Documentation / git-cvsserver.txton commit git-am: Clean up the asciidoc documentation (870e0d6)
   1git-cvsserver(1)
   2================
   3
   4NAME
   5----
   6git-cvsserver - A CVS server emulator for git
   7
   8SYNOPSIS
   9--------
  10[verse]
  11export CVS_SERVER=git-cvsserver
  12'cvs' -d :ext:user@server/path/repo.git co <HEAD_name>
  13
  14DESCRIPTION
  15-----------
  16
  17This application is a CVS emulation layer for git.
  18
  19It is highly functional. However, not all methods are implemented,
  20and for those methods that are implemented,
  21not all switches are implemented.
  22
  23Testing has been done using both the CLI CVS client, and the Eclipse CVS
  24plugin. Most functionality works fine with both of these clients.
  25
  26LIMITATIONS
  27-----------
  28
  29Currently cvsserver works over SSH connections for read/write clients, and
  30over pserver for anonymous CVS access.
  31
  32CVS clients cannot tag, branch or perform GIT merges.
  33
  34INSTALLATION
  35------------
  36
  371. If you are going to offer anonymous CVS access via pserver, add a line in
  38   /etc/inetd.conf like
  39+
  40--
  41------
  42   cvspserver stream tcp nowait nobody git-cvsserver pserver
  43
  44------
  45Note: In some cases, you need to pass the 'pserver' argument twice for
  46git-cvsserver to see it. So the line would look like
  47
  48------
  49   cvspserver stream tcp nowait nobody git-cvsserver pserver pserver
  50
  51------
  52No special setup is needed for SSH access, other than having GIT tools
  53in the PATH. If you have clients that do not accept the CVS_SERVER
  54env variable, you can rename git-cvsserver to cvs.
  55--
  562. For each repo that you want accessible from CVS you need to edit config in
  57   the repo and add the following section.
  58+
  59--
  60------
  61   [gitcvs]
  62        enabled=1
  63        # optional for debugging
  64        logfile=/path/to/logfile
  65
  66------
  67Note: you need to ensure each user that is going to invoke git-cvsserver has
  68write access to the log file and to the git repository. When offering anon
  69access via pserver, this means that the nobody user should have write access
  70to at least the sqlite database at the root of the repository.
  71--
  723. On the client machine you need to set the following variables.
  73   CVSROOT should be set as per normal, but the directory should point at the
  74   appropriate git repo. For example:
  75+
  76--
  77For SSH access, CVS_SERVER should be set to git-cvsserver
  78
  79Example:
  80
  81------
  82     export CVSROOT=:ext:user@server:/var/git/project.git
  83     export CVS_SERVER=git-cvsserver
  84------
  85--
  864. For SSH clients that will make commits, make sure their .bashrc file
  87   sets the GIT_AUTHOR and GIT_COMMITTER variables.
  88
  895. Clients should now be able to check out the project. Use the CVS 'module'
  90   name to indicate what GIT 'head' you want to check out. Example:
  91+
  92------
  93     cvs co -d project-master master
  94------
  95
  96Eclipse CVS Client Notes
  97------------------------
  98
  99To get a checkout with the Eclipse CVS client:
 100
 1011. Select "Create a new project -> From CVS checkout"
 1022. Create a new location. See the notes below for details on how to choose the
 103   right protocol.
 1043. Browse the 'modules' available. It will give you a list of the heads in
 105   the repository. You will not be able to browse the tree from there. Only
 106   the heads.
 1074. Pick 'HEAD' when it asks what branch/tag to check out. Untick the
 108   "launch commit wizard" to avoid committing the .project file.
 109
 110Protocol notes: If you are using anonymous access via pserver, just select that.
 111Those using SSH access should choose the 'ext' protocol, and configure 'ext'
 112access on the Preferences->Team->CVS->ExtConnection pane. Set CVS_SERVER to
 113'git-cvsserver'. Note that password support is not good when using 'ext',
 114you will definitely want to have SSH keys setup.
 115
 116Alternatively, you can just use the non-standard extssh protocol that Eclipse
 117offer. In that case CVS_SERVER is ignored, and you will have to replace
 118the cvs utility on the server with git-cvsserver or manipulate your `.bashrc`
 119so that calling 'cvs' effectively calls git-cvsserver.
 120
 121Clients known to work
 122---------------------
 123
 124- CVS 1.12.9 on Debian
 125- CVS 1.11.17 on MacOSX (from Fink package)
 126- Eclipse 3.0, 3.1.2 on MacOSX (see Eclipse CVS Client Notes)
 127- TortoiseCVS
 128
 129Operations supported
 130--------------------
 131
 132All the operations required for normal use are supported, including
 133checkout, diff, status, update, log, add, remove, commit.
 134Legacy monitoring operations are not supported (edit, watch and related).
 135Exports and tagging (tags and branches) are not supported at this stage.
 136
 137The server should set the '-k' mode to binary when relevant, however,
 138this is not really implemented yet. For now, you can force the server
 139to set '-kb' for all files by setting the `gitcvs.allbinary` config
 140variable. In proper GIT tradition, the contents of the files are
 141always respected. No keyword expansion or newline munging is supported.
 142
 143Dependencies
 144------------
 145
 146git-cvsserver depends on DBD::SQLite.
 147
 148Copyright and Authors
 149---------------------
 150
 151This program is copyright The Open University UK - 2006.
 152
 153Authors:
 154
 155- Martyn Smith    <martyn@catalyst.net.nz>
 156- Martin Langhoff <martin@catalyst.net.nz>
 157
 158with ideas and patches from participants of the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 159
 160Documentation
 161--------------
 162Documentation by Martyn Smith <martyn@catalyst.net.nz>, Martin Langhoff <martin@catalyst.net.nz>, and Matthias Urlichs <smurf@smurf.noris.de>.
 163
 164GIT
 165---
 166Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite