+ +

cvs2bzr

+ +

Index

+ +

Introduction
Requirements
Development status
Documentation
Usage

+ +

Introduction

+ +

cvs2svn/cvs2bzr is a tool that can be used to migrate CVS +repositories to newer version control tools, including Bazaar. Bazaar is an adaptive +version control system that supports both centralised and distributed +version control. It is most famous for being used for Ubuntu and +MySQL development. The program used to convert to Bazaar, called +cvs2bzr, is distributed as part of the cvs2svn project.

+ +

If you are reading this documentation on the cvs2svn website, then please be +aware that it describes the current trunk version of cvs2svn, which +may be different than the most recent released version. Please refer +to the documentation that was included with your version of cvs2svn. +

+ +

Conversion to Bazaar was added in release 2.3 of cvs2svn and may have +improved significantly since then. Please make sure you are using an +up-to-date version of cvs2svn--perhaps even the development trunk +version.

+ + +

Requirements

+ +

cvs2bzr requires the following:

+ +

Direct (filesystem) access to a copy of the CVS repository that + you want to convert. cvs2bzr parses the files in the CVS + repository directly, so it is not enough to have remote CVS + access. See the FAQ for more + information and a possible workaround.
Python 2, version 2.4 or later. See http://www.python.org/. + (cvs2bzr does not work with Python 3.x.)
If you use the --use-rcs option, then RCS's `co' + program is required. The RCS home page is + http://www.cs.purdue.edu/homes/trinkle/RCS/. + See the --use-rcs flag for more + details.
If you use the --use-cvs option, then the `cvs' command + is required. The CVS home page is + http://ccvs.cvshome.org/. + See the --use-cvs flag for more + details.
GNU sort, which is part of the coreutils package, see http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/. Binaries for + Win32 can be found at http://unxutils.sourceforge.net/. + Windows sort.exe is not adequate.
Bazaar version 1.13 or later.
The bzr-fastimport plugin version 0.9 or later.

+ + +

Development status

+ +

Most of the work of converting a repository from CVS to a more +modern version control system is inferring the most likely history +given the incomplete information that CVS records. cvs2svn has a long +history of making sense of even the most convoluted CVS repositories, +and cvs2bzr uses this same machinery. Therefore, cvs2bzr inherits the +robustness and many of the features of +cvs2svn. cvs2svn can convert just about every CVS repository we +have ever seen, and includes a plethora of options for customizing +your conversion.

+ +

The output of cvs2bzr is a "fastimport" dump file that can be +imported into Bazaar using the bzr-fastimport +plugin.

+ +

Although cvs2bzr is considerably newer than cvs2svn, and much less +well tested, it is believed that cvs2bzr can (cautiously) be used for +production conversions. If you use cvs2bzr, please let us know how it +worked for you!

+ + +

cvs2bzr limitations

+ +

cvs2bzr still has many limitations compared to cvs2svn. The main +cvs2svn developer has limited Bazaar experience and very limited time, so +help would be much appreciated! Some of these missing +features would be pretty easy to program, and I'd be happy to help you +get started.

+ +

The cvs2bzr documentation is still rather thin. See below for more references.
CVS allows a branch to be created from arbitrary combinations of + source revisions and/or source branches. cvs2bzr tries to create + a branch from a single source, but if it can't figure out how to, + it creates the branch using "merge" from multiple sources. In + pathological situations, the number of merge sources for a branch + can be arbitrarily large.
There are no checks that CVS branch and tag names are legal + names in Bazaar. This is unlikely to be a problem because Bazaar + uses paths for branch names similar to CVS and Subversion. Tag + naming in Bazaar is also more flexible than in git, say.
Only single projects can be converted at a time. Given the way + Bazaar is typically used, I don't think that this is a significant + limitation.
cvs2bzr is not especially fast. Among other things, it still + uses RCS or CVS to extract the contents of the CVS revisions. + Implementing the --internal-co option for cvs2bzr (using + code that already exists in cvs2svn) might improve the conversion + speed considerably.
The cvs2svn test suite does not include meaningful tests of + Bazaar output.
cvs2bzr makes no attempt to convert .cvsignore files + into .bzrignore files.
cvs2bzr, like cvs2svn, does not support incremental conversion + (i.e., tracking a live CVS repository). However, this possible + workaround for using cvs2git along those lines might provide + some assistance for anyone wanting to try doing that using + cvs2bzr.

+ + +

Documentation

+ +

There is some documentation specific to cvs2bzr, and much of the +cvs2svn documentation also applies fairly straightforwardly to +cvs2bzr. See the following sources:

+ +

This document.
The cvs2bzr man page and the output of cvs2bzr + --help.
The cvs2svn documentation and + the cvs2svn FAQ, which contain much general + discussion and describe many features that can also be used for + cvs2bzr.
cvs2bzr-example.options in the cvs2svn source tree, + which is an example of an options file that can be used to + configure a cvs2bzr conversion. The file is extensively + documented.
The cvs2svn mailing lists, IRC channel, etc., as described in the cvs2svn FAQ.
The + Bazaar Data Migration Guide.

+ + +

Usage

+ +

This section outlines the steps needed to convert a CVS repository +to Bazaar using cvs2bzr.

+ +

Be sure that you have the requirements, + including either RCS or CVS (used to read revision contents from + the CVS repository).
Obtain a copy of cvs2svn/cvs2bzr version 2.3 or newer. It is + recommended that you use the most recent version available, or + even the development version. + +
- To install cvs2svn from a tarball, + simply unpack the tarball into a directory on your conversion + computer (cvs2bzr can be run directly from this + directory).
- + +
  To check out the current trunk version of cvs2svn, make + sure that you have Subversion installed and then run:
  + +
```
+svn co --username=guest http://cvs2svn.tigris.org/svn/cvs2svn/trunk cvs2svn-trunk
+# The password is empty; i.e., just press return.
+cd cvs2svn-trunk
+make man # If you want to create manpages for the main programs
+make check # ...optional
+
```
  + +
  Please note that the test suite includes tests that are + marked "XFAIL" (expected failure); these are known and are + not considered serious problems.
  + +
+ +
+ + Configure cvs2bzr for your conversion. This can be done via + command-line options or via an options file: + +
- The command-line options for running cvs2bzr are documented + in the cvs2bzr man page and in the output of cvs2bzr + --help.
- + +
  The more flexible options-file method + requires you to create an options file, then start cvs2bzr + with
  + +
```
+cvs2bzr --options=OPTIONS-FILE
+
```
  + +
  Use cvs2bzr-example.options in the cvs2svn source + tree as your starting point; the file contains lots of + documentation.
  + +
+ +
+ +
Run cvs2bzr. This creates an output file in fast-import + format. The name of this file is specified by + your options file or a command-line argument. In the example, + the file is named cvs2svn-tmp/dumpfile.fi.
+ +

+ +

Load the dump file using bzr fast-import:

+ +

+bzr fast-import cvs2svn-tmp/dumpfile.fi project.bzr
+

+ +

Feedback would be much appreciated, including reports of success + using cvs2bzr. Please send comments, bug reports, and patches to + the cvs2svn + mailing lists.

+ +