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):
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. 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.
+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
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.
+ _not_ restricted to 'git-shell', CVS_SERVER should be set to 'git-cvsserver'.
+
--
------
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 server-side
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
---------------------
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
+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
---------------------