SSH:
[verse]
-export CVS_SERVER=git-cvsserver
+export CVS_SERVER="git cvsserver"
'cvs' -d :ext:user@server/path/repo.git co <HEAD_name>
pserver (/etc/inetd.conf):
Usage:
[verse]
-'git-cvsserver' [options] [pserver|server] [<directory> ...]
+'git cvsserver' [options] [pserver|server] [<directory> ...]
OPTIONS
-------
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::
+-V::
+--version::
Print version information and exit
---help, -h, -H::
+-h::
+-H::
+--help::
Print usage information and exit
<directory>::
CVS clients cannot tag, branch or perform GIT merges.
-git-cvsserver maps GIT branches to CVS modules. This is very different
+'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.
------
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.
+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>
+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.
+variable. SSH users restricted to 'git-shell' don't need to override the default
+with CVS_SERVER (and shouldn't) as 'git-shell' understands `cvs` to mean
+'git-cvsserver' and pretends that the other end runs the real 'cvs' better.
--
2. For each repo that you want accessible from CVS you need to edit config in
the repo and add the following section.
logfile=/path/to/logfile
------
-Note: you need to ensure each user that is going to invoke git-cvsserver has
+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.
+You also need to ensure that each repository is "bare" (without a git index
+file) for `cvs commit` to work. See linkgit:gitcvs-migration[7].
+
[[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
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:
+3. If you didn't specify the CVSROOT/CVS_SERVER directly in the checkout command,
+ automatically saving it in your 'CVS/Root' files, then you need to set them
+ explicitly in your environment. CVSROOT should be set as per normal, but the
+ directory should point at the appropriate git repo. As above, for SSH clients
+ _not_ restricted to 'git-shell', CVS_SERVER should be set to 'git-cvsserver'.
+
--
-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
+ 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.
+4. For SSH clients that will make commits, make sure their server-side
+ .ssh/environment files (or .bashrc, etc., according to their specific shell)
+ export appropriate values for GIT_AUTHOR_NAME, GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL,
+ GIT_COMMITTER_NAME, and GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL. For SSH clients whose login
+ shell is bash, .bashrc may be a reasonable alternative.
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:
+ name to indicate what GIT 'head' you want to check out. This also sets the
+ name of your newly checked-out directory, unless you tell it otherwise with
+ `-d <dir_name>`. For example, this checks out 'master' branch to the
+ `project-master` directory:
+
------
cvs co -d project-master master
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.
+'git-cvsserver' uses one database per git head (i.e. CVS module) to
+store information about the repository to maintain consistent
+CVS revision numbers. 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
+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 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).
+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
+'git-cvsserver' write access to the database file without granting
them write access to the directory, too.
+The database can not be reliably regenerated in a
+consistent form after the branch it is tracking has changed.
+Example: For merged branches, 'git-cvsserver' only tracks
+one branch of development, and after a 'git-merge' an
+incrementally updated database may track a different branch
+than a database regenerated from scratch, causing inconsistent
+CVS revision numbers. `git-cvsserver` has no way of knowing which
+branch it would have picked if it had been run incrementally
+pre-merge. So if you have to fully or partially (from old
+backup) regenerate the database, you should be suspicious
+of pre-existing CVS sandboxes.
+
You can configure the database backend with the following
configuration variables:
Configuring database backend
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-git-cvsserver uses the Perl DBI module. Please also read
+'git-cvsserver' uses the Perl DBI module. Please also read
its documentation if changing these variables, especially
about `DBI->connect()`.
%a::
access method (one of "ext" or "pserver")
%u::
- Name of the user running git-cvsserver.
+ Name of the user running 'git-cvsserver'.
If no name can be determined, the
numeric uid is used.
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',
+"'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.
+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
---------------------
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.
+CRLF Line Ending Conversions
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+By default the server leaves the '-k' mode blank for all files,
+which causes the cvs client to treat them as a text files, subject
+to crlf conversion on some platforms.
+
+You can make the server use `crlf` attributes to set the '-k' modes
+for files by setting the `gitcvs.usecrlfattr` config variable.
+In this case, if `crlf` is explicitly unset ('-crlf'), then the
+server will set '-kb' mode for binary files. If `crlf` is set,
+then the '-k' mode will explicitly be left blank. See
+also linkgit:gitattributes[5] for more information about the `crlf`
+attribute.
+
+Alternatively, if `gitcvs.usecrlfattr` config is not enabled
+or if the `crlf` attribute is unspecified for a filename, then
+the server uses the `gitcvs.allbinary` config for the default setting.
+If `gitcvs.allbinary` is set, then file not otherwise
+specified will default to '-kb' mode. Otherwise the '-k' mode
+is left blank. But if `gitcvs.allbinary` is set to "guess", then
+the correct '-k' mode will be guessed based on the contents of
+the file.
+
+For best consistency with 'cvs', it is probably best to override the
+defaults by setting `gitcvs.usecrlfattr` to true,
+and `gitcvs.allbinary` to "guess".
Dependencies
------------
-
-git-cvsserver depends on DBD::SQLite.
+'git-cvsserver' depends on DBD::SQLite.
Copyright and Authors
---------------------
GIT
---
-Part of the linkgit:git[7] suite
+Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite