6 git-cvsserver - A CVS server emulator for git
11 export CVS_SERVER=git-cvsserver
12 'cvs' -d :ext:user@server/path/repo.git co <HEAD_name>
17 This application is a CVS emulation layer for git.
19 It is highly functional. However, not all methods are implemented,
20 and for those methods that are implemented,
21 not all switches are implemented.
23 Testing has been done using both the CLI CVS client, and the Eclipse CVS
24 plugin. Most functionality works fine with both of these clients.
29 Currently cvsserver works over SSH connections for read/write clients, and
30 over pserver for anonymous CVS access.
32 CVS clients cannot tag, branch or perform GIT merges.
34 git-cvsserver maps GIT branches to CVS modules. This is very different
35 from what most CVS users would expect since in CVS modules usually represent
36 one or more directories.
41 1. If you are going to offer anonymous CVS access via pserver, add a line in
46 cvspserver stream tcp nowait nobody git-cvsserver pserver
49 Note: Some inetd servers let you specify the name of the executable
50 independently of the value of argv[0] (i.e. the name the program assumes
51 it was executed with). In this case the correct line in /etc/inetd.conf
55 cvspserver stream tcp nowait nobody /usr/bin/git-cvsserver git-cvsserver pserver
58 No special setup is needed for SSH access, other than having GIT tools
59 in the PATH. If you have clients that do not accept the CVS_SERVER
60 env variable, you can rename git-cvsserver to cvs.
62 2. For each repo that you want accessible from CVS you need to edit config in
63 the repo and add the following section.
69 # optional for debugging
70 logfile=/path/to/logfile
73 Note: you need to ensure each user that is going to invoke git-cvsserver has
74 write access to the log file and to the database (see
75 <<dbbackend,Database Backend>>. If you want to offer write access over
76 SSH, the users of course also need write access to the git repository itself.
78 [[configaccessmethod]]
79 All configuration variables can also be overriden for a specific method of
80 access. Valid method names are "ext" (for SSH access) and "pserver". The
81 following example configuration would disable pserver access while still
82 allowing access over SSH.
91 3. On the client machine you need to set the following variables.
92 CVSROOT should be set as per normal, but the directory should point at the
93 appropriate git repo. For example:
96 For SSH access, CVS_SERVER should be set to git-cvsserver
101 export CVSROOT=:ext:user@server:/var/git/project.git
102 export CVS_SERVER=git-cvsserver
105 4. For SSH clients that will make commits, make sure their .bashrc file
106 sets the GIT_AUTHOR and GIT_COMMITTER variables.
108 5. Clients should now be able to check out the project. Use the CVS 'module'
109 name to indicate what GIT 'head' you want to check out. Example:
112 cvs co -d project-master master
119 git-cvsserver uses one database per git head (i.e. CVS module) to
120 store information about the repository for faster access. The
121 database doesn't contain any persitent data and can be completly
122 regenerated from the git repository at any time. The database
123 needs to be updated (i.e. written to) after every commit.
125 If the commit is done directly by using git (as opposed to
126 using git-cvsserver) the update will need to happen on the
127 next repository access by git-cvsserver, independent of
128 access method and requested operation.
130 That means that even if you offer only read access (e.g. by using
131 the pserver method), git-cvsserver should have write access to
132 the database to work reliably (otherwise you need to make sure
133 that the database if up-to-date all the time git-cvsserver is run).
135 By default it uses SQLite databases in the git directory, named
136 `gitcvs.<module_name>.sqlite`. Note that the SQLite backend creates
137 temporary files in the same directory as the database file on
138 write so it might not be enough to grant the users using
139 git-cvsserver write access to the database file without granting
140 them write access to the directory, too.
142 You can configure the database backend with the following
143 configuration variables:
145 Configuring database backend
146 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
148 git-cvsserver uses the Perl DBI module. Please also read
149 its documentation if changing these variables, especially
150 about `DBI->connect()`.
153 Database name. The exact meaning depends on the
154 used database driver, for SQLite this is a filename.
155 Supports variable substitution (see below). May
156 not contain semicolons (`;`).
157 Default: '%Ggitcvs.%m.sqlite'
160 Used DBI driver. You can specify any available driver
161 for this here, but it might not work. cvsserver is tested
162 with 'DBD::SQLite', reported to work with
163 'DBD::Pg', and reported *not* to work with 'DBD::mysql'.
164 Please regard this as an experimental feature. May not
165 contain double colons (`:`).
169 Database user. Only useful if setting `dbdriver`, since
170 SQLite has no concept of database users. Supports variable
171 substitution (see below).
174 Database password. Only useful if setting `dbdriver`, since
175 SQLite has no concept of database passwords.
177 All variables can also be set per access method, see <<configaccessmethod,above>>.
179 Variable substitution
180 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
181 In `dbdriver` and `dbuser` you can use the following variables:
186 git directory name, where all characters except for
187 alpha-numeric ones, `.`, and `-` are replaced with
188 `_` (this should make it easier to use the directory
189 name in a filename if wanted)
191 CVS module/git head name
193 access method (one of "ext" or "pserver")
195 Name of the user running git-cvsserver.
196 If no name can be determined, the
199 Eclipse CVS Client Notes
200 ------------------------
202 To get a checkout with the Eclipse CVS client:
204 1. Select "Create a new project -> From CVS checkout"
205 2. Create a new location. See the notes below for details on how to choose the
207 3. Browse the 'modules' available. It will give you a list of the heads in
208 the repository. You will not be able to browse the tree from there. Only
210 4. Pick 'HEAD' when it asks what branch/tag to check out. Untick the
211 "launch commit wizard" to avoid committing the .project file.
213 Protocol notes: If you are using anonymous access via pserver, just select that.
214 Those using SSH access should choose the 'ext' protocol, and configure 'ext'
215 access on the Preferences->Team->CVS->ExtConnection pane. Set CVS_SERVER to
216 'git-cvsserver'. Note that password support is not good when using 'ext',
217 you will definitely want to have SSH keys setup.
219 Alternatively, you can just use the non-standard extssh protocol that Eclipse
220 offer. In that case CVS_SERVER is ignored, and you will have to replace
221 the cvs utility on the server with git-cvsserver or manipulate your `.bashrc`
222 so that calling 'cvs' effectively calls git-cvsserver.
224 Clients known to work
225 ---------------------
227 - CVS 1.12.9 on Debian
228 - CVS 1.11.17 on MacOSX (from Fink package)
229 - Eclipse 3.0, 3.1.2 on MacOSX (see Eclipse CVS Client Notes)
235 All the operations required for normal use are supported, including
236 checkout, diff, status, update, log, add, remove, commit.
237 Legacy monitoring operations are not supported (edit, watch and related).
238 Exports and tagging (tags and branches) are not supported at this stage.
240 The server should set the '-k' mode to binary when relevant, however,
241 this is not really implemented yet. For now, you can force the server
242 to set '-kb' for all files by setting the `gitcvs.allbinary` config
243 variable. In proper GIT tradition, the contents of the files are
244 always respected. No keyword expansion or newline munging is supported.
249 git-cvsserver depends on DBD::SQLite.
251 Copyright and Authors
252 ---------------------
254 This program is copyright The Open University UK - 2006.
258 - Martyn Smith <martyn@catalyst.net.nz>
259 - Martin Langhoff <martin@catalyst.net.nz>
261 with ideas and patches from participants of the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
265 Documentation by Martyn Smith <martyn@catalyst.net.nz>, Martin Langhoff <martin@catalyst.net.nz>, and Matthias Urlichs <smurf@smurf.noris.de>.
269 Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite