Remote repositories:: Accessing repositories on remote machines * Read-only access:: Granting read-only access to the repository  File: cvs.info, Node: Specifying a repository, Next: Repository storage, Up: Repository Telling CVS where your repository is ==================================== There are a couple of different ways to tell CVS where to find the repository. You can name the repository on the command line explicitly, with the `-d' (for "directory") option: cvs -d /usr/local/cvsroot checkout yoyodyne/tc Or you can set the `$CVSROOT' environment variable to an absolute path to the root of the repository, `/usr/local/cvsroot' in this example. To set `$CVSROOT', all `csh' and `tcsh' users should have this line in their `.cshrc' or `.tcshrc' files: setenv CVSROOT /usr/local/cvsroot `sh' and `bash' users should instead have these lines in their `.profile' or `.bashrc': CVSROOT=/usr/local/cvsroot export CVSROOT A repository specified with `-d' will override the `$CVSROOT' environment variable. Once you've checked a working copy out from the repository, it will remember where its repository is (the information is recorded in the `CVS/Root' file in the working copy). The `-d' option and the `CVS/Root' file both override the `$CVSROOT' environment variable. If `-d' option differs from `CVS/Root', the former is used (and specifying `-d' will cause `CVS/Root' to be updated). Of course, for proper operation they should be two ways of referring to the same repository.  File: cvs.info, Node: Repository storage, Next: Intro administrative files, Prev: Specifying a repository, Up: Repository How data is stored in the repository ==================================== For most purposes it isn't important *how* CVS stores information in the repository. In fact, the format has changed in the past, and is likely to change in the future. Since in almost all cases one accesses the repository via CVS commands; such changes need not be disruptive. However, in some cases it may be necessary to understand how CVS stores data in the repository, for example you might need to track down CVS locks (*note Concurrency::.) or you might need to deal with the file permissions appropriate for the repository. * Menu: * Repository files:: What files are stored in the repository * File permissions:: File permissions  File: cvs.info, Node: Repository files, Next: File permissions, Up: Repository storage Where files are stored within the repository -------------------------------------------- The overall structure of the repository is a directory tree corresponding to the directories in the working directory. For example, supposing the repository is in `/usr/local/cvsroot', here is a possible directory tree (showing only the directories): /usr | +--local | | | +--cvsroot | | | | | +--CVSROOT | (administrative files) | +--gnu | | | +--diff | | (source code to GNU diff) | | | +--rcs | | (source code to RCS) | | | +--cvs | (source code to CVS) | +--yoyodyne | +--tc | | | +--man | | | +--testing | +--(other Yoyodyne software) With the directories are "history files" for each file under version control. The name of the history file is the name of the corresponding file with `,v' appended to the end. Here is what the repository for the `yoyodyne/tc' directory might look like: `$CVSROOT' | +--yoyodyne | | | +--tc | | | +--Makefile,v +--backend.c,v +--driver.c,v +--frontend.c,v +--parser.c,v +--man | | | +--tc.1,v | +--testing | +--testpgm.t,v +--test2.t,v The history files contain, among other things, enough information to recreate any revision of the file, a log of all commit messages and the user-name of the person who committed the revision. The history files are known as "RCS files", because the first program to store files in that format was a version control system known as RCS. For a full description of the file format, see the `man' page `rcsfile(5)', distributed with RCS. This file format has become very common--many systems other than CVS or RCS can at least import history files in this format. The RCS files used in CVS differ in a few ways from the standard format. The biggest difference is magic branches; for more information see *Note Magic branch numbers::. Also in CVS the valid tag names are a subset of what RCS accepts; for CVS's rules see *Note Tags::.  File: cvs.info, Node: File permissions, Prev: Repository files, Up: Repository storage File permissions ---------------- All `,v' files are created read-only, and you should not change the permission of those files. The directories inside the repository should be writable by the persons that have permission to modify the files in each directory. This normally means that you must create a UNIX group (see group(5)) consisting of the persons that are to edit the files in a project, and set up the repository so that it is that group that owns the directory. This means that you can only control access to files on a per-directory basis. Note that users must also have write access to check out files, because CVS needs to create lock files (*note Concurrency::.). Also note that users must have write access to the `CVSROOT/val-tags' file. CVS uses it to keep track of what tags are valid tag names (it is sometimes updated when tags are used, as well as when they are created, though). CVS tries to set up reasonable file permissions for new directories that are added inside the tree, but you must fix the permissions manually when a new directory should have different permissions than its parent directory. If you set the `CVSUMASK' environment variable that will control the file permissions which CVS uses in creating directories and/or files in the repository. `CVSUMASK' does not affect the file permissions in the working directory; such files have the permissions which are typical for newly created files, except that sometimes CVS creates them read-only (see the sections on watches, *Note Setting a watch::; -r, *Note Global options::; or CVSREAD, *Note Environment variables::). Since CVS was not written to be run setuid, it is unsafe to try to run it setuid. You cannot use the setuid features of RCS together with CVS.  File: cvs.info, Node: Intro administrative files, Next: Multiple repositories, Prev: Repository storage, Up: Repository The administrative files ======================== The directory `$CVSROOT/CVSROOT' contains some "administrative files". *Note Administrative files::, for a complete description. You can use CVS without any of these files, but some commands work better when at least the `modules' file is properly set up. The most important of these files is the `modules' file. It defines all modules in the repository. This is a sample `modules' file. CVSROOT CVSROOT modules CVSROOT modules cvs gnu/cvs rcs gnu/rcs diff gnu/diff tc yoyodyne/tc The `modules' file is line oriented. In its simplest form each line contains the name of the module, whitespace, and the directory where the module resides. The directory is a path relative to `$CVSROOT'. The last four lines in the example above are examples of such lines. The line that defines the module called `modules' uses features that are not explained here. *Note modules::, for a full explanation of all the available features. Editing administrative files ---------------------------- You edit the administrative files in the same way that you would edit any other module. Use `cvs checkout CVSROOT' to get a working copy, edit it, and commit your changes in the normal way. It is possible to commit an erroneous administrative file. You can often fix the error and check in a new revision, but sometimes a particularly bad error in the administrative file makes it impossible to commit new revisions.  File: cvs.info, Node: Multiple repositories, Next: Creating a repository, Prev: Intro administrative files, Up: Repository Multiple repositories ===================== In some situations it is a good idea to have more than one repository, for instance if you have two development groups that work on separate projects without sharing any code. All you have to do to have several repositories is to specify the appropriate repository, using the `CVSROOT' environment variable, the `-d' option to CVS, or (once you have checked out a working directory) by simply allowing CVS to use the repository that was used to check out the working directory (*note Specifying a repository::.). The big advantage of having multiple repositories is that they can reside on different servers. The big disadvantage is that you cannot have a single CVS command recurse into directories which comes from different repositories. Generally speaking, if you are thinking of setting up several repositories on the same machine, you might want to consider using several directories within the same repository. None of the examples in this manual show multiple repositories.  File: cvs.info, Node: Creating a repository, Next: Remote repositories, Prev: Multiple repositories, Up: Repository Creating a repository ===================== To set up a CVS repository, first choose the machine and disk on which you want to store the revision history of the source files. CPU and memory requirements are modest--a server with 32M of memory or even less can handle a fairly large source tree with a fair amount of activity. To estimate disk space requirements, if you are importing RCS files from another system, the size of those files is the approximate initial size of your repository, or if you are starting without any version history, a rule of thumb is to allow for the server approximately three times the size of the code to be under CVS for the repository (you will eventually outgrow this, but not for a while). On the machines on which the developers will be working, you'll want disk space for approximately one working directory for each developer (either the entire tree or a portion of it, depending on what each developer uses). Don't worry about CPU and memory requirements for the clients--any machine with enough capacity to run the operating system in question should have little trouble. The repository should be accessable (directly or via a networked file system) from all machines which want to use CVS in server or local mode; the client machines need not have any access to it other than via the CVS protocol. It is not possible to use CVS to read from a repository which one only has read access to; CVS needs to be able to create lock files (*note Concurrency::.). To create a repository, run the `cvs init' command. It will set up an empty repository in the CVS root specified in the usual way (*note Repository::.). For example, cvs -d /usr/local/cvsroot init `cvs init' is careful to never overwrite any existing files in the repository, so no harm is done if you run `cvs init' on an already set-up repository. `cvs init' will enable history logging; if you don't want that, remove the history file after running `cvs init'. *Note history file::.  File: cvs.info, Node: Remote repositories, Next: Read-only access, Prev: Creating a repository, Up: Repository Remote repositories =================== Your working copy of the sources can be on a different machine than the repository. Using CVS in this manner is known as "client/server" operation. You run CVS on a machine which can mount your working directory, known as the "client", and tell it to communicate to a machine which can mount the repository, known as the "server". Generally, using a remote repository is just like using a local one, except that the format of the repository name is: :METHOD:USER@HOSTNAME:/path/to/repository The details of exactly what needs to be set up depend on how you are connecting to the server. If METHOD is not specified, and the repository name contains `:', then the default is `ext' or `server', depending on your platform; both are described in *Note Connecting via rsh::. * Menu: * Connecting via rsh:: Using the `rsh' program to connect * Password authenticated:: Direct connections using passwords * Kerberos authenticated:: Direct connections with kerberos  File: cvs.info, Node: Connecting via rsh, Next: Password authenticated, Up: Remote repositories Connecting with rsh ------------------- CVS uses the `rsh' protocol to perform these operations, so the remote user host needs to have a `.rhosts' file which grants access to the local user. For example, suppose you are the user `mozart' on the local machine `anklet.grunge.com', and the server machine is `chainsaw.brickyard.com'. On chainsaw, put the following line into the file `.rhosts' in `bach''s home directory: anklet.grunge.com mozart Then test that `rsh' is working with rsh -l bach chainsaw.brickyard.com 'echo $PATH' Next you have to make sure that `rsh' will be able to find the server. Make sure that the path which `rsh' printed in the above example includes the directory containing a program named `cvs' which is the server. You need to set the path in `.bashrc', `.cshrc', etc., not `.login' or `.profile'. Alternately, you can set the environment variable `CVS_SERVER' on the client machine to the filename of the server you want to use, for example `/usr/local/bin/cvs-1.6'. There is no need to edit `inetd.conf' or start a CVS server daemon. There are two access methods that you use in CVSROOT for rsh. `:server:' specifies an internal rsh client, which is supported only by some CVS ports. `:ext:' specifies an external rsh program. By default this is `rsh' but you may set the `CVS_RSH' environment variable to invoke another program which can access the remote server (for example, `remsh' on HP-UX 9 because `rsh' is something different). It must be a program which can transmit data to and from the server without modifying it; for example the Windows NT `rsh' is not suitable since it by default translates between CRLF and LF. The OS/2 CVS port has a hack to pass `-b' to `rsh' to get around this, but since this could potentially cause programs for programs other than the standard `rsh', it may change in the future. If you set `CVS_RSH' to `SSH' or some other rsh replacement, the instructions in the rest of this section concerning `.rhosts' and so on are likely to be incorrect; consult the documentation for your rsh replacement. Continuing our example, supposing you want to access the module `foo' in the repository `/usr/local/cvsroot/', on machine `chainsaw.brickyard.com', you are ready to go: cvs -d :ext:bach@chainsaw.brickyard.com:/usr/local/cvsroot checkout foo (The `bach@' can be omitted if the username is the same on both the local and remote hosts.)  File: cvs.info, Node: Password authenticated, Next: Kerberos authenticated, Prev: Connecting via rsh, Up: Remote repositories Direct connection with password authentication ---------------------------------------------- The CVS client can also connect to the server using a password protocol. This is particularly useful if using `rsh' is not feasible (for example, the server is behind a firewall), and Kerberos also is not available. To use this method, it is necessary to make some adjustments on both the server and client sides. * Menu: * Password authentication server:: Setting up the server * Password authentication client:: Using the client * Password authentication security:: What this method does and does not do  File: cvs.info, Node: Password authentication server, Next: Password authentication client, Up: Password authenticated Setting up the server for password authentication ................................................. On the server side, the file `/etc/inetd.conf' needs to be edited so `inetd' knows to run the command `cvs pserver' when it receives a connection on the right port. By default, the port number is 2401; it would be different if your client were compiled with `CVS_AUTH_PORT' defined to something else, though. If your `inetd' allows raw port numbers in `/etc/inetd.conf', then the following (all on a single line in `inetd.conf') should be sufficient: 