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  17
  18 <h1>cvs2svn FAQ</h1>
  19
  20 <p><strong>General:</strong></p>
  21
  22 <ol>
  23
  24   <li><a href="#incremental">Does cvs2svn support incremental
  25     repository conversion?</a></li>
  26
  27 </ol>
  28
  29
  30 <p><strong>Compatibility:</strong></p>
  31
  32 <ol>
  33
  34   <li><a href="#psyco">Does cvs2svn run under Psyco?</a></li>
  35
  36 </ol>
  37
  38
  39 <p><strong>How-to:</strong></p>
  40
  41 <ol>
  42
  43   <li><a href="#repoaccess">How can I convert a CVS repository to
  44     which I only have remote access?</a></li>
  45
  46   <li><a href="#oneatatime">How can I convert my CVS repository one
  47     module at a time?</a></li>
  48
  49   <li><a href="#partialconversion">How can I convert part of a CVS
  50     repository?</a></li>
  51
  52   <li><a href="#onetoone">How can I convert separate projects in my
  53     CVS repository into a single Subversion repository?</a></li>
  54
  55   <li><a href="#automation">I have hundreds of subprojects to convert
  56     and my options file is getting huge</a></li>
  57
  58   <li><a href="#inverted">How can I convert project <tt>foo</tt> so
  59     that <tt>trunk/tags/branches</tt> are inside of
  60     <tt>foo</tt>?</a></li>
  61
  62   <li><a href="#eol-fixup">How do I fix up end-of-line translation
  63     problems?</a></li>
  64
  65   <li><a href="#path-symbol-transforms">I want a single project but
  66     tag-rewriting rules that vary by subdirectory.  Can this be
  67     done?</a></li>
  68
  69   <li><a href="#cvsnt">How can I convert a CVSNT repository?</a></li>
  70
  71   <li><a href="#osxsetup">How do I get cvs2svn to run on OS X
  72     10.5.5?</a></li>
  73
  74 </ol>
  75
  76
  77 <p><strong>Problems:</strong></p>
  78
  79 <ol>
  80
  81   <li><a href="#atticprob">I get an error "A CVS repository cannot
  82     contain both repo/path/file.txt,v and
  83     repo/path/Attic/file.txt,v".  What can I do?</a></li>
  84
  85   <li><a href="#rcsfileinvalid">I get an error "ERROR:
  86     <i>filename</i>,v is not a valid ,v file."</a></li>
  87
  88   <li><a href="#gdbm-nfs">gdbm.error: (45, 'Operation not supported')</a></li>
  89
  90   <li><a href="#apple-single">When converting a CVS repository that
  91     was used on a Macintosh, some files have incorrect contents in
  92     SVN.</a></li>
  93
  94   <li><a href="#rcsmissing">Using cvs2svn 1.3.x, I get an error "The
  95     command '['co', '-q', '-x,v', '-p1.1', '-kk',
  96     '/home/cvsroot/myfile,v']' failed" in pass 8.</a></li>
  97
  98   <li><a href="#nonstandardntdb">Vendor branches created with
  99     "cvs import -b &lt;branch number&gt;" are not correctly
 100     handled.</a></li>
 101
 102 </ol>
 103
 104
 105 <p><strong>Getting help:</strong></p>
 106
 107 <ol>
 108
 109   <li><a href="#gettinghelp">How do I get help?</a></li>
 110
 111   <li><a href="#reportingbugs">How do I report a bug?</a></li>
 112
 113   <li><a href="#testcase">How can I produce a useful test case?</a></li>
 114
 115   <li><a href="#commercialsupport">Does anybody offer commercial
 116     support for cvs2svn/cvs2git conversions?</a></li>
 117
 118 </ol>
 119
 120 <hr />
 121
 122
 123 <h2>General:</h2>
 124
 125 <h3><a name="incremental" title="#incremental">Does cvs2svn support
 126 incremental repository conversion?</a></h3>
 127
 128 <p>No.</p>
 129
 130 <p>Explanation: During the transition from CVS to Subversion, it would
 131 sometimes be useful to have the new Subversion repository track
 132 activity in the CVS repository for a period of time until the final
 133 switchover.  This would require each conversion to determine what had
 134 changed in CVS since the last conversion, and add those commits on top
 135 of the Subversion repository.</p>
 136
 137 <p>Unfortunately, cvs2svn/cvs2git does <em>not</em> support
 138 incremental conversions.  With some work it would be possible to add
 139 this feature, but it would be difficult to make it robust.  The
 140 trickiest problem is that CVS allows changes to the repository that
 141 have retroactive effects (e.g., affecting parts of the history that
 142 have already been converted).</p>
 143
 144 <p>Some conversion tools claim to support incremental conversions from
 145 CVS, but as far as is known none of them are reliable.</p>
 146
 147 <p>Volunteers or sponsorship to add support for incremental
 148 conversions to cvs2svn/cvs2git would be welcome.</p>
 149
 150 <hr />
 151
 152
 153 <h2>Compatibility:</h2>
 154
 155 <h3><a name="psyco" title="#psyco">Does cvs2svn run under
 156 Psyco?</a></h3>
 157
 158 <p>No.</p>
 159
 160 <p>Explanation: <a href="http://psyco.sourceforge.net/">Psyco</a> is a
 161 python extension that can speed up the execution of Python code by
 162 compiling parts of it into i386 machine code.  Unfortunately, Psyco is
 163 known <em>not</em> to run cvs2svn correctly (this was last tested with
 164 the Psyco pre-2.0 development branch).  When cvs2svn is run under
 165 Psyco it crashes in <tt>OutputPass</tt> with an error message that
 166 looks something like this:</p>
 167
 168 <pre>
 169 cvs2svn_lib.common.InternalError: ID changed from 2 -> 3 for Trunk, r2
 170 </pre>
 171
 172 <p>The Psyco team <a
 173 href="https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&amp;aid=2827082&amp;group_id=41036&amp;atid=429622">has
 174 been informed about the problem</a>.</p>
 175
 176 <hr />
 177
 178
 179 <h2>How-to:</h2>
 180
 181 <h3><a name="repoaccess" title="#repoaccess">How can I convert a CVS
 182 repository to which I only have remote access?</a></h3>
 183
 184 <p>cvs2svn requires direct, filesystem access to a copy of the CVS
 185 repository that you want to convert.  The reason for this requirement
 186 is that cvs2svn directly parses the <tt>*,v</tt> files that make up
 187 the CVS repository.</p>
 188
 189 <p>Many remote hosting sites provide access to backups of your CVS
 190 repository, which could be used for a cvs2svn conversion.  For
 191 example:</p>
 192
 193 <ul>
 194   <li><a href="http://sourceforge.net">SourceForge</a> allows CVS
 195     content to be accessed via
 196     <a href="http://sourceforge.net/docs/E04/en/#rsync">rsync</a>.  In
 197     fact, they provide <a
 198     href="http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/sourceforge/wiki/SVN%20adminrepo#Usingcvs2svntocreateaSVNdumpfilefromCVScontent">complete instructions</a>
 199     for migrating a SourceForge project from CVS to SVN.</li>
 200   <li>...<i>(other examples welcome)</i></li>
 201 </ul>
 202
 203 <p>If your provider does not provide any way to download your CVS
 204 repository, there are two known tools that claim to be able to
 205 clone a CVS repository via the CVS protocol:</p>
 206
 207 <ul>
 208
 209   <li><a href="http://samba.org/ftp/tridge/rtc/cvsclone.l">cvsclone</a></li>
 210
 211   <li><a href="http://cvs.m17n.org/~akr/cvssuck/">CVSsuck</a></li>
 212
 213 </ul>
 214
 215 <p>It should be possible to use one of these tools to fetch a copy of
 216 your CVS repository from your provider, then to use cvs2svn to convert
 217 the copy.  However, the developers of cvs2svn do not have any
 218 experience with these tools, so you are on your own here.  If you try
 219 one of them, please tell us about your experience on the <a
 220 href="mailto:users@cvs2svn.tigris.org">users mailing list</a>.</p>
 221
 222
 223 <h3><a name="oneatatime" title="#oneatatime">How can I convert my CVS
 224 repository one module at a time?</a></h3>
 225
 226 <p>If you need to convert certain CVS modules (in one large
 227 repository) to Subversion <b>now</b> and other modules <b>later</b>,
 228 you may want to convert your repository one module at a time.  This
 229 situation is typically encountered in large organizations where each
 230 project has a separate lifecycle and schedule, and a one-step
 231 conversion process is not practical.
 232 </p>
 233
 234 <p>First you have to decide whether you want to put your converted
 235 projects into a single Subversion repositories or multiple ones.  This
 236 decision mostly depends on the degree of coupling between the projects
 237 and is beyond the scope of this FAQ.  See <a
 238 href="http://svnbook.red-bean.com/en/1.2/svn.reposadmin.projects.html#svn.reposadmin.projects.chooselayout">the
 239 Subversion book</a> for a discussion of repository organization.
 240 </p>
 241
 242 <p>If you decide to convert your projects into separate Subversion
 243 repositories, then please follow the instructions in <a
 244 href="#partialconversion">How can I convert part of a CVS
 245 repository?</a> once for each repository.
 246 </p>
 247
 248 <p>If you decide to put more than one CVS project into a single
 249 Subversion repository, then please follow the instructions in <a
 250 href="#onetoone">How can I convert separate projects in my CVS
 251 repository into a single Subversion repository?</a>.
 252 </p>
 253
 254
 255 <h3><a name="partialconversion" title="#partialconversion">How can I
 256 convert part of a CVS repository?</a></h3>
 257
 258 <p>This is easy: simply run cvs2svn normally, passing it the path of
 259 the project subdirectory within the CVS repository.  Since cvs2svn
 260 ignores any files outside of the path it is given, other projects
 261 within the CVS repository will be excluded from the conversion.
 262 </p>
 263
 264 <p>Example: You have a CVS repository at path <tt>/path/cvsrepo</tt>
 265 with projects in subdirectories <tt>/path/cvsrepo/foo</tt> and
 266 <tt>/path/cvsrepo/bar</tt>, and you want to create a new Subversion
 267 repository at <tt>/path/foo-svn</tt> that includes only the
 268 <tt>foo</tt> project:
 269 </p>
 270
 271 <pre>
 272     $ cvs2svn -s /path/foo-svn /path/cvsrepo/foo
 273 </pre>
 274
 275
 276 <h3><a name="onetoone" title="#onetoone">How can I convert separate
 277 projects in my CVS repository into a single Subversion
 278 repository?</a></h3>
 279
 280 <p>cvs2svn supports multiproject conversions, but you have to use the
 281 <a href="cvs2svn.html#options-file-method">options file method</a> to
 282 start the conversion.  In your options file, you simply call
 283 <tt>run_options.add_project()</tt> once for each sub-project in your
 284 repository.  For example, if your CVS repository has the layout:</p>
 285
 286 <pre>
 287   /project_a
 288   /project_b
 289 </pre>
 290
 291   <p>and you want your Subversion repository to be laid out like this:</p>
 292
 293 <pre>
 294    project_a/
 295       trunk/
 296          ...
 297       branches/
 298          ...
 299       tags/
 300          ...
 301    project_b/
 302       trunk/
 303          ...
 304       branches/
 305          ...
 306       tags/
 307          ...
 308 </pre>
 309
 310 <p>then you need to have a section like this in your options file:</p>
 311
 312 <pre>
 313 run_options.add_project(
 314     'my/cvsrepo/project_a',
 315     trunk_path='project_a/trunk',
 316     branches_path='project_a/branches',
 317     tags_path='project_a/tags',
 318     symbol_transforms=[
 319         #...whatever...
 320         ],
 321     symbol_strategy_rules=[
 322         #...whatever...
 323         ],
 324     )
 325 run_options.add_project(
 326     'my/cvsrepo/project_b',
 327     trunk_path='project_b/trunk',
 328     branches_path='project_b/branches',
 329     tags_path='project_b/tags',
 330     symbol_transforms=[
 331         #...whatever...
 332         ],
 333     symbol_strategy_rules=[
 334         #...whatever...
 335         ],
 336     )
 337 </pre>
 338
 339
 340 <h3><a name="automation" title="#automation">I have hundreds of
 341     subprojects to convert and my options file is getting
 342     huge</a></h3>
 343
 344 <p>The options file is Python code, executed by the Python
 345 interpreter.  This makes it easy to automate parts of the
 346 configuration process.  For example, to add many subprojects, you can
 347 write a Python loop:</p>
 348
 349 <pre>
 350 projects = ['A', 'B', 'C', ...etc...]
 351
 352 cvs_repo_main_dir = r'test-data/main-cvsrepos'
 353 for project in projects:
 354     run_options.add_project(
 355         cvs_repo_main_dir + '/' + project,
 356         trunk_path=(project + '/trunk'),
 357         branches_path=(project + '/branches'),
 358         tags_path=(project + '/tags'),
 359         # ...
 360         )
 361 </pre>
 362
 363 <p>or you could even read the subprojects directly from the CVS
 364 repository:</p>
 365
 366 <pre>
 367 import os
 368 cvs_repo_main_dir = r'test-data/main-cvsrepos'
 369 projects = os.listdir(cvs_repo_main_dir)
 370
 371 # Probably you don't want to convert CVSROOT:
 372 projects.remove('CVSROOT')
 373
 374 for project in projects:
 375     # ...as above...
 376 </pre>
 377
 378
 379 <h3><a name="inverted" title="#inverted">How can I convert project
 380     <tt>foo</tt> so that <tt>trunk/tags/branches</tt> are inside of
 381     <tt>foo</tt>?</a></h3>
 382
 383   <p>If <tt>foo</tt> is the only project that you want to convert,
 384     then either run cvs2svn like this:</p>
 385
 386 <pre>
 387    $ cvs2svn --trunk=foo/trunk --branches=foo/branches --tags=foo/tags CVSREPO/foo
 388 </pre>
 389
 390   <p>or use an options file that defines a project like this:</p>
 391
 392 <pre>
 393 run_options.add_project(
 394     'my/cvsrepo/foo',
 395     trunk_path='foo/trunk',
 396     branches_path='foo/branches',
 397     tags_path='foo/tags',
 398     symbol_transforms=[
 399         #...whatever...
 400         ],
 401     symbol_strategy_rules=[
 402         #...whatever...
 403         ],
 404     )
 405 </pre>
 406
 407   <p>If <tt>foo</tt> is not the only project that you want to convert,
 408     then you need to do a multiproject conversion; see <a
 409     href="#onetoone">How can I convert separate projects in my CVS
 410     repository into a single Subversion repository?</a> for more
 411     information.</p>
 412
 413
 414 <h3><a name="eol-fixup" title="#eol-fixup">How do I fix up end-of-line
 415   translation problems?</a></h3>
 416
 417   <p>Warning: cvs2svn's handling of end-of-line options changed
 418     between version 1.5.x and version 2.0.x.  <strong>This
 419     documentation applies to version 2.0.x and later.</strong>  The
 420     documentation applying to an earlier version can be found in the
 421     <tt>www</tt> directory of that release of cvs2svn.</p>
 422
 423   <p>Starting with version 2.0, the default behavior of cvs2svn is to
 424     treat all files as binary except those explicitly determined to be
 425     text.  (Previous versions treated files as text unless they were
 426     determined to be binary.)  This behavior was changed because,
 427     generally speaking, it is safer to treat a text file as binary
 428     than vice versa.</p>
 429
 430   <p>However, it is often preferred to set
 431     <tt>svn:eol-style=native</tt> for text files, so that their
 432     end-of-file format is converted to that of the client platform
 433     when the file is checked out.  This section describes how to
 434     get the settings that you want.</p>
 435
 436   <p>If a file is marked as binary in CVS (with <tt>cvs admin
 437     -kb</tt>, then cvs2svn will always treat the file as binary.  For
 438     other files, cvs2svn has a number of options that can help choose
 439     the correct end-of-line translation parameters during the
 440     conversion:</p>
 441
 442     <table border="1" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="3" width="80%">
 443
 444       <tr>
 445         <td align="right"><tt>--auto-props=FILE</tt></td>
 446         <td>
 447
 448           <p>Set arbitrary Subversion properties on files based on the
 449             auto-props section of a file in svn config format.  The
 450             auto-props file might have content like this:</p>
 451
 452 <pre>
 453 [auto-props]
 454 *.txt = svn:mime-type=text/plain;svn:eol-style=native
 455 *.doc = svn:mime-type=application/msword;!svn:eol-style
 456 </pre>
 457
 458           <p>This option can also be used in combination with
 459             <tt>--eol-from-mime-type</tt>.</p>
 460
 461           <p>To force end-of-line translation off, use a setting of
 462             the form <tt>!svn:eol-style</tt> (with a leading
 463             exclamation point).</p>
 464
 465         </td>
 466       </tr>
 467
 468       <tr>
 469         <td align="right"><tt>--mime-types=FILE</tt></td>
 470         <td><p>Specifies an Apache-style mime.types file for setting
 471           files' <tt>svn:mime-type</tt> property based on the file
 472           extension.  The mime-types file might have content like
 473           this:</p>
 474 <pre>
 475 text/plain              txt
 476 application/msword      doc
 477 </pre>
 478           <p>This option only has an effect on <tt>svn:eol-style</tt>
 479           if it is used in combination with
 480           <tt>--eol-from-mime-type</tt>.</p></td>
 481       </tr>
 482
 483       <tr>
 484         <td align="right"><tt>--eol-from-mime-type</tt></td>
 485         <td>Set <tt>svn:eol-style</tt> based on the file's mime type
 486           (if known).  If the mime type starts with "<tt>text/</tt>",
 487           then the file is treated as a text file; otherwise, it is
 488           treated as binary.  This option is useful in combination with
 489           <tt>--auto-props</tt> or <tt>--mime-types</tt>.</td>
 490       </tr>
 491
 492       <tr>
 493         <td align="right"><tt>--default-eol=STYLE</tt></td>
 494         <td>Usually cvs2svn treats a file as binary unless one of the
 495           other rules determines that it is not binary and it is not
 496           marked as binary in CVS.  But if this option is specified,
 497           then cvs2svn uses the specified style as the default.  STYLE
 498           can be 'binary' (default), 'native', 'CRLF', 'LF', or 'CR'.
 499           If you have been diligent about annotating binary files in
 500           CVS, or if you are confident that the above options will
 501           catch all of your binary files, then
 502           <tt>--default-style=native</tt> should give good
 503           results.</td>
 504       </tr>
 505
 506     </table>
 507
 508   <p>If you don't use any of these options, then cvs2svn will not
 509     arrange any line-end translation whatsoever.  The file contents in
 510     the SVN repository should be the same as the contents you would
 511     get if checking out with CVS on the machine on which cvs2svn is
 512     run.  This also means that the EOL characters of text files will
 513     be the same no matter where the SVN data are checked out (i.e.,
 514     not translated to the checkout machine's EOL format).</p>
 515
 516   <p>To do a better job, you can use <tt>--auto-props</tt>,
 517     <tt>--mime-types</tt>, and <tt>--eol-from-mime-type</tt> to
 518     specify exactly which properties to set on each file based on its
 519     filename.</p>
 520
 521   <p>For total control over setting properties on files, you can use
 522     the <a
 523     href="cvs2svn.html#options-file-method"><tt>--options</tt>-file
 524     method</a> and write your own <tt>RevisionPropertySetter</tt> in
 525     Python.  For example,</p>
 526 <pre>
 527 from cvs2svn_lib.property_setters import RevisionPropertySetter
 528
 529 class MyPropertySetter(RevisionPropertySetter):
 530   def set_properties(self, s_item):
 531     if s_item.cvs_rev.cvs_file.cvs_path.startswith('path/to/funny/files/'):
 532       s_item.svn_props['svn:mime-type'] = 'text/plain'
 533       s_item.svn_props['svn:eol-style'] = 'CRLF'
 534
 535 ctx.revision_property_setters.append(MyPropertySetter())
 536 </pre>
 537   <p>See the file <tt>cvs2svn_lib/property_setters.py</tt> for more
 538     examples.</p>
 539
 540
 541 <h3><a name="path-symbol-transforms" title="#path-symbol-transforms">I
 542   want a single project but tag-rewriting rules that vary by
 543   subdirectory.  Can this be done?</a></h3>
 544
 545   <p>This is an example of how the cvs2svn conversion can be
 546     customized using Python.</p>
 547
 548   <p>Suppose you want to write symbol transform rules that are more
 549     complicated than "replace REGEXP with PATTERN".  This can easily
 550     be done by adding just a little bit of Python code to your <a
 551     href="cvs2svn.html#options-file-method">options file</a>.</p>
 552
 553   <p>When a symbol is encountered, cvs2svn iterates through the list
 554     of <tt>SymbolTransform</tt> objects defined for the project.  For
 555     each one, it calls <tt>symbol_transform.transform(cvs_file,
 556     symbol_name, revision)</tt>.  That method can return
 557     any legal symbol name, which will be used in the conversion
 558     instead of the original name.</p>
 559
 560   <p>To use this feature, you will have to use an <a
 561     href="cvs2svn.html#options-file-method">options file</a> to start
 562     the conversion.  You then write a new SymbolTransform class that
 563     inherits from RegexpSymbolTransform but checks the path before
 564     deciding whether to transform the symbol.  Add the following to
 565     your options file:</p>
 566
 567 <pre>
 568 from cvs2svn_lib.symbol_transform import RegexpSymbolTransform
 569
 570 class MySymbolTransform(RegexpSymbolTransform):
 571     def __init__(self, path, pattern, replacement):
 572         """Transform only symbols that occur within the specified PATH."""
 573
 574         self.path = path
 575         RegexpSymbolTransform.__init__(self, pattern, replacement)
 576
 577     def transform(self, cvs_file, symbol_name, revision):
 578         # Is the file is within the path we are interested in?
 579         if cvs_file.cvs_path.startswith(path + '/'):
 580             # Yes -> Allow RegexpSymbolTransform to transform the symbol:
 581             return RegexpSymbolTransform.transform(
 582                     self, cvs_file, symbol_name, revision)
 583         else:
 584             # No -> Return the symbol unchanged:
 585             return symbol_name
 586
 587 # Note that we use a Python loop to fill the list of symbol_transforms:
 588 symbol_transforms = []
 589 for subdir in ['project1', 'project2', 'project3']:
 590     symbol_transforms.append(
 591         MySymbolTransform(
 592             subdir,
 593             r'release-(\d+)_(\d+)',
 594             r'%s-release-\1.\2' % subdir))
 595
 596 # Now register the project, using our own symbol transforms:
 597 run_options.add_project(
 598     'your_cvs_path',
 599     trunk_path='trunk',
 600     branches_path='branches',
 601     tags_path='tags',
 602     symbol_transforms=symbol_transforms))
 603 </pre>
 604
 605   <p>This example causes any symbol under "project1" that looks like
 606     "release-3_12" to be transformed into a symbol named
 607     "project1-release-3.12", whereas if the same symbol appears under
 608     "project2" it will be transformed into
 609     "project2-release-3.12".</p>
 610
 611
 612 <h3><a name="cvsnt" title="#cvsnt">How can I convert a CVSNT
 613     repository?</a></h3>
 614
 615   <p><a href="http://www.cvsnt.org/">CVSNT</a> is a version control
 616     system that started out by adding support for running CVS under
 617     Windows NT.  Since then it has made numerous extensions to the RCS
 618     file format, to the point where CVS compatibility does not imply
 619     CVSNT compatibility with any degree of certainty.</p>
 620
 621   <p>cvs2svn <em>might</em> happen to successfully convert a CVSNT
 622     repository, especially if the repository has never had any
 623     CVSNT-only features used on it, but <b>this use is not supported
 624     and should not be expected to work</b>.</p>
 625
 626   <p>If you want to experiment with converting a CVSNT repository,
 627     then please consider the following suggestions:</p>
 628
 629   <ul>
 630     <li>Use cvs2svn's <tt>--use-cvs</tt> option.</li>
 631
 632     <li>Use CVSNT's version of the <tt>cvs</tt> executable (i.e.,
 633       ensure that the first <tt>cvs</tt> program in your $PATH is the
 634       one that came with CVSNT).</li>
 635
 636     <li>Carefully check the result of the conversion before you rely
 637       on it, <em>even if the conversion completed without any
 638       errors or warnings</em>.</li>
 639
 640   </ul>
 641
 642   <p>Patches to support the conversion of CVSNT repositories would, of
 643     course, be welcome.</p>
 644
 645
 646 <h3><a name="osxsetup" title="#osxsetup">How do I get cvs2svn to run
 647 on OS X 10.5.5?</a></h3>
 648
 649 <p>Attempting to run cvs2svn on a standard OS X 10.5.5 installation
 650 yields the following error:</p>
 651
 652 <blockquote> <p> ERROR: cvs2svn uses the anydbm package, which depends on
 653 lower level dbm libraries.  Your system has dbm, with which cvs2svn is
 654 known to have problems.  To use cvs2svn, you must install a Python dbm
 655 library other than dumbdbm or dbm.  See <a
 656 href="http://python.org/doc/current/lib/module-anydbm.html">http://python.org/doc/current/lib/module-anydbm.html</a>
 657 for more information. </p> </blockquote>
 658
 659 <p>The problem is that the standard distribution of python on OS X
 660 10.5.5 does not include any other dbm libraries other than the
 661 standard dbm.  In order for cvs2svn to work, we need to install the
 662 gdbm library, in addition to a new version of python that enables the
 663 python gdbm module.</p>
 664
 665 <p>The precompiled versions of python for OS X available from
 666 python.org or activestate.com (currently version 2.6.2) do not have
 667 gdbm support turned on.  To check for gdbm support, check for the
 668 library module (<code>libgdmmodule.so</code>) within the python
 669 installation.</p>
 670
 671 <p>Here is the procedure for a successful installation of cvs2svn and
 672 all supporting libs:</p>
 673
 674 <ol>
 675
 676   <li>Download the gdbm-1.8.3 (or greater) source, unarchive and
 677     change directory to gdbm-1.8.3. We need to install the gdbm
 678     libraries so python's gdbm module can use them.
 679
 680   <ol>
 681
 682     <li>Type <code>./configure</code></li>
 683
 684     <li>Edit "Makefile" so that the owner and group are not the
 685         non-existing "bin" owner and group by changing
 686
 687 <pre>
 688 BINOWN = bin
 689 BINGRP = bin
 690 </pre>
 691 to
 692 <pre>
 693 BINOWN = root
 694 BINGRP = admin
 695 </pre>
 696
 697     </li>
 698
 699     <li>Type "make"</li>
 700
 701     <li>Type "sudo make install"</li>
 702
 703   </ol>
 704
 705   </li>
 706
 707   <li>Download the Python2.6 (or greater) source, unarchive, and
 708   change directory to Python2.6.  We need to enable python gdbm
 709   support which is not enabled in the default OS X 10.5.5 installation
 710   of python, as the gdbm libs are not included.  However, we just
 711   installed the gdbm libs in step 1, so we can now compile python with
 712   gdbm support.
 713
 714   <ol>
 715
 716     <li>Edit the file "Modules/Setup" by uncommenting the line which
 717       links against gdbm by changing
 718
 719 <pre>
 720 #gdbm gdbmmodule.c -I/usr/local/include -L/usr/local/lib -lgdbm
 721 </pre>
 722 to
 723 <pre>
 724 gdbm gdbmmodule.c -I/usr/local/include -L/usr/local/lib -lgdbm
 725 </pre>
 726     </li>
 727
 728     <li>Edit the file "Modules/Setup" by uncommenting the line to
 729       create shared libs by changing
 730
 731 <pre>
 732 #*shared*
 733 </pre>
 734 to
 735 <pre>
 736 *shared*
 737 </pre>
 738     </li>
 739
 740     <li>Type <code>./configure --enable-framework
 741     --enable-universalsdk</code> in the top-level
 742     Python2.6 directory.  This will configure the installation of
 743     python as a shared OS X framework, and usable with OS X GUI
 744     frameworks and SDKs. You may have problems building if you don't
 745     have the SDKs that support the PPC platform. If you do, just
 746     specify <code>--disable-universalsdk</code>.
 747     By default, python will be installed in
 748     "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework", which is what we
 749     want.</li>
 750
 751     <li>Type <code>make</code></li>
 752
 753     <li>Type <code>sudo make install</code></li>
 754
 755     <li>Type <code>cd /usr/local/bin; sudo ln -s python2.6 python</code></li>
 756
 757     <li>Make sure "/usr/local/bin" is at the front of your search path
 758     in ~/.profile or ~/.bashrc etc.</li>
 759
 760     <li>Type <code>source ~/.profle</code> or <code>source
 761     ~/.bashrc</code> etc. or alternatively, just open a new shell
 762     window.  When you type <code>which python</code> it should give
 763     you the new version in "/usr/local/bin" <strong>not</strong> the
 764     one in "/usr/bin".</li>
 765
 766   </ol>
 767
 768   </li>
 769
 770   <li>Download the cvs2svn-2.2.0 (or greater) source, unarchive and
 771   change directory to cvs2svn-2.2.0.  Many people can't get cvs2svn to
 772   work except in the installation directory.  The reason for this is
 773   that the installation places copies of cvs2svn, cvs2svn_libs, and
 774   cvs2svn_rcsparse in the /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework
 775   hierarchy.  All we need to do is make a link in /usr/local/bin
 776   pointing to the location of cvs2svn in the python framework
 777   hierarchy.  And for good measure we also make links to the lib and
 778   include directories:
 779
 780   <ol>
 781
 782     <li>Type <code>sudo make install</code></li>
 783
 784     <li>Create the required links by typing the following:
 785
 786 <pre>
 787 sudo ln -s /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/bin/cvs2svn /usr/local/bin/cvs2svn
 788 sudo ln -s /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6 /usr/local/lib/python2.6
 789 sudo ln -s /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/include/python2.6 /usr/local/include/python2.6
 790 </pre>
 791
 792     </li>
 793
 794   </ol>
 795
 796   </li>
 797
 798 </ol>
 799
 800 <p>The installation is complete. Change directory out of the
 801 cvs2svn-2.2.0 installation directory, and you should be able to run
 802 cvs2svn. Be careful *not* to copy the version of cvs2svn in the
 803 cvs2svn-2.2.0 installation directory to /usr/local/bin, as this has a
 804 different python environment setting at the top of the file than the
 805 one that was installed in the /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework
 806 hierarchy. Follow the instructions exactly, and it should work.
 807 </p>
 808
 809
 810 <hr />
 811
 812 <h2>Problems:</h2>
 813
 814 <h3><a name="atticprob" title="#atticprob">I get an error "A CVS
 815     repository cannot contain both repo/path/file.txt,v and
 816     repo/path/Attic/file.txt,v".  What can I do?</a></h3>
 817
 818 <p>Background: Normally, if you have a file called
 819 <tt>path/file.txt</tt> in your project, CVS stores its history in a
 820 file called <tt>repo/path/file.txt,v</tt>.  But if <tt>file.txt</tt>
 821 is deleted on the main line of development, CVS moves its history file
 822 to a special <tt>Attic</tt> subdirectory:
 823 <tt>repo/path/Attic/file.txt,v</tt>.  (If the file is recreated, then
 824 it is moved back out of the <tt>Attic</tt> subdirectory.)  Your
 825 repository should never contain both of these files at the same
 826 time.</p>
 827
 828 <p>This cvs2svn error message thus indicates a mild form of corruption
 829 in your CVS repository.  The file has two conflicting histories, and
 830 even CVS does not know the correct history of <tt>path/file.txt</tt>.
 831 The corruption was probably created by using tools other than CVS to
 832 backup or manipulate the files in your repository.  With a little work
 833 you can learn more about the two histories by viewing each of the
 834 <tt>file.txt,v</tt> files in a text editor.</p>
 835
 836 <p>There are four straightforward approaches to fixing the repository
 837 corruption, but each has potential disadvantages.  Remember to <b>make
 838 a backup</b> before starting.  Never run cvs2svn on a live CVS
 839 repository--always work on a copy of your repository.</p>
 840
 841 <ol>
 842   <li>Restart the conversion with the
 843     <tt>--retain-conflicting-attic-files</tt> option.  This causes the
 844     non-attic and attic versions of the file to be converted
 845     separately, with the <tt>Attic</tt> version stored to a new
 846     subdirectory as <tt>path/Attic/file.txt</tt>.  This approach
 847     avoids losing any history, but by moving the <tt>Attic</tt>
 848     version of the file to a different subdirectory it might cause
 849     historical revisions to be broken.</li>
 850
 851   <li>Remove the <tt>Attic</tt> version of the file and restart the
 852     conversion.  Sometimes it represents an old version of the file
 853     that was deleted long ago, and it won't be missed.  But this
 854     completely discards one of the file's histories, probably causing
 855     <tt>file.txt</tt> to be missing in older historical revisions.
 856     (For what it's worth, this is probably how CVS would behave in
 857     this situation.)
 858
 859     <pre>
 860       # You did make a backup, right?
 861       $ rm repo/path/Attic/file.txt,v
 862     </pre></li>
 863
 864   <li>Remove the non-<tt>Attic</tt> version of the file and restart
 865     the conversion.  This might be appropriate if the
 866     non-<tt>Attic</tt> version has less important content than the
 867     <tt>Attic</tt> version.  But this completely discards one of the
 868     file's histories, probably causing <tt>file.txt</tt> to be missing
 869     in recent historical revisions.
 870
 871     <pre>
 872       # You did make a backup, right?
 873       $ rm repo/path/file.txt,v
 874     </pre></li>
 875
 876   <li>Rename the non-<tt>Attic</tt> version of the file and restart
 877     the conversion.  This avoids losing history, but it changes the
 878     name of the non-<tt>Attic</tt> version of the file to
 879     <tt>file-not-from-Attic.txt</tt> whenever it appeared, and might
 880     thereby cause revisions to be broken.
 881
 882     <pre>
 883       # You did make a backup, right?
 884       $ mv repo/path/file.txt,v repo/path/file-not-from-Attic.txt,v
 885     </pre></li>
 886
 887 </ol>
 888
 889 <p>If you run cvs2svn on a case-insensitive operating system, it is
 890 possible to get this error even if the filename of the file in
 891 Attic has different case than the one out of the Attic.  This could
 892 happen, for example, if the CVS repository was served from a
 893 case-sensitive operating system at some time.  A workaround for this
 894 problem is to copy the CVS repository to a case-sensitive operating
 895 system and convert it there.
 896 </p>
 897
 898
 899 <h3><a name="rcsfileinvalid" title="#rcsfileinvalid">I get an error
 900     "ERROR: <i>filename</i>,v is not a valid ,v file."</a></h3>
 901
 902 <p>The named file is corrupt in some way.  (Corruption is surprisingly
 903 common in CVS repositories.)  It is likely that even CVS has problems
 904 with this file; try checking out the head revision, revision 1.1, and
 905 the tip revision on each branch of this file; probably one or more of
 906 them don't work.</p>
 907
 908 <p>Here are some options:</p>
 909
 910 <ol>
 911
 912   <li>Omit this file from the conversion (by making a copy of your
 913     repository, deleting this file from the copy, then converting from
 914     the copy).</li>
 915
 916   <li>Restore an older copy of this file from backups, if you have
 917     backups from before it was corrupted.</li>
 918
 919   <li>Hand-fix the file as best you can by opening it in a binary
 920     editor and trying to put it back in RCS file format (documented in
 921     the rcsfile(5) manpage).  Often it is older revisions that are
 922     affected by corruption; you might need to delete some old
 923     revisions to salvage newer ones.</li>
 924
 925 </ol>
 926
 927
 928 <h3><a name="gdbm-nfs" title="#gdbm-nfs">gdbm.error: (45, 'Operation
 929     not supported')</a></h3>
 930
 931 <p>This has been reported to be caused by trying to create gdbm
 932 databases on an NFS partition.  Apparently gdbm does not support
 933 databases on NFS partitions.  The workaround is to use the
 934 <tt>--tmpdir</tt> option to choose a local partition for cvs2svn to
 935 write its temporary files.</p>
 936
 937
 938 <h3><a name="apple-single" title="#apple-single">When converting a CVS
 939     repository that was used on a Macintosh, the contents of some
 940     files are incorrect in SVN.</a></h3>
 941
 942 <p>Some Macintosh CVS clients use a nonstandard trick to store the
 943 resource fork of files in CVS: instead of storing the file contents
 944 directly, store an <a
 945 href="http://rfc.net/rfc1740.html">AppleSingle</a> data stream
 946 containing both the data fork and resource fork.  When checking the
 947 file out, the client unpacks the AppleSingle data and writes the two
 948 forks separately to disk.  By default, cvs2svn treats the file
 949 contents literally, so when you check the file out of Subversion, the
 950 file contains the combined data in AppleSingle format rather than only
 951 the data fork of the file as expected.</p>
 952
 953 <p>Subversion does not have any special facilities for dealing with
 954 Macintosh resource forks, so there is nothing cvs2svn can do to
 955 preserve both forks of your data.  However, sometimes the resource
 956 fork is not needed.  If you would like to discard the resource fork
 957 and only record the data fork in Subversion, then start your
 958 conversion using the <a
 959 href="cvs2svn.html#options-file-method">options file method</a> and
 960 set the following option to <tt>True</tt> in your options file:</p>
 961
 962 <pre>
 963       ctx.decode_apple_single = True
 964 </pre>
 965
 966 <p>There is more information about this option in the comments in
 967 <tt>cvs2svn-example.options</tt>.</p>
 968
 969
 970 <h3><a name="rcsmissing" title="#installrcs">Using cvs2svn 1.3.x, I
 971     get an error "The command '['co', '-q', '-x,v', '-p1.1', '-kk',
 972     '/home/cvsroot/myfile,v']' failed" in pass 8.</a></h3>
 973
 974 <p><i>What are you using cvs2svn version 1.3.x for anyway?
 975 Upgrade!</i></p>
 976
 977 <p>But if you must, either install RCS, or ensure that CVS is
 978 installed and use cvs2svn's <a
 979 href="cvs2svn.html#use-cvs"><tt>--use-cvs</tt></a> option.</p>
 980
 981
 982 <h3><a name="nonstandardntdb" title="#nonstandardntdb">Vendor
 983     branches created with "cvs import -b &lt;branch number&gt;"
 984     are not correctly handled.</a></h3>
 985
 986 <p>Normally, people using "cvs import" don't specify the
 987 "-b" flag.  cvs2svn handles this normal case fine.</p>
 988
 989 <p>If you have a file which has an <i>active</i> vendor branch, i.e.
 990 there have never been any trunk commits but only "cvs imports" onto
 991 the vendor branch, then cvs2svn will handle this fine.  (Even if
 992 you've used the "-b" option to specify a non-standard branch
 993 number).</p>
 994
 995 <p>If you've used "cvs import -b &lt;branch number&gt;", you didn't
 996 specify the standard CVS vendor branch number of 1.1.1, and there
 997 has since been a commit on trunk (either a modification or delete),
 998 then your history has been damaged.  This isn't cvs2svn's fault.
 999 CVS simply doesn't record the branch number of the old vendor branch,
1000 it assumes it was 1.1.1.  You will even get the wrong results from
1001 "cvs checkout -D" with a date when the vendor branch was active.</p>
1002
1003 <p>Symptoms of this problem can include:</p>
1004
1005 <ul>
1006 <li>cvs2svn refusing to let you exclude the vendor branch, because
1007 some other branch depends on it</li>
1008 <li>if you did more than one import onto the vendor branch, then
1009 your SVN history "missing" one of the changes on trunk (though
1010 the change will be on the vendor branch).</li>
1011 </ul>
1012
1013 <p>(Note: There are other possible causes for these symptoms, don't
1014 assume you have a non-standard vendor branch number just because
1015 you see these symptoms).</p>
1016
1017 <p>The way to solve this problem is to renumber the vendor branch to
1018 the standard 1.1.1 branch number.  This has to be done before you run
1019 cvs2svn.  To help you do this, there is the "renumber_branch.py"
1020 script in the "contrib" directroy of the cvs2svn distribution.</p>
1021
1022 <p>The typical usage, assuming you used "cvs import -b 1.1.2 ..."
1023 to create your vendor branch, is:</p>
1024 <pre>
1025       contrib/renumber_branch.py 1.1.2 1.1.1 repos/dir/file,v
1026 </pre>
1027 <p>You should only run this on a <b>copy</b> of your CVS repository,
1028 as it edits the repository in-place.  You can fix a single file or a
1029 whole directory tree at a time.</p>
1030
1031 <p>The script will check that the 1.1.1 branch doesn't already exist;
1032 if it does exist then it will fail with an error message.</p>
1033
1034
1035
1036 <h2>Getting help:</h2>
1037
1038 <h3><a name="gettinghelp" title="#gettinghelp">How do I get
1039 help?</a></h3>
1040
1041 <p>There are several sources of help for cvs2svn:</p>
1042
1043 <ul>
1044
1045   <li>The <a href="cvs2svn.html">user manual</a> not only describes
1046   how to run cvs2svn, but also discusses some limitations, pitfalls,
1047   and conversion strategies.  Please note that the <a
1048   href="http://cvs2svn.tigris.org/cvs2svn.html">online manual</a>
1049   describes the latest "bleeding edge" trunk version of the software,
1050   which may be different than the version that you are using.</li>
1051
1052   <li>The <a href="faq.html">frequently asked questions (FAQ) list</a>
1053   is the document that you are now reading.  Please make sure you've
1054   scanned through the list of topics to see if your question is
1055   already answered.</li>
1056
1057   <li>The <a
1058   href="http://cvs2svn.tigris.org/servlets/ProjectMailingListList">mailing
1059   list archives</a>.  Maybe your question has
1060   been discussed on either the <tt>user@cvs2svn.tigris.org</tt> or
1061   <tt>dev@cvs2svn.tigris.org</tt> mailing list.</li>
1062
1063   <li>If you need help with running cvs2svn or problems converting
1064   your repository, the <a
1065   href="mailto:users@cvs2svn.tigris.org"><tt>users@cvs2svn.tigris.org</tt></a>
1066   mailing list is the first place to send inquiries.  Please <a
1067   href="http://cvs2svn.tigris.org/servlets/ProjectMailingListList">subscribe</a>
1068   to the list so that you can follow ensuing discussions.</li>
1069
1070   <li>You can also ask questions on IRC at <a
1071   href="irc://irc.freenode.net/"><tt>irc.freenode.net</tt></a>,
1072   channel <tt>#cvs2svn</tt>.</li>
1073
1074   <li>If you think you have found a bug, please refer to <a
1075   href="#reportingbugs">"How do I report a bug?"</a></li>
1076
1077 </ul>
1078
1079
1080 <h3><a name="reportingbugs" title="#reportingbugs">How do I report a
1081 bug?</a></h3>
1082
1083 <p>cvs2svn is an open source project that is largely developed and
1084 supported by volunteers in their free time.  Therefore please try to
1085 help out by reporting bugs in a way that will enable us to help you
1086 efficiently.</p>
1087
1088 <p>The first question is whether the problem you are experiencing is
1089 caused by a cvs2svn bug at all.  A large fraction of reported "bugs"
1090 are caused by problems with the user's CVS repository, especially mild
1091 forms of repository corruption or <a href="#cvsnt">trying to convert a
1092 CVSNT repository with cvs2svn</a>.  Please also double-check the <a
1093 href="cvs2svn.html">manual</a> to be sure that you are using the
1094 command-line options correctly.</p>
1095
1096 <p>A good way to localize potential repository corruption is to use
1097 the <tt>shrink_test_case.py</tt> script (which is located in the
1098 <tt>contrib</tt> directory of the cvs2svn source tree).  This script
1099 tries to find the minimum subset of files in your repository that
1100 still shows the same problem.  <b>Warning: Only apply this script to a
1101 backup copy of your repository, as it destroys the repository that it
1102 operates on!</b> Often this script can narrow the problem down to a
1103 single file which, as often as not, is corrupt in some way.  Even if
1104 the problem is not in your repository, the shrunk-down test case will
1105 be useful for reporting the bug.  Please see <a href="#testcase">"How
1106 can I produce a useful test case?"</a> and the comments at the top of
1107 <tt>shrink_test_case.py</tt> for information about how to use this
1108 script.</p>
1109
1110 <p>Assuming that you still think you have found a bug, the next step
1111 is to investigate whether the bug is already known.  Please look
1112 through the <a
1113 href="http://cvs2svn.tigris.org/issue_tracker.html">issue tracker</a>
1114 for bugs that sound familiar.  If the bug is already known, then there
1115 is no need to report it (though possibly you could contribute a <a
1116 href="#testcase">useful test case</a> or a workaround).</p>
1117
1118 <p>If your bug seems new, then the best thing to do is report it via
1119 email to the <a
1120 href="http://cvs2svn.tigris.org/servlets/ProjectMailingListList">dev@cvs2svn.tigris.org</a>
1121 mailing list.  Be sure to include the following information in your
1122 message:</p>
1123
1124 <ol>
1125
1126   <li><em>Exactly what version</em> of cvs2svn are you using?  If you
1127   are not using an official release, please tell us what branch and
1128   revision number from the <a
1129   href="http://cvs2svn.tigris.org/svn/cvs2svn/">svn archive</a> you
1130   are using.  If you have modified cvs2svn, please tell us exactly
1131   what you have changed.</li>
1132
1133   <li>What platform are you using (Linux, BSD, Windows, etc.)?  What
1134   python version (e.g., type <tt>python --version</tt>)?</li>
1135
1136   <li>What is the <em>exact command line</em> that you used to start
1137   the conversion?  If you used the <tt>--options</tt> option, please
1138   attach a copy of the options file that you used.</li>
1139
1140   <li>What happened when you ran the program?  Why do you think the
1141   behavior was wrong?  Include transcripts and/or error output if
1142   available.</li>
1143
1144   <li>If at all possible, include a test case repository that we can
1145   use to reproduce the problem.  See <a href="#testcase">"How can I
1146   produce a useful test case?"</a> for more information.  In most
1147   cases, if we cannot reproduce the problem, there is nothing we can
1148   do to help you.</li>
1149
1150 </ol>
1151
1152
1153 <h3><a name="testcase" title="#testcase">How can I produce a useful
1154 test case?</a></h3>
1155
1156 <p>If you need to <a href="#reportingbugs">report a bug</a>, it is
1157 extremely helpful if you can include a test repository with your bug
1158 report.  In most cases, if we cannot reproduce the problem, there is
1159 nothing we can do to help you.  This section describes ways to
1160 overcome the most common problems that people have in producing a
1161 useful test case.  When you have a reasonable-sized test case (say
1162 under 1 MB--the smaller the better), you can just tar it up and attach
1163 it to the email in which you report the bug.</p>
1164
1165 <h4>If the repository is too big and/or contains proprietary information</h4>
1166
1167 <p>You don't want to send us your proprietary information, and we
1168 don't want to receive it either.  Short of open-sourcing your
1169 software, here is a way to strip out most of the proprietary
1170 information and simultaneously reduce the size of the archive
1171 tremendously.</p>
1172
1173 <p>The <tt>destroy_repository.py</tt> script tries to delete as much
1174 information as possible out of your repository while still preserving
1175 its basic structure (and therefore hopefully any cvs2svn bugs).
1176 Specifically, it tries to delete file descriptions, text content, all
1177 nontrivial log messages, and all author names.  It also renames all
1178 files and directories to have generic names (e.g.,
1179 <tt>dir015/file053,v</tt>).  (It does not affect the number and dates
1180 of revisions to the files.)</p>
1181
1182 <ol>
1183
1184   <li>This procedure will <b>destroy the repository</b> that it is
1185   applied to, so be sure to <b>make a backup copy of your
1186   repository and work with the backup!</b></li>
1187
1188   <li>Make sure you have the <tt>destroy_repository.py</tt> script.
1189   If you don't already have it, you should <a
1190   href="http://cvs2svn.tigris.org/servlets/ProjectSource">download the
1191   source code</a> for cvs2svn (there is no need to install it).  The
1192   script is located in the <tt>contrib</tt> subdirectory.</li>
1193
1194   <li>Run <tt>destroy_repository.py</tt> by typing <pre>
1195 # You did make a backup, right?
1196 /path/to/config/destroy_repository.py /path/to/copy/of/repo
1197 </pre></li>
1198
1199   <li>Verify that the "destroyed" archive does not include any
1200   information that you consider proprietary.  Your data security is
1201   ultimately your responsibility, and we make no guarantees that the
1202   <tt>destroy_repository.py</tt> script works correctly.  You can open
1203   the *,v files using a text editor to see what they contain.</li>
1204
1205   <li>Try converting the "destroyed" repository using cvs2svn, and
1206   ensure that the bug still exists.  Take a note of the exact cvs2svn
1207   command line that you used and include it along with a tarball of
1208   the "destroyed" repository with your bug report.</li>
1209
1210 </ol>
1211
1212 <p>If running <tt>destroy_repository.py</tt> with its default options
1213 causes the bug to go away, consider using
1214 <tt>destroy_repository.py</tt> command-line options to leave part of
1215 the repository information intact.  Run <tt>destroy_repository.py
1216 --help</tt> for more information.</p>
1217
1218
1219 <h4>The repository is still too large</h4>
1220
1221 <p>This step is a tiny bit more work, so if your repository is already
1222 small enough to send you can skip this step.  But this step helps
1223 narrow down the problem (maybe even point you to a corrupt file in
1224 your repository!) so it is still recommended.</p>
1225
1226 <p>The <tt>shrink_test_case.py</tt> script tries to delete as many
1227 files and directories from your repository as possible while
1228 preserving the cvs2svn bug.  To use this command, you need to write a
1229 little test script that tries to convert your repository and checks
1230 whether the bug is still present.  The script should exit successfully
1231 (e.g., "<tt>exit 0</tt>") if the bug is still <em>present</em>, and
1232 fail (e.g., "<tt>exit 1</tt>") if the bug has <em>disappeared</em>.
1233 The form of the test script depends on the bug that you saw, but it
1234 can be as simple as something like this:</p>
1235
1236 <pre>
1237 #! /bin/sh
1238
1239 cvs2svn --dry-run /path/to/copy/of/repo 2>&amp;1 | grep -q 'KeyError'
1240 </pre>
1241
1242 <p>If the bug is more subtle, then the test script obviously needs to
1243 be more involved.</p>
1244
1245 <p>Once the test script is ready, you can shrink your repository via
1246 the following steps:</p>
1247
1248 <ol>
1249
1250   <li>This procedure will <b>destroy the repository</b> that it is
1251   applied to, so be sure to <b>make a backup copy of your
1252   repository and work with the backup!</b></li>
1253
1254   <li>Make sure you have the <tt>shrink_test_case.py</tt> script.
1255   If you don't already have it, you should <a
1256   href="http://cvs2svn.tigris.org/servlets/ProjectSource">download the
1257   source code</a> for cvs2svn (there is no need to install it).  The
1258   script is located in the <tt>contrib</tt> subdirectory.</li>
1259
1260   <li>Run <tt>shrink_test_case.py</tt> by typing <pre>
1261 # You did make a backup, right?
1262 /path/to/config/shrink_test_case.py /path/to/copy/of/repo testscript.sh
1263 </pre>, where <tt>testscript.sh</tt> is the name of the test script
1264   described above.  This script will execute <tt>testscript.sh</tt>
1265   many times, each time using a subset of the original repository.</li>
1266
1267   <li>If the shrunken repository only consists of one or two files,
1268   look inside the files with a text editor to see whether they are
1269   corrupted in any obvious way.  (Many so-called cvs2svn "bugs" are
1270   actually the result of a corrupt CVS repository.)</li>
1271
1272   <li>Try converting the "shrunk" repository using cvs2svn, to make
1273   sure that the original bug still exists.  Take a note of the exact
1274   cvs2svn command line that you used, and include it along with a
1275   tarball of the "destroyed" repository with your bug report.</li>
1276
1277 </ol>
1278
1279
1280 <h3><a name="commercialsupport" title="#commercialsupport">Does
1281 anybody offer commercial support for cvs2svn/cvs2git
1282 conversions?</a></h3>
1283
1284 <p><b>Disclaimer:</b>These links in this section are provided as a
1285 service to cvs2svn/cvs2git users.  Neither Tigris.org, CollabNet
1286 Inc., nor the cvs2svn team guarantee the correctness, validity or
1287 usefulness of these links.  To add a link to this section, please
1288 submit it to the cvs2svn developers' mailing list.</p>
1289
1290 <p>Following is a list of known sources for commercial support for
1291 cvs2svn/cvs2git conversions:</p>
1292
1293 <ul>
1294
1295   <li>Michael Haggerty, the maintainer of cvs2svn/cvs2git, offers
1296   individual help with conversions, including implementation of new
1297   cvs2svn/cvs2git features, on a consulting basis.  Please contact
1298   Michael <a href="email:mhagger@alum.mit.edu">via email</a> for more
1299   information.</li>
1300
1301 </ul>
1302
1303
1304 </div>
1305 </body>
1306 </html>