path: root/gnu/usr.bin/cvs/doc/cvsclient.info

This is Info file cvsclient.info, produced by Makeinfo-1.64 from the
input file ../../work/ccvs/doc/cvsclient.texi.


File: cvsclient.info,  Node: Top,  Next: Introduction,  Up: (dir)

CVS Client/Server
*****************

   This document describes the client/server protocol used by CVS.  It
does not describe how to use or administer client/server CVS; see the
regular CVS manual for that.  This is version 1.9.6 of the protocol
specification--*Note Introduction::, for more on what this version
number means.

* Menu:

* Introduction::      What is CVS and what is the client/server protocol for?
* Goals::             Basic design decisions, requirements, scope, etc.
* Protocol Notes::    Possible enhancements, limitations, etc. of the protocol
* Connection and Authentication::  Various ways to connect to the server
* Protocol::          Complete description of the protocol


File: cvsclient.info,  Node: Introduction,  Next: Goals,  Prev: Top,  Up: Top

Introduction
************

   CVS is a version control system (with some additional configuration
management functionality).  It maintains a central "repository" which
stores files (often source code), including past versions, information
about who modified them and when, and so on.  People who wish to look
at or modify those files, known as "developers", use CVS to "check out"
a "working directory" from the repository, to "check in" new versions
of files to the repository, and other operations such as viewing the
modification history of a file.  If developers are connected to the
repository by a network, particularly a slow or flaky one, the most
efficient way to use the network is with the CVS-specific protocol
described in this document.

   Developers, using the machine on which they store their working
directory, run the CVS "client" program.  To perform operations which
cannot be done locally, it connects to the CVS "server" program, which
maintains the repository.  For more information on how to connect see
*Note Connection and Authentication::.

   This document describes the CVS protocol.  Unfortunately, it does not
yet completely document one aspect of the protocol--the detailed
operation of each CVS command and option--and one must look at the CVS
user documentation, `cvs.texinfo', for that information.  The protocol
is non-proprietary (anyone who wants to is encouraged to implement it)
and an implementation, known as CVS, is available under the GNU Public
License.  The CVS distribution, containing this implementation,
`cvs.texinfo', and a copy (possibly more or less up to date than what
you are reading now) of this document, `cvsclient.texi', can be found
at the usual GNU FTP sites, with a filename such as
`cvs-VERSION.tar.gz'.

   This is version 1.9.6 of the protocol specification.  This version
number is intended only to aid in distinguishing different versions of
this specification.  Although the specification is currently maintained
in conjunction with the CVS implementation, and carries the same
version number, it also intends to document what is involved with
interoperating with other implementations (such as other versions of
CVS); see *Note Requirements::.  This version number should not be used
by clients or servers to determine what variant of the protocol to
speak; they should instead use the `valid-requests' and
`Valid-responses' mechanism (*note Protocol::.), which is more flexible.


File: cvsclient.info,  Node: Goals,  Next: Protocol Notes,  Prev: Introduction,  Up: Top

Goals
*****

   * Do not assume any access to the repository other than via this
     protocol.  It does not depend on NFS, rdist, etc.

   * Providing a reliable transport is outside this protocol.  It is
     expected that it runs over TCP, UUCP, etc.

   * Security and authentication are handled outside this protocol (but
     see below about `cvs kserver' and `cvs pserver').

   * The protocol makes it possible for updates to be atomic with
     respect to checkins; that is if someone commits changes to several
     files in one cvs command, then an update by someone else would
     either get all the changes, or none of them.  The current CVS
     server can't do this, but that isn't the protocol's fault.

   * The protocol is, with a few exceptions, transaction-based.  That
     is, the client sends all its requests (without waiting for server
     responses), and then waits for the server to send back all
     responses (without waiting for further client requests).  This has
     the advantage of minimizing network turnarounds and the
     disadvantage of sometimes transferring more data than would be
     necessary if there were a richer interaction.  Another, more
     subtle, advantage is that there is no need for the protocol to
     provide locking for features such as making checkins atomic with
     respect to updates.  Any such locking can be handled entirely by
     the server.  A good server implementation (such as the current CVS
     server) will make sure that it does not have any such locks in
     place whenever it is waiting for communication with the client;
     this prevents one client on a slow or flaky network from
     interfering with the work of others.


File: cvsclient.info,  Node: Protocol Notes,  Next: Connection and Authentication,  Prev: Goals,  Up: Top

Notes on the Protocol
*********************

   A number of enhancements are possible:

   * The `Modified' request could be speeded up by sending diffs rather
     than entire files.  The client would need some way to keep the
     version of the file which was originally checked out; probably
     requiring the use of "cvs edit" in this case is the most sensible
     course (the "cvs edit" could be handled by a package like VC for
     emacs).  This would also allow local operation of `cvs diff'
     without arguments.

   * Have the client keep a copy of some part of the repository.  This
     allows all of `cvs diff' and large parts of `cvs update' and `cvs
     ci' to be local.  The local copy could be made consistent with the
     master copy at night (but if the master copy has been updated since
     the latest nightly re-sync, then it would read what it needs to
     from the master).

   * The current procedure for `cvs update' is highly sub-optimal if
     there are many modified files.  One possible alternative would be
     to have the client send a first request without the contents of
     every modified file, then have the server tell it what files it
     needs.  Note the server needs to do the what-needs-to-be-updated
     check twice (or more, if changes in the repository mean it has to
     ask the client for more files), because it can't keep locks open
     while waiting for the network.  Perhaps this whole thing is
     irrelevant if client-side repositories are implemented, and the
     rcsmerge is done by the client.


File: cvsclient.info,  Node: Connection and Authentication,  Next: Protocol,  Prev: Protocol Notes,  Up: Top

How to Connect to and Authenticate Oneself to the CVS server
************************************************************

   Connection and authentication occurs before the CVS protocol itself
is started.  There are several ways to connect.

server
     If the client has a way to execute commands on the server, and
     provide input to the commands and output from them, then it can
     connect that way.  This could be the usual rsh (port 514)
     protocol, Kerberos rsh, SSH, or any similar mechanism.  The client
     may allow the user to specify the name of the server program; the
     default is `cvs'.  It is invoked with one argument, `server'.
     Once it invokes the server, the client proceeds to start the cvs
     protocol.

kserver
     The kerberized server listens on a port (in the current
     implementation, by having inetd call "cvs kserver") which defaults
     to 1999.  The client connects, sends the usual kerberos
     authentication information, and then starts the cvs protocol.
     Note: port 1999 is officially registered for another use, and in
     any event one cannot register more than one port for CVS, so the
     kerberized client and server should be changed to use port 2401
     (see below), and send a different string in place of `BEGIN AUTH
     REQUEST' to identify the authentication method in use.  However,
     noone has yet gotten around to implementing this.

pserver
     The password authenticated server listens on a port (in the current
     implementation, by having inetd call "cvs pserver") which defaults
     to 2401 (this port is officially registered).  The client
     connects, sends the string `BEGIN AUTH REQUEST', a linefeed, the
     cvs root, a linefeed, the username, a linefeed, the password
     trivially encoded (see scramble.c in the cvs sources), a linefeed,
     the string `END AUTH REQUEST', and a linefeed.  The client must
     send the identical string for cvs root both here and later in the
     `Root' request of the cvs protocol itself.  Servers are encouraged
     to enforce this restriction.  The server responds with `I LOVE
     YOU' and a linefeed if the authentication is successful or `I HATE
     YOU' and a linefeed if the authentication fails.  After receiving
     `I LOVE YOU', the client proceeds with the cvs protocol.  If the
     client wishes to merely authenticate without starting the cvs
     protocol, the procedure is the same, except `BEGIN AUTH REQUEST' is
     replaced with `BEGIN VERIFICATION REQUEST', `END AUTH REQUEST' is
     replaced with `END VERIFICATION REQUEST', and upon receipt of `I
     LOVE YOU' the connection is closed rather than continuing.


File: cvsclient.info,  Node: Protocol,  Prev: Connection and Authentication,  Up: Top

The CVS client/server protocol
******************************

   In the following, `\n' refers to a linefeed and `\t' refers to a
horizontal tab.

* Menu:

* Entries Lines::
* Modes::
* Filenames::                       Conventions regarding filenames
* Requests::
* Responses::
* Example::
* Requirements::
* Obsolete::                        Former protocol features


File: cvsclient.info,  Node: Entries Lines,  Next: Modes,  Up: Protocol

Entries Lines
=============

   Entries lines are transmitted as:

     / NAME / VERSION / CONFLICT / OPTIONS / TAG_OR_DATE

   TAG_OR_DATE is either `T' TAG or `D' DATE or empty.  If it is
followed by a slash, anything after the slash shall be silently ignored.

   VERSION can be empty, or start with `0' or `-', for no user file,
new user file, or user file to be removed, respectively.

   CONFLICT, if it starts with `+', indicates that the file had
conflicts in it.  The rest of CONFLICT is `=' if the timestamp matches
the file, or anything else if it doesn't.  If CONFLICT does not start
with a `+', it is silently ignored.


File: cvsclient.info,  Node: Modes,  Next: Filenames,  Prev: Entries Lines,  Up: Protocol

Modes
=====

   A mode is any number of repetitions of

     MODE-TYPE = DATA

   separated by `,'.

   MODE-TYPE is an identifier composed of alphanumeric characters.
Currently specified: `u' for user, `g' for group, `o' for other (see
below for discussion of whether these have their POSIX meaning or are
more loose).  Unrecognized values of MODE-TYPE are silently ignored.

   DATA consists of any data not containing `,', `\0' or `\n'.  For
`u', `g', and `o' mode types, data consists of alphanumeric characters,
where `r' means read, `w' means write, `x' means execute, and
unrecognized letters are silently ignored.

   The two most obvious ways in which the mode matters are: (1) is it
writeable?  This is used by the developer communication features, and
is implemented even on OS/2 (and could be implemented on DOS), whose
notion of mode is limited to a readonly bit. (2) is it executable?
Unix CVS users need CVS to store this setting (for shell scripts and
the like).  The current CVS implementation on unix does a little bit
more than just maintain these two settings, but it doesn't really have
a nice general facility to store or version control the mode, even on
unix, much less across operating systems with diverse protection
features.  So all the ins and outs of what the mode means across
operating systems haven't really been worked out (e.g. should the VMS
port use ACLs to get POSIX semantics for groups?).


File: cvsclient.info,  Node: Filenames,  Next: Requests,  Prev: Modes,  Up: Protocol

Conventions regarding transmission of file names
================================================

   In most contexts, `/' is used to separate directory and file names
in filenames, and any use of other conventions (for example, that the
user might type on the command line) is converted to that form.  The
only exceptions might be a few cases in which the server provides a
magic cookie which the client then repeats verbatim, but as the server
has not yet been ported beyond unix, the two rules provide the same
answer (and what to do if future server ports are operating on a
repository like e:/foo or CVS_ROOT:[FOO.BAR] has not been carefully
thought out).


File: cvsclient.info,  Node: Requests,  Next: Responses,  Prev: Filenames,  Up: Protocol

Requests
========

   By convention, requests which begin with a capital letter do not
elicit a response from the server, while all others do - save one.  The
exception is `gzip-file-contents'.  Unrecognized requests will always
elicit a response from the server, even if that request begins with a
capital letter.

   File contents (noted below as FILE TRANSMISSION) can be sent in one
of two forms.  The simpler form is a number of bytes, followed by a
newline, followed by the specified number of bytes of file contents.
These are the entire contents of the specified file.  Second, if both
client and server support `gzip-file-contents', a `z' may precede the
length, and the `file contents' sent are actually compressed with
`gzip' (RFC1952/1951) compression.  The length specified is that of the
compressed version of the file.

   In neither case are the file content followed by any additional data.
The transmission of a file will end with a newline iff that file (or its
compressed form) ends with a newline.

`Root PATHNAME \n'
     Response expected: no.  Tell the server which `CVSROOT' to use.
     Note that PATHNAME is a local directory and *not* a fully
     qualified `CVSROOT' variable.  PATHNAME must already exist; if
     creating a new root, use the `init' request, not `Root'.  PATHNAME
     does not include the hostname of the server, how to access the
     server, etc.; by the time the CVS protocol is in use, connection,
     authentication, etc., are already taken care of.

`Valid-responses REQUEST-LIST \n'
     Response expected: no.  Tell the server what responses the client
     will accept.  request-list is a space separated list of tokens.

`valid-requests \n'
     Response expected: yes.  Ask the server to send back a
     `Valid-requests' response.

`Directory LOCAL-DIRECTORY \n'
     Additional data: REPOSITORY \n.  Response expected: no.  Tell the
     server what directory to use.  The REPOSITORY should be a
     directory name from a previous server response.  Note that this
     both gives a default for `Entry' and `Modified' and also for `ci'
     and the other commands; normal usage is to send `Directory' for
     each directory in which there will be an `Entry' or `Modified',
     and then a final `Directory' for the original directory, then the
     command.  If the client uses this request, it affects the way the
     server returns pathnames; see *Note Responses::.  LOCAL-DIRECTORY
     is relative to the top level at which the command is occurring
     (i.e. the last `Directory' which is sent before the command); to
     indicate that top level, `.' should be send for LOCAL-DIRECTORY.

`Max-dotdot LEVEL \n'
     Response expected: no.  Tell the server that LEVEL levels of
     directories above the directory which `Directory' requests are
     relative to will be needed.  For example, if the client is
     planning to use a `Directory' request for `../../foo', it must
     send a `Max-dotdot' request with a LEVEL of at least 2.
     `Max-dotdot' must be sent before the first `Directory' request.

`Static-directory \n'
     Response expected: no.  Tell the server that the directory most
     recently specified with `Directory' should not have additional
     files checked out unless explicitly requested.  The client sends
     this if the `Entries.Static' flag is set, which is controlled by
     the `Set-static-directory' and `Clear-static-directory' responses.

`Sticky TAGSPEC \n'
     Response expected: no.  Tell the server that the directory most
     recently specified with `Directory' has a sticky tag or date
     TAGSPEC.  The first character of TAGSPEC is `T' for a tag, or `D'
     for a date.  The remainder of TAGSPEC contains the actual tag or
     date.

`Checkin-prog PROGRAM \n'
     Response expected: no.  Tell the server that the directory most
     recently specified with `Directory' has a checkin program PROGRAM.
     Such a program would have been previously set with the
     `Set-checkin-prog' response.

`Update-prog PROGRAM \n'
     Response expected: no.  Tell the server that the directory most
     recently specified with `Directory' has an update program PROGRAM.
     Such a program would have been previously set with the
     `Set-update-prog' response.

`Entry ENTRY-LINE \n'
     Response expected: no.  Tell the server what version of a file is
     on the local machine.  The name in ENTRY-LINE is a name relative
     to the directory most recently specified with `Directory'.  If the
     user is operating on only some files in a directory, `Entry'
     requests for only those files need be included.  If an `Entry'
     request is sent without `Modified' or `Unchanged', it means the
     file is lost (does not exist in the working directory).

`Modified FILENAME \n'
     Response expected: no.  Additional data: mode, \n, file
     transmission.  Send the server a copy of one locally modified
     file.  FILENAME is relative to the most recent repository sent
     with `Directory'.  If the user is operating on only some files in
     a directory, only those files need to be included.  This can also
     be sent without `Entry', if there is no entry for the file.

`Unchanged FILENAME \n'
     Response expected: no.  Tell the server that FILENAME has not been
     modified in the checked out directory.  The name is relative to
     the most recent repository sent with `Directory'.

`UseUnchanged \n'
     Response expected: no.  To specify the version of the protocol
     described in this document, servers must support this request
     (although it need not do anything) and clients must issue it.

`Notify FILENAME \n'
     Response expected: no.  Tell the server that a `edit' or `unedit'
     command has taken place.  The server needs to send a `Notified'
     response, but such response is deferred until the next time that
     the server is sending responses.  Response expected: no.
     Additional data:
          NOTIFICATION-TYPE \t TIME \t CLIENTHOST \t
          WORKING-DIR \t WATCHES \n
     where NOTIFICATION-TYPE is `E' for edit or `U' for unedit, TIME is
     the time at which the edit or unedit took place, CLIENTHOST is the
     name of the host on which the edit or unedit took place, and
     WORKING-DIR is the pathname of the working directory where the
     edit or unedit took place.  WATCHES are the temporary watches to
     set; if it is followed by \t then the tab and the rest of the line
     are ignored.

`Questionable FILENAME \n'
     Response expected: no.  Additional data: no.  Tell the server to
     check whether FILENAME should be ignored, and if not, next time the
     server sends responses, send (in a `M' response) `?' followed by
     the directory and filename.  FILENAME must not contain `/'; it
     needs to be a file in the directory named by the most recent
     `Directory' request.

`Case \n'
     Response expected: no.  Tell the server that filenames should be
     matched in a case-insensitive fashion.  Note that this is not the
     primary mechanism for achieving case-insensitivity; for the most
     part the client keeps track of the case which the server wants to
     use and takes care to always use that case regardless of what the
     user specifies.  For example the filenames given in `Entry' and
     `Modified' requests for the same file must match in case
     regardless of whether the `Case' request is sent.  The latter
     mechanism is more general (it could also be used for 8.3
     filenames, VMS filenames with more than one `.', and any other
     situation in which there is a predictable mapping between
     filenames in the working directory and filenames in the protocol),
     but there are some situations it cannot handle (ignore patterns, or
     situations where the user specifies a filename and the client does
     not know about that file).

`Argument TEXT \n'
     Response expected: no.  Save argument for use in a subsequent
     command.  Arguments accumulate until an argument-using command is
     given, at which point they are forgotten.

`Argumentx TEXT \n'
     Response expected: no.  Append \n followed by text to the current
     argument being saved.

`Global_option OPTION \n'
     Response expected: no.  Transmit one of the global options `-q',
     `-Q', `-l', `-t', `-r', or `-n'.  OPTION must be one of those
     strings, no variations (such as combining of options) are allowed.
     For graceful handling of `valid-requests', it is probably better
     to make new global options separate requests, rather than trying
     to add them to this request.

`Gzip-stream LEVEL \n'
     Response expected: no.  Use zlib (RFC 1950/1951) compression to
     compress all further communication between the client and the
     server.  After this request is sent, all further communication
     must be compressed.  All further data received from the server
     will also be compressed.  The LEVEL argument suggests to the
     server the level of compression that it should apply; it should be
     an integer between 1 and 9, inclusive, where a higher number
     indicates more compression.

`Kerberos-encrypt \n'
     Response expected: no.  Use Kerberos encryption to encrypt all
     further communication between the client and the server.  This
     will only work if the connection was made over Kerberos in the
     first place.  If both the `Gzip-stream' and the `Kerberos-encrypt'
     requests are used, the `Kerberos-encrypt' request should be used
     first.  This will make the client and server encrypt the
     compressed data, as opposed to compressing the encrypted data.
     Encrypted data is generally incompressible.

`Set VARIABLE=VALUE \n'
     Response expected: no.  Set a user variable VARIABLE to VALUE.

`expand-modules \n'
     Response expected: yes.  Expand the modules which are specified in
     the arguments.  Returns the data in `Module-expansion' responses.
     Note that the server can assume that this is checkout or export,
     not rtag or rdiff; the latter do not access the working directory
     and thus have no need to expand modules on the client side.

`co \n'
`ci \n'
`diff \n'
`tag \n'
`status \n'
`log \n'
`add \n'
`remove \n'
`rdiff \n'
`rtag \n'
`admin \n'
`export \n'
`history \n'
`watchers \n'
`editors \n'
`annotate \n'
     Response expected: yes.  Actually do a cvs command.  This uses any
     previous `Argument', `Directory', `Entry', or `Modified' requests,
     if they have been sent.  The last `Directory' sent specifies the
     working directory at the time of the operation.  No provision is
     made for any input from the user.  This means that `ci' must use a
     `-m' argument if it wants to specify a log message.

`init ROOT-NAME \n'
     Response expected: yes.  If it doesn't already exist, create a CVS
     repository ROOT-NAME.  Note that ROOT-NAME is a local directory
     and *not* a fully qualified `CVSROOT' variable.  The `Root'
     request need not have been previously sent.

`update \n'
     Response expected: yes.  Actually do a `cvs update' command.  This
     uses any previous `Argument', `Directory', `Entry', or `Modified'
     requests, if they have been sent.  The last `Directory' sent
     specifies the working directory at the time of the operation.  The
     `-I' option is not used-files which the client can decide whether
     to ignore are not mentioned and the client sends the
     `Questionable' request for others.

`import \n'
     Response expected: yes.  Actually do a `cvs import' command.  This
     uses any previous `Argument', `Directory', `Entry', or `Modified'
     requests, if they have been sent.  The last `Directory' sent
     specifies the working directory at the time of the operation.  The
     files to be imported are sent in `Modified' requests (files which
     the client knows should be ignored are not sent; the server must
     still process the CVSROOT/cvsignore file unless -I ! is sent).  A
     log message must have been specified with a `-m' argument.

`watch-on \n'
`watch-off \n'
`watch-add \n'
`watch-remove \n'
     Response expected: yes.  Actually do the `cvs watch on', `cvs
     watch off', `cvs watch add', and `cvs watch remove' commands,
     respectively.  This uses any previous `Argument', `Directory',
     `Entry', or `Modified' requests, if they have been sent.  The last
     `Directory' sent specifies the working directory at the time of
     the operation.

`release \n'
     Response expected: yes.  Note that a `cvs release' command has
     taken place and update the history file accordingly.

`noop \n'
     Response expected: yes.  This request is a null command in the
     sense that it doesn't do anything, but merely (as with any other
     requests expecting a response) sends back any responses pertaining
     to pending errors, pending `Notified' responses, etc.

`update-patches \n'
     Response expected: yes.  This request does not actually do
     anything.  It is used as a signal that the server is able to
     generate patches when given an `update' request.  The client must
     issue the `-u' argument to `update' in order to receive patches.

`gzip-file-contents LEVEL \n'
     Response expected: no.  Note that this request does not follow the
     response convention stated above.  `Gzip-stream' is suggested
     instead of `gzip-file-contents' as it gives better compression; the
     only reason to implement the latter is to provide compression with
     CVS 1.8 and earlier.  The `gzip-file-contents' request asks the
     server to compress files it sends to the client using `gzip'
     (RFC1952/1951) compression, using the specified level of
     compression.  If this request is not made, the server must not
     compress files.

     This is only a hint to the server.  It may still decide (for
     example, in the case of very small files, or files that already
     appear to be compressed) not to do the compression.  Compression
     is indicated by a `z' preceding the file length.

     Availability of this request in the server indicates to the client
     that it may compress files sent to the server, regardless of
     whether the client actually uses this request.

`OTHER-REQUEST TEXT \n'
     Response expected: yes.  Any unrecognized request expects a
     response, and does not contain any additional data.  The response
     will normally be something like `error  unrecognized request', but
     it could be a different error if a previous command which doesn't
     expect a response produced an error.

   When the client is done, it drops the connection.


File: cvsclient.info,  Node: Responses,  Next: Example,  Prev: Requests,  Up: Protocol

Responses
=========

   After a command which expects a response, the server sends however
many of the following responses are appropriate.  The server should not
send data at other times (the current implementation may violate this
principle in a few minor places, where the server is printing an error
message and exiting--this should be investigated further).

   In the following, PATHNAME actually indicates a pair of pathnames.
First, a local directory name relative to the directory in which the
command was given (i.e. the last `Directory' before the command).  Then
a newline and a repository name.  Then a slash and the filename
(without a `,v' ending).  For example, for a file `i386.mh' which is in
the local directory `gas.clean/config' and for which the repository is
`/rel/cvsfiles/devo/gas/config':

     gas.clean/config/
     /rel/cvsfiles/devo/gas/config/i386.mh

   Any response always ends with `error' or `ok'.  This indicates that
the response is over.

`Valid-requests REQUEST-LIST \n'
     Indicate what requests the server will accept.  REQUEST-LIST is a
     space separated list of tokens.  If the server supports sending
     patches, it will include `update-patches' in this list.  The
     `update-patches' request does not actually do anything.

`Checked-in PATHNAME \n'
     Additional data: New Entries line, \n.  This means a file PATHNAME
     has been successfully operated on (checked in, added, etc.).  name
     in the Entries line is the same as the last component of PATHNAME.

`New-entry PATHNAME \n'
     Additional data: New Entries line, \n.  Like `Checked-in', but the
     file is not up to date.

`Updated PATHNAME \n'
     Additional data: New Entries line, \n, mode, \n, file
     transmission.  A new copy of the file is enclosed.  This is used
     for a new revision of an existing file, or for a new file, or for
     any other case in which the local (client-side) copy of the file
     needs to be updated, and after being updated it will be up to
     date.  If any directory in pathname does not exist, create it.
     This response is not used if `Created' and `Update-existing' are
     supported.

`Created PATHNAME \n'
     This is just like `Updated' and takes the same additional data, but
     is used only if no `Entry', `Modified', or `Unchanged' request has
     been sent for the file in question.  The distinction between
     `Created' and `Update-existing' is so that the client can give an
     error message in several cases: (1) there is a file in the working
     directory, but not one for which `Entry', `Modified', or
     `Unchanged' was sent (for example, a file which was ignored, or a
     file for which `Questionable' was sent), (2) there is a file in
     the working directory whose name differs from the one mentioned in
     `Created' in ways that the client is unable to use to distinguish
     files.  For example, the client is case-insensitive and the names
     differ only in case.

`Update-existing PATHNAME \n'
     This is just like `Updated' and takes the same additional data, but
     is used only if a `Entry', `Modified', or `Unchanged' request has
     been sent for the file in question.

`Merged PATHNAME \n'
     This is just like `Updated' and takes the same additional data,
     with the one difference that after the new copy of the file is
     enclosed, it will still not be up to date.  Used for the results
     of a merge, with or without conflicts.

`Patched PATHNAME \n'
     This is just like `Updated' and takes the same additional data,
     with the one difference that instead of sending a new copy of the
     file, the server sends a patch.  This patch is produced by `diff
     -c' for CVS 1.6 and later (see POSIX.2 for a description of this
     format), or `diff -u' for previous versions of CVS; clients are
     encouraged to accept either format.  The client must apply this
     patch to the existing file.  This will only be used when the
     client has an exact copy of an earlier revision of a file.  This
     response is only used if the `update' command is given the `-u'
     argument.

`Mode MODE \n'
     This MODE applies to the next file mentioned in `Checked-in'.  It
     does not apply to any request which follows a `Checked-in',
     `New-entry', `Updated', `Merged', or `Patched' response.

`Checksum CHECKSUM\n'
     The CHECKSUM applies to the next file sent over via `Updated',
     `Merged', or `Patched'.  In the case of `Patched', the checksum
     applies to the file after being patched, not to the patch itself.
     The client should compute the checksum itself, after receiving the
     file or patch, and signal an error if the checksums do not match.
     The checksum is the 128 bit MD5 checksum represented as 32 hex
     digits.  This response is optional, and is only used if the client
     supports it (as judged by the `Valid-responses' request).

`Copy-file PATHNAME \n'
     Additional data: NEWNAME \n.  Copy file PATHNAME to NEWNAME in the
     same directory where it already is.  This does not affect
     `CVS/Entries'.

`Removed PATHNAME \n'
     The file has been removed from the repository (this is the case
     where cvs prints `file foobar.c is no longer pertinent').

`Remove-entry PATHNAME \n'
     The file needs its entry removed from `CVS/Entries', but the file
     itself is already gone (this happens in response to a `ci' request
     which involves committing the removal of a file).

`Set-static-directory PATHNAME \n'
     This instructs the client to set the `Entries.Static' flag, which
     it should then send back to the server in a `Static-directory'
     request whenever the directory is operated on.  PATHNAME ends in a
     slash; its purpose is to specify a directory, not a file within a
     directory.

`Clear-static-directory PATHNAME \n'
     Like `Set-static-directory', but clear, not set, the flag.

`Set-sticky PATHNAME \n'
     Additional data: TAGSPEC \n.  Tell the client to set a sticky tag
     or date, which should be supplied with the `Sticky' request for
     future operations.  PATHNAME ends in a slash; its purpose is to
     specify a directory, not a file within a directory.  The client
     should store TAGSPEC and pass it back to the server as-is, to
     allow for future expansion.  The first character of TAGSPEC is `T'
     for a tag, `D' for a date, or something else for future expansion.
     The remainder of TAGSPEC contains the actual tag or date.

`Clear-sticky PATHNAME \n'
     Clear any sticky tag or date set by `Set-sticky'.

`Template PATHNAME \n'
     Additional data: file transmission (note: compressed file
     transmissions are not supported).  PATHNAME ends in a slash; its
     purpose is to specify a directory, not a file within a directory.
     Tell the client to store the file transmission as the template log
     message, and then use that template in the future when prompting
     the user for a log message.

`Set-checkin-prog DIR \n'
     Additional data: PROG \n.  Tell the client to set a checkin
     program, which should be supplied with the `Checkin-prog' request
     for future operations.

`Set-update-prog DIR \n'
     Additional data: PROG \n.  Tell the client to set an update
     program, which should be supplied with the `Update-prog' request
     for future operations.

`Notified PATHNAME \n'
     Indicate to the client that the notification for PATHNAME has been
     done.  There should be one such response for every `Notify'
     request; if there are several `Notify' requests for a single file,
     the requests should be processed in order; the first `Notified'
     response pertains to the first `Notify' request, etc.

`Module-expansion PATHNAME \n Return a file or directory'
     which is included in a particular module.  PATHNAME is relative to
     cvsroot, unlike most pathnames in responses.  PATHNAME should be
     used to look and see whether some or all of the module exists on
     the client side; it is not necessarily suitable for passing as an
     argument to a `co' request (for example, if the modules file
     contains the `-d' option, it will be the directory specified with
     `-d', not the name of the module).

`M TEXT \n'
     A one-line message for the user.

`E TEXT \n'
     Same as `M' but send to stderr not stdout.

`F \n'
     Flush stderr.  That is, make it possible for the user to see what
     has been written to stderr (it is up to the implementation to
     decide exactly how far it should go to ensure this).

`error ERRNO-CODE ` ' TEXT \n'
     The command completed with an error.  ERRNO-CODE is a symbolic
     error code (e.g. `ENOENT'); if the server doesn't support this
     feature, or if it's not appropriate for this particular message,
     it just omits the errno-code (in that case there are two spaces
     after `error').  Text is an error message such as that provided by
     strerror(), or any other message the server wants to use.

`ok \n'
     The command completed successfully.


File: cvsclient.info,  Node: Example,  Next: Requirements,  Prev: Responses,  Up: Protocol

Example
=======

   Here is an example; lines are prefixed by `C: ' to indicate the
client sends them or `S: ' to indicate the server sends them.

   The client starts by connecting, sending the root, and completing the
protocol negotiation.  In actual practice the lists of valid responses
and requests would be longer.

     C: Root /home/kingdon/testing/cvsroot
     C: Valid-responses ok error Checked-in M E
     C: valid-requests
     S: Valid-requests Root Directory Entry Modified Argument Argumentx ci co
     S: ok
     C: UseUnchanged

   The client wants to check out the `supermunger' module into a fresh
working directory.  Therefore it first expands the `supermunger'
module; this step would be omitted if the client was operating on a
directory rather than a module.

     C: Argument supermunger
     C: Directory .
     C: /home/kingdon/testing/cvsroot
     C: expand-modules

   The server replies that the `supermunger' module expands to the
directory `supermunger' (the simplest case):

     S: Module-expansion supermunger
     S: ok

   The client then proceeds to check out the directory.  The fact that
it sends only a single `Directory' request which specifies `.' for the
working directory means that there is not already a `supermunger'
directory on the client.

     C: Argument -N
     C: Argument supermunger
     C: Directory .
     C: /home/kingdon/testing/cvsroot
     C: co

   The server replies with the requested files.  In this example, there
is only one, `mungeall.c'.  The `Clear-sticky' and
`Clear-static-directory' requests are sent by the current
implementation but they have no effect because the default is for those
settings to be clear when a directory is newly created.

     S: Clear-sticky supermunger/
     S: /home/kingdon/testing/cvsroot/supermunger/
     S: Clear-static-directory supermunger/
     S: /home/kingdon/testing/cvsroot/supermunger/
     S: E cvs server: Updating supermunger
     S: M U supermunger/mungeall.c
     S: Created supermunger/
     S: /home/kingdon/testing/cvsroot/supermunger/mungeall.c
     S: /mungeall.c/1.1///
     S: u=rw,g=r,o=r
     S: 26
     S: int mein () { abort (); }
     S: ok

   The current client implementation would break the connection here
and make a new connection for the next command.  However, the protocol
allows it to keep the connection open and continue, which is what we
show here.

   After the user modifies the file and instructs the client to check it
back in.  The client sends arguments to specify the log message and file
to check in:

     C: Argument -m
     C: Argument Well, you see, it took me hours and hours to find this typo and I
     C: Argumentx searched and searched and eventually had to ask John for help.
     C: Argument mungeall.c

   It also sends information about the contents of the working
directory, including the new contents of the modified file.  Note that
the user has changed into the `supermunger' directory before executing
this command; the top level directory is a user-visible concept because
the server should print filenames in `M' and `E' responses relative to
that directory.

     C: Directory .
     C: /home/kingdon/testing/cvsroot/supermunger
     C: Entry /mungeall.c/1.1///
     C: Modified mungeall.c
     C: u=rw,g=r,o=r
     C: 26
     C: int main () { abort (); }

   And finally, the client issues the checkin command (which makes use
of the data just sent):

     C: ci

   And the server tells the client that the checkin succeeded:

     S: M Checking in mungeall.c;
     S: E /home/kingdon/testing/cvsroot/supermunger/mungeall.c,v  <--  mungeall.c
     S: E new revision: 1.2; previous revision: 1.1
     S: E done
     S: Mode u=rw,g=r,o=r
     S: Checked-in ./
     S: /home/kingdon/testing/cvsroot/supermunger/mungeall.c
     S: /mungeall.c/1.2///
     S: ok


File: cvsclient.info,  Node: Requirements,  Next: Obsolete,  Prev: Example,  Up: Protocol

Required versus optional parts of the protocol
==============================================

   The following are part of every known implementation of the CVS
protocol (except obsolete, pre-1.5, versions of CVS) and it is
considered reasonable behavior to completely fail to work if you are
connected with an implementation which attempts to not support them.
Requests: `Root', `Valid-responses', `valid-requests', `Directory',
`Entry', `Modified', `Unchanged', `Argument', `Argumentx', `ci', `co',
`update'.  Responses: `ok', `error', `Valid-requests', `Checked-in',
`Updated', `Merged', `Removed', `M', `E'.

   A server need not implement `Repository', but in order to
interoperate with CVS 1.5 through 1.9 it must claim to implement it (in
`Valid-requests').  The client will not actually send the request.


File: cvsclient.info,  Node: Obsolete,  Prev: Requirements,  Up: Protocol

Obsolete protocol elements
==========================

   This section briefly describes protocol elements which are obsolete.
There is no attempt to document them in full detail.

   There was a `Repository' request which was like `Directory' except
it only provided REPOSITORY, and the local directory was assumed to be
similarly named.

   If the `UseUnchanged' request was not sent, there was a `Lost'
request which was sent to indicate that a file did not exist in the
working directory, and the meaning of sending `Entries' without `Lost'
or `Modified' was different.  All current clients (CVS 1.5 and later)
will send `UseUnchanged' if it is supported.



Tag Table:
Node: Top117
Node: Introduction885
Node: Goals3419
Node: Protocol Notes5226
Node: Connection and Authentication6904
Node: Protocol9699
Node: Entries Lines10159
Node: Modes10867
Node: Filenames12390
Node: Requests13141
Node: Responses27895
Node: Example37034
Node: Requirements40961
Node: Obsolete41869

End Tag Table