2401 stream tcp nowait root /usr/local/bin/cvs cvs -b /usr/local/bin pserver The `-b' option specifies the directory which contains the RCS binaries on the server. You could also use the `-T' option to specify a temporary directory. If your `inetd' wants a symbolic service name instead of a raw port number, then put this in `/etc/services': cvspserver 2401/tcp and put `cvspserver' instead of `2401' in `inetd.conf'. Once the above is taken care of, restart your `inetd', or do whatever is necessary to force it to reread its initialization files. Because the client stores and transmits passwords in cleartext (almost--see *Note Password authentication security::, for details), a separate CVS password file may be used, so people don't compromise their regular passwords when they access the repository. This file is `$CVSROOT/CVSROOT/passwd' (*note Intro administrative files::.). Its format is similar to `/etc/passwd', except that it only has two fields, username and password. For example: bach:ULtgRLXo7NRxs cwang:1sOp854gDF3DY The password is encrypted according to the standard Unix `crypt()' function, so it is possible to paste in passwords directly from regular Unix `passwd' files. When authenticating a password, the server first checks for the user in the CVS `passwd' file. If it finds the user, it compares against that password. If it does not find the user, or if the CVS `passwd' file does not exist, then the server tries to match the password using the system's user-lookup routine. When using the CVS `passwd' file, the server runs under as the username specified in the the third argument in the entry, or as the first argument if there is no third argument (in this way CVS allows imaginary usernames provided the CVS `passwd' file indicates corresponding valid system usernames). In any case, CVS will have no privileges which the (valid) user would not have. It is possible to "map" cvs-specific usernames onto system usernames (i.e., onto system login names) in the `$CVSROOT/CVSROOT/passwd' file by appending a colon and the system username after the password. For example: cvs:ULtgRLXo7NRxs:kfogel generic:1sOp854gDF3DY:spwang anyone:1sOp854gDF3DY:spwang Thus, someone remotely accessing the repository on `chainsaw.brickyard.com' with the following command: cvs -d :pserver:cvs@chainsaw.brickyard.com:/usr/local/cvsroot checkout foo would end up running the server under the system identity kfogel, assuming successful authentication. However, the remote user would not necessarily need to know kfogel's system password, as the `$CVSROOT/CVSROOT/passwd' file might contain a different password, used only for CVS. And as the example above indicates, it is permissible to map multiple cvs usernames onto a single system username. This feature is designed to allow people repository access without full system access (in particular, see *Note Read-only access::); however, also *Note Password authentication security::. Any sort of repository access very likely implies a degree of general system access as well. Right now, the only way to put a password in the CVS `passwd' file is to paste it there from somewhere else. Someday, there may be a `cvs passwd' command.  File: cvs.info, Node: Password authentication client, Next: Password authentication security, Prev: Password authentication server, Up: Password authenticated Using the client with password authentication ............................................. Before connecting to the server, the client must "log in" with the command `cvs login'. Logging in verifies a password with the server, and also records the password for later transactions with the server. The `cvs login' command needs to know the username, server hostname, and full repository path, and it gets this information from the repository argument or the `CVSROOT' environment variable. `cvs login' is interactive -- it prompts for a password: cvs -d :pserver:bach@chainsaw.brickyard.com:/usr/local/cvsroot login CVS password: The password is checked with the server; if it is correct, the `login' succeeds, else it fails, complaining that the password was incorrect. Once you have logged in, you can force CVS to connect directly to the server and authenticate with the stored password: cvs -d :pserver:bach@chainsaw.brickyard.com:/usr/local/cvsroot checkout foo The `:pserver:' is necessary because without it, CVS will assume it should use `rsh' to connect with the server (*note Connecting via rsh::.). (Once you have a working copy checked out and are running CVS commands from within it, there is no longer any need to specify the repository explicitly, because CVS records it in the working copy's `CVS' subdirectory.) Passwords are stored by default in the file `$HOME/.cvspass'. Its format is human-readable, but don't edit it unless you know what you are doing. The passwords are not stored in cleartext, but are trivially encoded to protect them from "innocent" compromise (i.e., inadvertently being seen by a system administrator who happens to look at that file). The `CVS_PASSFILE' environment variable overrides this default. If you use this variable, make sure you set it *before* `cvs login' is run. If you were to set it after running `cvs login', then later CVS commands would be unable to look up the password for transmission to the server.