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 gitlink: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
  42
  43 --version, -V::
  44 Print version information and exit
  45
  46 --help, -h, -H::
  47 Print usage information and exit
  48
  49 <directory>::
  50 You can specify a list of allowed directories. If no directories
  51 are given, all are allowed. This is an additional restriction, gitcvs
  52 access still needs to be enabled by the `gitcvs.enabled` config option
  53 unless '--export-all' was given, too.
  54
  55
  56 DESCRIPTION
  57 -----------
  58
  59 This application is a CVS emulation layer for git.
  60
  61 It is highly functional. However, not all methods are implemented,
  62 and for those methods that are implemented,
  63 not all switches are implemented.
  64
  65 Testing has been done using both the CLI CVS client, and the Eclipse CVS
  66 plugin. Most functionality works fine with both of these clients.
  67
  68 LIMITATIONS
  69 -----------
  70
  71 Currently cvsserver works over SSH connections for read/write clients, and
  72 over pserver for anonymous CVS access.
  73
  74 CVS clients cannot tag, branch or perform GIT merges.
  75
  76 git-cvsserver maps GIT branches to CVS modules. This is very different
  77 from what most CVS users would expect since in CVS modules usually represent
  78 one or more directories.
  79
  80 INSTALLATION
  81 ------------
  82
  83 1. If you are going to offer anonymous CVS access via pserver, add a line in
  84    /etc/inetd.conf like
  85 +
  86 --
  87 ------
  88    cvspserver stream tcp nowait nobody git-cvsserver pserver
  89
  90 ------
  91 Note: Some inetd servers let you specify the name of the executable
  92 independently of the value of argv[0] (i.e. the name the program assumes
  93 it was executed with). In this case the correct line in /etc/inetd.conf
  94 looks like
  95
  96 ------
  97    cvspserver stream tcp nowait nobody /usr/bin/git-cvsserver git-cvsserver pserver
  98
  99 ------
 100 No special setup is needed for SSH access, other than having GIT tools
 101 in the PATH. If you have clients that do not accept the CVS_SERVER
 102 environment variable, you can rename git-cvsserver to cvs.
 103
 104 Note: Newer cvs versions (>= 1.12.11) also support specifying
 105 CVS_SERVER directly in CVSROOT like
 106
 107 ------
 108 cvs -d ":ext;CVS_SERVER=git-cvsserver:user@server/path/repo.git" co <HEAD_name>
 109 ------
 110 This has the advantage that it will be saved in your 'CVS/Root' files and
 111 you don't need to worry about always setting the correct environment
 112 variable.
 113 --
 114 2. For each repo that you want accessible from CVS you need to edit config in
 115    the repo and add the following section.
 116 +
 117 --
 118 ------
 119    [gitcvs]
 120         enabled=1
 121         # optional for debugging
 122         logfile=/path/to/logfile
 123
 124 ------
 125 Note: you need to ensure each user that is going to invoke git-cvsserver has
 126 write access to the log file and to the database (see
 127 <<dbbackend,Database Backend>>. If you want to offer write access over
 128 SSH, the users of course also need write access to the git repository itself.
 129
 130 [[configaccessmethod]]
 131 All configuration variables can also be overridden for a specific method of
 132 access. Valid method names are "ext" (for SSH access) and "pserver". The
 133 following example configuration would disable pserver access while still
 134 allowing access over SSH.
 135 ------
 136    [gitcvs]
 137         enabled=0
 138
 139    [gitcvs "ext"]
 140         enabled=1
 141 ------
 142 --
 143 3. On the client machine you need to set the following variables.
 144    CVSROOT should be set as per normal, but the directory should point at the
 145    appropriate git repo. For example:
 146 +
 147 --
 148 For SSH access, CVS_SERVER should be set to git-cvsserver
 149
 150 Example:
 151
 152 ------
 153      export CVSROOT=:ext:user@server:/var/git/project.git
 154      export CVS_SERVER=git-cvsserver
 155 ------
 156 --
 157 4. For SSH clients that will make commits, make sure their .bashrc file
 158    sets the GIT_AUTHOR and GIT_COMMITTER variables.
 159
 160 5. Clients should now be able to check out the project. Use the CVS 'module'
 161    name to indicate what GIT 'head' you want to check out. Example:
 162 +
 163 ------
 164      cvs co -d project-master master
 165 ------
 166
 167 [[dbbackend]]
 168 Database Backend
 169 ----------------
 170
 171 git-cvsserver uses one database per git head (i.e. CVS module) to
 172 store information about the repository for faster access. The
 173 database doesn't contain any persistent data and can be completely
 174 regenerated from the git repository at any time. The database
 175 needs to be updated (i.e. written to) after every commit.
 176
 177 If the commit is done directly by using git (as opposed to
 178 using git-cvsserver) the update will need to happen on the
 179 next repository access by git-cvsserver, independent of
 180 access method and requested operation.
 181
 182 That means that even if you offer only read access (e.g. by using
 183 the pserver method), git-cvsserver should have write access to
 184 the database to work reliably (otherwise you need to make sure
 185 that the database if up-to-date all the time git-cvsserver is run).
 186
 187 By default it uses SQLite databases in the git directory, named
 188 `gitcvs.<module_name>.sqlite`. Note that the SQLite backend creates
 189 temporary files in the same directory as the database file on
 190 write so it might not be enough to grant the users using
 191 git-cvsserver write access to the database file without granting
 192 them write access to the directory, too.
 193
 194 You can configure the database backend with the following
 195 configuration variables:
 196
 197 Configuring database backend
 198 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 199
 200 git-cvsserver uses the Perl DBI module. Please also read
 201 its documentation if changing these variables, especially
 202 about `DBI->connect()`.
 203
 204 gitcvs.dbname::
 205         Database name. The exact meaning depends on the
 206         used database driver, for SQLite this is a filename.
 207         Supports variable substitution (see below). May
 208         not contain semicolons (`;`).
 209         Default: '%Ggitcvs.%m.sqlite'
 210
 211 gitcvs.dbdriver::
 212         Used DBI driver. You can specify any available driver
 213         for this here, but it might not work. cvsserver is tested
 214         with 'DBD::SQLite', reported to work with
 215         'DBD::Pg', and reported *not* to work with 'DBD::mysql'.
 216         Please regard this as an experimental feature. May not
 217         contain double colons (`:`).
 218         Default: 'SQLite'
 219
 220 gitcvs.dbuser::
 221         Database user. Only useful if setting `dbdriver`, since
 222         SQLite has no concept of database users. Supports variable
 223         substitution (see below).
 224
 225 gitcvs.dbpass::
 226         Database password.  Only useful if setting `dbdriver`, since
 227         SQLite has no concept of database passwords.
 228
 229 All variables can also be set per access method, see <<configaccessmethod,above>>.
 230
 231 Variable substitution
 232 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 233 In `dbdriver` and `dbuser` you can use the following variables:
 234
 235 %G::
 236         git directory name
 237 %g::
 238         git directory name, where all characters except for
 239         alpha-numeric ones, `.`, and `-` are replaced with
 240         `_` (this should make it easier to use the directory
 241         name in a filename if wanted)
 242 %m::
 243         CVS module/git head name
 244 %a::
 245         access method (one of "ext" or "pserver")
 246 %u::
 247         Name of the user running git-cvsserver.
 248         If no name can be determined, the
 249         numeric uid is used.
 250
 251 Eclipse CVS Client Notes
 252 ------------------------
 253
 254 To get a checkout with the Eclipse CVS client:
 255
 256 1. Select "Create a new project -> From CVS checkout"
 257 2. Create a new location. See the notes below for details on how to choose the
 258    right protocol.
 259 3. Browse the 'modules' available. It will give you a list of the heads in
 260    the repository. You will not be able to browse the tree from there. Only
 261    the heads.
 262 4. Pick 'HEAD' when it asks what branch/tag to check out. Untick the
 263    "launch commit wizard" to avoid committing the .project file.
 264
 265 Protocol notes: If you are using anonymous access via pserver, just select that.
 266 Those using SSH access should choose the 'ext' protocol, and configure 'ext'
 267 access on the Preferences->Team->CVS->ExtConnection pane. Set CVS_SERVER to
 268 'git-cvsserver'. Note that password support is not good when using 'ext',
 269 you will definitely want to have SSH keys setup.
 270
 271 Alternatively, you can just use the non-standard extssh protocol that Eclipse
 272 offer. In that case CVS_SERVER is ignored, and you will have to replace
 273 the cvs utility on the server with git-cvsserver or manipulate your `.bashrc`
 274 so that calling 'cvs' effectively calls git-cvsserver.
 275
 276 Clients known to work
 277 ---------------------
 278
 279 - CVS 1.12.9 on Debian
 280 - CVS 1.11.17 on MacOSX (from Fink package)
 281 - Eclipse 3.0, 3.1.2 on MacOSX (see Eclipse CVS Client Notes)
 282 - TortoiseCVS
 283
 284 Operations supported
 285 --------------------
 286
 287 All the operations required for normal use are supported, including
 288 checkout, diff, status, update, log, add, remove, commit.
 289 Legacy monitoring operations are not supported (edit, watch and related).
 290 Exports and tagging (tags and branches) are not supported at this stage.
 291
 292 The server should set the '-k' mode to binary when relevant, however,
 293 this is not really implemented yet. For now, you can force the server
 294 to set '-kb' for all files by setting the `gitcvs.allbinary` config
 295 variable. In proper GIT tradition, the contents of the files are
 296 always respected. No keyword expansion or newline munging is supported.
 297
 298 Dependencies
 299 ------------
 300
 301 git-cvsserver depends on DBD::SQLite.
 302
 303 Copyright and Authors
 304 ---------------------
 305
 306 This program is copyright The Open University UK - 2006.
 307
 308 Authors:
 309
 310 - Martyn Smith    <martyn@catalyst.net.nz>
 311 - Martin Langhoff <martin@catalyst.net.nz>
 312
 313 with ideas and patches from participants of the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 314
 315 Documentation
 316 --------------
 317 Documentation by Martyn Smith <martyn@catalyst.net.nz>, Martin Langhoff <martin@catalyst.net.nz>, and Matthias Urlichs <smurf@smurf.noris.de>.
 318
 319 GIT
 320 ---
 321 Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite