Documentation/git-cvsserver.txt

   1 git-cvsserver(1)
   2 ================
   3
   4 NAME
   5 ----
   6 git-cvsserver - A CVS server emulator for git
   7
   8 SYNOPSIS
   9 --------
  10
  11 SSH:
  12
  13 [verse]
  14 export CVS_SERVER="git cvsserver"
  15 'cvs' -d :ext:user@server/path/repo.git co <HEAD_name>
  16
  17 pserver (/etc/inetd.conf):
  18
  19 [verse]
  20 cvspserver stream tcp nowait nobody /usr/bin/git-cvsserver git-cvsserver pserver
  21
  22 Usage:
  23
  24 [verse]
  25 'git cvsserver' [options] [pserver|server] [<directory> ...]
  26
  27 OPTIONS
  28 -------
  29
  30 All these options obviously only make sense if enforced by the server side.
  31 They have been implemented to resemble the linkgit:git-daemon[1] options as
  32 closely as possible.
  33
  34 --base-path <path>::
  35 Prepend 'path' to requested CVSROOT
  36
  37 --strict-paths::
  38 Don't allow recursing into subdirectories
  39
  40 --export-all::
  41 Don't check for `gitcvs.enabled` in config. You also have to specify a list
  42 of allowed directories (see below) if you want to use this option.
  43
  44 -V::
  45 --version::
  46 Print version information and exit
  47
  48 -h::
  49 -H::
  50 --help::
  51 Print usage information and exit
  52
  53 <directory>::
  54 You can specify a list of allowed directories. If no directories
  55 are given, all are allowed. This is an additional restriction, gitcvs
  56 access still needs to be enabled by the `gitcvs.enabled` config option
  57 unless '--export-all' was given, too.
  58
  59
  60 DESCRIPTION
  61 -----------
  62
  63 This application is a CVS emulation layer for git.
  64
  65 It is highly functional. However, not all methods are implemented,
  66 and for those methods that are implemented,
  67 not all switches are implemented.
  68
  69 Testing has been done using both the CLI CVS client, and the Eclipse CVS
  70 plugin. Most functionality works fine with both of these clients.
  71
  72 LIMITATIONS
  73 -----------
  74
  75 Currently cvsserver works over SSH connections for read/write clients, and
  76 over pserver for anonymous CVS access.
  77
  78 CVS clients cannot tag, branch or perform GIT merges.
  79
  80 'git-cvsserver' maps GIT branches to CVS modules. This is very different
  81 from what most CVS users would expect since in CVS modules usually represent
  82 one or more directories.
  83
  84 INSTALLATION
  85 ------------
  86
  87 1. If you are going to offer anonymous CVS access via pserver, add a line in
  88    /etc/inetd.conf like
  89 +
  90 --
  91 ------
  92    cvspserver stream tcp nowait nobody git-cvsserver pserver
  93
  94 ------
  95 Note: Some inetd servers let you specify the name of the executable
  96 independently of the value of argv[0] (i.e. the name the program assumes
  97 it was executed with). In this case the correct line in /etc/inetd.conf
  98 looks like
  99
 100 ------
 101    cvspserver stream tcp nowait nobody /usr/bin/git-cvsserver git-cvsserver pserver
 102
 103 ------
 104 No special setup is needed for SSH access, other than having GIT tools
 105 in the PATH. If you have clients that do not accept the CVS_SERVER
 106 environment variable, you can rename 'git-cvsserver' to `cvs`.
 107
 108 Note: Newer CVS versions (>= 1.12.11) also support specifying
 109 CVS_SERVER directly in CVSROOT like
 110
 111 ------
 112 cvs -d ":ext;CVS_SERVER=git cvsserver:user@server/path/repo.git" co <HEAD_name>
 113 ------
 114 This has the advantage that it will be saved in your 'CVS/Root' files and
 115 you don't need to worry about always setting the correct environment
 116 variable.  SSH users restricted to 'git-shell' don't need to override the default
 117 with CVS_SERVER (and shouldn't) as 'git-shell' understands `cvs` to mean
 118 'git-cvsserver' and pretends that the other end runs the real 'cvs' better.
 119 --
 120 2. For each repo that you want accessible from CVS you need to edit config in
 121    the repo and add the following section.
 122 +
 123 --
 124 ------
 125    [gitcvs]
 126         enabled=1
 127         # optional for debugging
 128         logfile=/path/to/logfile
 129
 130 ------
 131 Note: you need to ensure each user that is going to invoke 'git-cvsserver' has
 132 write access to the log file and to the database (see
 133 <<dbbackend,Database Backend>>. If you want to offer write access over
 134 SSH, the users of course also need write access to the git repository itself.
 135
 136 You also need to ensure that each repository is "bare" (without a git index
 137 file) for `cvs commit` to work. See linkgit:gitcvs-migration[7].
 138
 139 [[configaccessmethod]]
 140 All configuration variables can also be overridden for a specific method of
 141 access. Valid method names are "ext" (for SSH access) and "pserver". The
 142 following example configuration would disable pserver access while still
 143 allowing access over SSH.
 144 ------
 145    [gitcvs]
 146         enabled=0
 147
 148    [gitcvs "ext"]
 149         enabled=1
 150 ------
 151 --
 152 3. If you didn't specify the CVSROOT/CVS_SERVER directly in the checkout command,
 153    automatically saving it in your 'CVS/Root' files, then you need to set them
 154    explicitly in your environment.  CVSROOT should be set as per normal, but the
 155    directory should point at the appropriate git repo.  As above, for SSH clients
 156    _not_ restricted to 'git-shell', CVS_SERVER should be set to 'git-cvsserver'.
 157 +
 158 --
 159 ------
 160      export CVSROOT=:ext:user@server:/var/git/project.git
 161      export CVS_SERVER="git cvsserver"
 162 ------
 163 --
 164 4. For SSH clients that will make commits, make sure their server-side
 165    .ssh/environment files (or .bashrc, etc., according to their specific shell)
 166    export appropriate values for GIT_AUTHOR_NAME, GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL,
 167    GIT_COMMITTER_NAME, and GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL.  For SSH clients whose login
 168    shell is bash, .bashrc may be a reasonable alternative.
 169
 170 5. Clients should now be able to check out the project. Use the CVS 'module'
 171    name to indicate what GIT 'head' you want to check out.  This also sets the
 172    name of your newly checked-out directory, unless you tell it otherwise with
 173    `-d <dir_name>`.  For example, this checks out 'master' branch to the
 174    `project-master` directory:
 175 +
 176 ------
 177      cvs co -d project-master master
 178 ------
 179
 180 [[dbbackend]]
 181 Database Backend
 182 ----------------
 183
 184 'git-cvsserver' uses one database per git head (i.e. CVS module) to
 185 store information about the repository for faster access. The
 186 database doesn't contain any persistent data and can be completely
 187 regenerated from the git repository at any time. The database
 188 needs to be updated (i.e. written to) after every commit.
 189
 190 If the commit is done directly by using `git` (as opposed to
 191 using 'git-cvsserver') the update will need to happen on the
 192 next repository access by 'git-cvsserver', independent of
 193 access method and requested operation.
 194
 195 That means that even if you offer only read access (e.g. by using
 196 the pserver method), 'git-cvsserver' should have write access to
 197 the database to work reliably (otherwise you need to make sure
 198 that the database is up-to-date any time 'git-cvsserver' is executed).
 199
 200 By default it uses SQLite databases in the git directory, named
 201 `gitcvs.<module_name>.sqlite`. Note that the SQLite backend creates
 202 temporary files in the same directory as the database file on
 203 write so it might not be enough to grant the users using
 204 'git-cvsserver' write access to the database file without granting
 205 them write access to the directory, too.
 206
 207 You can configure the database backend with the following
 208 configuration variables:
 209
 210 Configuring database backend
 211 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 212
 213 'git-cvsserver' uses the Perl DBI module. Please also read
 214 its documentation if changing these variables, especially
 215 about `DBI->connect()`.
 216
 217 gitcvs.dbname::
 218         Database name. The exact meaning depends on the
 219         selected database driver, for SQLite this is a filename.
 220         Supports variable substitution (see below). May
 221         not contain semicolons (`;`).
 222         Default: '%Ggitcvs.%m.sqlite'
 223
 224 gitcvs.dbdriver::
 225         Used DBI driver. You can specify any available driver
 226         for this here, but it might not work. cvsserver is tested
 227         with 'DBD::SQLite', reported to work with
 228         'DBD::Pg', and reported *not* to work with 'DBD::mysql'.
 229         Please regard this as an experimental feature. May not
 230         contain colons (`:`).
 231         Default: 'SQLite'
 232
 233 gitcvs.dbuser::
 234         Database user. Only useful if setting `dbdriver`, since
 235         SQLite has no concept of database users. Supports variable
 236         substitution (see below).
 237
 238 gitcvs.dbpass::
 239         Database password.  Only useful if setting `dbdriver`, since
 240         SQLite has no concept of database passwords.
 241
 242 gitcvs.dbTableNamePrefix::
 243         Database table name prefix.  Supports variable substitution
 244         (see below).  Any non-alphabetic characters will be replaced
 245         with underscores.
 246
 247 All variables can also be set per access method, see <<configaccessmethod,above>>.
 248
 249 Variable substitution
 250 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 251 In `dbdriver` and `dbuser` you can use the following variables:
 252
 253 %G::
 254         git directory name
 255 %g::
 256         git directory name, where all characters except for
 257         alpha-numeric ones, `.`, and `-` are replaced with
 258         `_` (this should make it easier to use the directory
 259         name in a filename if wanted)
 260 %m::
 261         CVS module/git head name
 262 %a::
 263         access method (one of "ext" or "pserver")
 264 %u::
 265         Name of the user running 'git-cvsserver'.
 266         If no name can be determined, the
 267         numeric uid is used.
 268
 269 Eclipse CVS Client Notes
 270 ------------------------
 271
 272 To get a checkout with the Eclipse CVS client:
 273
 274 1. Select "Create a new project -> From CVS checkout"
 275 2. Create a new location. See the notes below for details on how to choose the
 276    right protocol.
 277 3. Browse the 'modules' available. It will give you a list of the heads in
 278    the repository. You will not be able to browse the tree from there. Only
 279    the heads.
 280 4. Pick 'HEAD' when it asks what branch/tag to check out. Untick the
 281    "launch commit wizard" to avoid committing the .project file.
 282
 283 Protocol notes: If you are using anonymous access via pserver, just select that.
 284 Those using SSH access should choose the 'ext' protocol, and configure 'ext'
 285 access on the Preferences->Team->CVS->ExtConnection pane. Set CVS_SERVER to
 286 "'git cvsserver'". Note that password support is not good when using 'ext',
 287 you will definitely want to have SSH keys setup.
 288
 289 Alternatively, you can just use the non-standard extssh protocol that Eclipse
 290 offer. In that case CVS_SERVER is ignored, and you will have to replace
 291 the cvs utility on the server with 'git-cvsserver' or manipulate your `.bashrc`
 292 so that calling 'cvs' effectively calls 'git-cvsserver'.
 293
 294 Clients known to work
 295 ---------------------
 296
 297 - CVS 1.12.9 on Debian
 298 - CVS 1.11.17 on MacOSX (from Fink package)
 299 - Eclipse 3.0, 3.1.2 on MacOSX (see Eclipse CVS Client Notes)
 300 - TortoiseCVS
 301
 302 Operations supported
 303 --------------------
 304
 305 All the operations required for normal use are supported, including
 306 checkout, diff, status, update, log, add, remove, commit.
 307 Legacy monitoring operations are not supported (edit, watch and related).
 308 Exports and tagging (tags and branches) are not supported at this stage.
 309
 310 CRLF Line Ending Conversions
 311 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 312
 313 By default the server leaves the '-k' mode blank for all files,
 314 which causes the cvs client to treat them as a text files, subject
 315 to crlf conversion on some platforms.
 316
 317 You can make the server use `crlf` attributes to set the '-k' modes
 318 for files by setting the `gitcvs.usecrlfattr` config variable.
 319 In this case, if `crlf` is explicitly unset ('-crlf'), then the
 320 server will set '-kb' mode for binary files. If `crlf` is set,
 321 then the '-k' mode will explicitly be left blank.  See
 322 also linkgit:gitattributes[5] for more information about the `crlf`
 323 attribute.
 324
 325 Alternatively, if `gitcvs.usecrlfattr` config is not enabled
 326 or if the `crlf` attribute is unspecified for a filename, then
 327 the server uses the `gitcvs.allbinary` config for the default setting.
 328 If `gitcvs.allbinary` is set, then file not otherwise
 329 specified will default to '-kb' mode. Otherwise the '-k' mode
 330 is left blank. But if `gitcvs.allbinary` is set to "guess", then
 331 the correct '-k' mode will be guessed based on the contents of
 332 the file.
 333
 334 For best consistency with 'cvs', it is probably best to override the
 335 defaults by setting `gitcvs.usecrlfattr` to true,
 336 and `gitcvs.allbinary` to "guess".
 337
 338 Dependencies
 339 ------------
 340 'git-cvsserver' depends on DBD::SQLite.
 341
 342 Copyright and Authors
 343 ---------------------
 344
 345 This program is copyright The Open University UK - 2006.
 346
 347 Authors:
 348
 349 - Martyn Smith    <martyn@catalyst.net.nz>
 350 - Martin Langhoff <martin@catalyst.net.nz>
 351
 352 with ideas and patches from participants of the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 353
 354 Documentation
 355 --------------
 356 Documentation by Martyn Smith <martyn@catalyst.net.nz>, Martin Langhoff <martin@catalyst.net.nz>, and Matthias Urlichs <smurf@smurf.noris.de>.
 357
 358 GIT
 359 ---
 360 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite