diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/git-cvsserver.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/git-cvsserver.txt | 322 |
1 files changed, 322 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/git-cvsserver.txt b/Documentation/git-cvsserver.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..d3e99931d7 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/git-cvsserver.txt @@ -0,0 +1,322 @@ +git-cvsserver(1) +================ + +NAME +---- +git-cvsserver - A CVS server emulator for git + +SYNOPSIS +-------- + +SSH: + +[verse] +export CVS_SERVER=git-cvsserver +'cvs' -d :ext:user@server/path/repo.git co <HEAD_name> + +pserver (/etc/inetd.conf): + +[verse] +cvspserver stream tcp nowait nobody /usr/bin/git-cvsserver git-cvsserver pserver + +Usage: + +[verse] +'git-cvsserver' [options] [pserver|server] [<directory> ...] + +OPTIONS +------- + +All these options obviously only make sense if enforced by the server side. +They have been implemented to resemble the linkgit:git-daemon[1] options as +closely as possible. + +--base-path <path>:: +Prepend 'path' to requested CVSROOT + +--strict-paths:: +Don't allow recursing into subdirectories + +--export-all:: +Don't check for `gitcvs.enabled` in config. You also have to specify a list +of allowed directories (see below) if you want to use this option. + +--version, -V:: +Print version information and exit + +--help, -h, -H:: +Print usage information and exit + +<directory>:: +You can specify a list of allowed directories. If no directories +are given, all are allowed. This is an additional restriction, gitcvs +access still needs to be enabled by the `gitcvs.enabled` config option +unless '--export-all' was given, too. + + +DESCRIPTION +----------- + +This application is a CVS emulation layer for git. + +It is highly functional. However, not all methods are implemented, +and for those methods that are implemented, +not all switches are implemented. + +Testing has been done using both the CLI CVS client, and the Eclipse CVS +plugin. Most functionality works fine with both of these clients. + +LIMITATIONS +----------- + +Currently cvsserver works over SSH connections for read/write clients, and +over pserver for anonymous CVS access. + +CVS clients cannot tag, branch or perform GIT merges. + +git-cvsserver maps GIT branches to CVS modules. This is very different +from what most CVS users would expect since in CVS modules usually represent +one or more directories. + +INSTALLATION +------------ + +1. If you are going to offer anonymous CVS access via pserver, add a line in + /etc/inetd.conf like ++ +-- +------ + cvspserver stream tcp nowait nobody git-cvsserver pserver + +------ +Note: Some inetd servers let you specify the name of the executable +independently of the value of argv[0] (i.e. the name the program assumes +it was executed with). In this case the correct line in /etc/inetd.conf +looks like + +------ + cvspserver stream tcp nowait nobody /usr/bin/git-cvsserver git-cvsserver pserver + +------ +No special setup is needed for SSH access, other than having GIT tools +in the PATH. If you have clients that do not accept the CVS_SERVER +environment variable, you can rename git-cvsserver to cvs. + +Note: Newer CVS versions (>= 1.12.11) also support specifying +CVS_SERVER directly in CVSROOT like + +------ +cvs -d ":ext;CVS_SERVER=git-cvsserver:user@server/path/repo.git" co <HEAD_name> +------ +This has the advantage that it will be saved in your 'CVS/Root' files and +you don't need to worry about always setting the correct environment +variable. +-- +2. For each repo that you want accessible from CVS you need to edit config in + the repo and add the following section. ++ +-- +------ + [gitcvs] + enabled=1 + # optional for debugging + logfile=/path/to/logfile + +------ +Note: you need to ensure each user that is going to invoke git-cvsserver has +write access to the log file and to the database (see +<<dbbackend,Database Backend>>. If you want to offer write access over +SSH, the users of course also need write access to the git repository itself. + +[[configaccessmethod]] +All configuration variables can also be overridden for a specific method of +access. Valid method names are "ext" (for SSH access) and "pserver". The +following example configuration would disable pserver access while still +allowing access over SSH. +------ + [gitcvs] + enabled=0 + + [gitcvs "ext"] + enabled=1 +------ +-- +3. On the client machine you need to set the following variables. + CVSROOT should be set as per normal, but the directory should point at the + appropriate git repo. For example: ++ +-- +For SSH access, CVS_SERVER should be set to git-cvsserver + +Example: + +------ + export CVSROOT=:ext:user@server:/var/git/project.git + export CVS_SERVER=git-cvsserver +------ +-- +4. For SSH clients that will make commits, make sure their .bashrc file + sets the GIT_AUTHOR and GIT_COMMITTER variables. + +5. Clients should now be able to check out the project. Use the CVS 'module' + name to indicate what GIT 'head' you want to check out. Example: ++ +------ + cvs co -d project-master master +------ + +[[dbbackend]] +Database Backend +---------------- + +git-cvsserver uses one database per git head (i.e. CVS module) to +store information about the repository for faster access. The +database doesn't contain any persistent data and can be completely +regenerated from the git repository at any time. The database +needs to be updated (i.e. written to) after every commit. + +If the commit is done directly by using git (as opposed to +using git-cvsserver) the update will need to happen on the +next repository access by git-cvsserver, independent of +access method and requested operation. + +That means that even if you offer only read access (e.g. by using +the pserver method), git-cvsserver should have write access to +the database to work reliably (otherwise you need to make sure +that the database is up-to-date any time git-cvsserver is executed). + +By default it uses SQLite databases in the git directory, named +`gitcvs.<module_name>.sqlite`. Note that the SQLite backend creates +temporary files in the same directory as the database file on +write so it might not be enough to grant the users using +git-cvsserver write access to the database file without granting +them write access to the directory, too. + +You can configure the database backend with the following +configuration variables: + +Configuring database backend +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +git-cvsserver uses the Perl DBI module. Please also read +its documentation if changing these variables, especially +about `DBI->connect()`. + +gitcvs.dbname:: + Database name. The exact meaning depends on the + selected database driver, for SQLite this is a filename. + Supports variable substitution (see below). May + not contain semicolons (`;`). + Default: '%Ggitcvs.%m.sqlite' + +gitcvs.dbdriver:: + Used DBI driver. You can specify any available driver + for this here, but it might not work. cvsserver is tested + with 'DBD::SQLite', reported to work with + 'DBD::Pg', and reported *not* to work with 'DBD::mysql'. + Please regard this as an experimental feature. May not + contain colons (`:`). + Default: 'SQLite' + +gitcvs.dbuser:: + Database user. Only useful if setting `dbdriver`, since + SQLite has no concept of database users. Supports variable + substitution (see below). + +gitcvs.dbpass:: + Database password. Only useful if setting `dbdriver`, since + SQLite has no concept of database passwords. + +All variables can also be set per access method, see <<configaccessmethod,above>>. + +Variable substitution +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ +In `dbdriver` and `dbuser` you can use the following variables: + +%G:: + git directory name +%g:: + git directory name, where all characters except for + alpha-numeric ones, `.`, and `-` are replaced with + `_` (this should make it easier to use the directory + name in a filename if wanted) +%m:: + CVS module/git head name +%a:: + access method (one of "ext" or "pserver") +%u:: + Name of the user running git-cvsserver. + If no name can be determined, the + numeric uid is used. + +Eclipse CVS Client Notes +------------------------ + +To get a checkout with the Eclipse CVS client: + +1. Select "Create a new project -> From CVS checkout" +2. Create a new location. See the notes below for details on how to choose the + right protocol. +3. Browse the 'modules' available. It will give you a list of the heads in + the repository. You will not be able to browse the tree from there. Only + the heads. +4. Pick 'HEAD' when it asks what branch/tag to check out. Untick the + "launch commit wizard" to avoid committing the .project file. + +Protocol notes: If you are using anonymous access via pserver, just select that. +Those using SSH access should choose the 'ext' protocol, and configure 'ext' +access on the Preferences->Team->CVS->ExtConnection pane. Set CVS_SERVER to +'git-cvsserver'. Note that password support is not good when using 'ext', +you will definitely want to have SSH keys setup. + +Alternatively, you can just use the non-standard extssh protocol that Eclipse +offer. In that case CVS_SERVER is ignored, and you will have to replace +the cvs utility on the server with git-cvsserver or manipulate your `.bashrc` +so that calling 'cvs' effectively calls git-cvsserver. + +Clients known to work +--------------------- + +- CVS 1.12.9 on Debian +- CVS 1.11.17 on MacOSX (from Fink package) +- Eclipse 3.0, 3.1.2 on MacOSX (see Eclipse CVS Client Notes) +- TortoiseCVS + +Operations supported +-------------------- + +All the operations required for normal use are supported, including +checkout, diff, status, update, log, add, remove, commit. +Legacy monitoring operations are not supported (edit, watch and related). +Exports and tagging (tags and branches) are not supported at this stage. + +The server should set the '-k' mode to binary when relevant, however, +this is not really implemented yet. For now, you can force the server +to set '-kb' for all files by setting the `gitcvs.allbinary` config +variable. In proper GIT tradition, the contents of the files are +always respected. No keyword expansion or newline munging is supported. + +Dependencies +------------ + +git-cvsserver depends on DBD::SQLite. + +Copyright and Authors +--------------------- + +This program is copyright The Open University UK - 2006. + +Authors: + +- Martyn Smith <martyn@catalyst.net.nz> +- Martin Langhoff <martin@catalyst.net.nz> + +with ideas and patches from participants of the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>. + +Documentation +-------------- +Documentation by Martyn Smith <martyn@catalyst.net.nz>, Martin Langhoff <martin@catalyst.net.nz>, and Matthias Urlichs <smurf@smurf.noris.de>. + +GIT +--- +Part of the linkgit:git[7] suite |