6 git-cvsserver - A CVS server emulator for git
14 export CVS_SERVER="git cvsserver"
15 'cvs' -d :ext:user@server/path/repo.git co <HEAD_name>
17 pserver (/etc/inetd.conf):
20 cvspserver stream tcp nowait nobody /usr/bin/git-cvsserver git-cvsserver pserver
25 'git-cvsserver' [options] [pserver|server] [<directory> ...]
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
35 Prepend 'path' to requested CVSROOT
38 Don't allow recursing into subdirectories
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.
46 Print version information and exit
51 Print usage information and exit
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.
63 This application is a CVS emulation layer for git.
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.
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.
75 CVS clients cannot tag, branch or perform GIT merges.
77 'git-cvsserver' maps GIT branches to CVS modules. This is very different
78 from what most CVS users would expect since in CVS modules usually represent
79 one or more directories.
84 1. If you are going to offer CVS access via pserver, add a line in
89 cvspserver stream tcp nowait nobody git-cvsserver pserver
92 Note: Some inetd servers let you specify the name of the executable
93 independently of the value of argv[0] (i.e. the name the program assumes
94 it was executed with). In this case the correct line in /etc/inetd.conf
98 cvspserver stream tcp nowait nobody /usr/bin/git-cvsserver git-cvsserver pserver
102 Only anonymous access is provided by pserve by default. To commit you
103 will have to create pserver accounts, simply add a gitcvs.authdb
104 setting in the config file of the repositories you want the cvsserver
105 to allow writes to, for example:
110 authdb = /etc/cvsserver/passwd
113 The format of these files is username followed by the crypted password,
118 myuser:$1$BA)@$vbnMJMDym7tA32AamXrm./
120 You can use the 'htpasswd' facility that comes with Apache to make these
121 files, but Apache's MD5 crypt method differs from the one used by most C
122 library's crypt() function, so don't use the -m option.
124 Then provide your password via the pserver method, for example:
126 cvs -d:pserver:someuser:somepassword <at> server/path/repo.git co <HEAD_name>
128 No special setup is needed for SSH access, other than having GIT tools
129 in the PATH. If you have clients that do not accept the CVS_SERVER
130 environment variable, you can rename 'git-cvsserver' to `cvs`.
132 Note: Newer CVS versions (>= 1.12.11) also support specifying
133 CVS_SERVER directly in CVSROOT like
136 cvs -d ":ext;CVS_SERVER=git cvsserver:user@server/path/repo.git" co <HEAD_name>
138 This has the advantage that it will be saved in your 'CVS/Root' files and
139 you don't need to worry about always setting the correct environment
140 variable. SSH users restricted to 'git-shell' don't need to override the default
141 with CVS_SERVER (and shouldn't) as 'git-shell' understands `cvs` to mean
142 'git-cvsserver' and pretends that the other end runs the real 'cvs' better.
144 2. For each repo that you want accessible from CVS you need to edit config in
145 the repo and add the following section.
151 # optional for debugging
152 logfile=/path/to/logfile
155 Note: you need to ensure each user that is going to invoke 'git-cvsserver' has
156 write access to the log file and to the database (see
157 <<dbbackend,Database Backend>>. If you want to offer write access over
158 SSH, the users of course also need write access to the git repository itself.
160 You also need to ensure that each repository is "bare" (without a git index
161 file) for `cvs commit` to work. See linkgit:gitcvs-migration[7].
163 [[configaccessmethod]]
164 All configuration variables can also be overridden for a specific method of
165 access. Valid method names are "ext" (for SSH access) and "pserver". The
166 following example configuration would disable pserver access while still
167 allowing access over SSH.
176 3. If you didn't specify the CVSROOT/CVS_SERVER directly in the checkout command,
177 automatically saving it in your 'CVS/Root' files, then you need to set them
178 explicitly in your environment. CVSROOT should be set as per normal, but the
179 directory should point at the appropriate git repo. As above, for SSH clients
180 _not_ restricted to 'git-shell', CVS_SERVER should be set to 'git-cvsserver'.
184 export CVSROOT=:ext:user@server:/var/git/project.git
185 export CVS_SERVER="git cvsserver"
188 4. For SSH clients that will make commits, make sure their server-side
189 .ssh/environment files (or .bashrc, etc., according to their specific shell)
190 export appropriate values for GIT_AUTHOR_NAME, GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL,
191 GIT_COMMITTER_NAME, and GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL. For SSH clients whose login
192 shell is bash, .bashrc may be a reasonable alternative.
194 5. Clients should now be able to check out the project. Use the CVS 'module'
195 name to indicate what GIT 'head' you want to check out. This also sets the
196 name of your newly checked-out directory, unless you tell it otherwise with
197 `-d <dir_name>`. For example, this checks out 'master' branch to the
198 `project-master` directory:
201 cvs co -d project-master master
208 'git-cvsserver' uses one database per git head (i.e. CVS module) to
209 store information about the repository to maintain consistent
210 CVS revision numbers. The database needs to be
211 updated (i.e. written to) after every commit.
213 If the commit is done directly by using `git` (as opposed to
214 using 'git-cvsserver') the update will need to happen on the
215 next repository access by 'git-cvsserver', independent of
216 access method and requested operation.
218 That means that even if you offer only read access (e.g. by using
219 the pserver method), 'git-cvsserver' should have write access to
220 the database to work reliably (otherwise you need to make sure
221 that the database is up-to-date any time 'git-cvsserver' is executed).
223 By default it uses SQLite databases in the git directory, named
224 `gitcvs.<module_name>.sqlite`. Note that the SQLite backend creates
225 temporary files in the same directory as the database file on
226 write so it might not be enough to grant the users using
227 'git-cvsserver' write access to the database file without granting
228 them write access to the directory, too.
230 The database can not be reliably regenerated in a
231 consistent form after the branch it is tracking has changed.
232 Example: For merged branches, 'git-cvsserver' only tracks
233 one branch of development, and after a 'git merge' an
234 incrementally updated database may track a different branch
235 than a database regenerated from scratch, causing inconsistent
236 CVS revision numbers. `git-cvsserver` has no way of knowing which
237 branch it would have picked if it had been run incrementally
238 pre-merge. So if you have to fully or partially (from old
239 backup) regenerate the database, you should be suspicious
240 of pre-existing CVS sandboxes.
242 You can configure the database backend with the following
243 configuration variables:
245 Configuring database backend
246 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
248 'git-cvsserver' uses the Perl DBI module. Please also read
249 its documentation if changing these variables, especially
250 about `DBI->connect()`.
253 Database name. The exact meaning depends on the
254 selected database driver, for SQLite this is a filename.
255 Supports variable substitution (see below). May
256 not contain semicolons (`;`).
257 Default: '%Ggitcvs.%m.sqlite'
260 Used DBI driver. You can specify any available driver
261 for this here, but it might not work. cvsserver is tested
262 with 'DBD::SQLite', reported to work with
263 'DBD::Pg', and reported *not* to work with 'DBD::mysql'.
264 Please regard this as an experimental feature. May not
265 contain colons (`:`).
269 Database user. Only useful if setting `dbdriver`, since
270 SQLite has no concept of database users. Supports variable
271 substitution (see below).
274 Database password. Only useful if setting `dbdriver`, since
275 SQLite has no concept of database passwords.
277 gitcvs.dbTableNamePrefix::
278 Database table name prefix. Supports variable substitution
279 (see below). Any non-alphabetic characters will be replaced
282 All variables can also be set per access method, see <<configaccessmethod,above>>.
284 Variable substitution
285 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
286 In `dbdriver` and `dbuser` you can use the following variables:
291 git directory name, where all characters except for
292 alpha-numeric ones, `.`, and `-` are replaced with
293 `_` (this should make it easier to use the directory
294 name in a filename if wanted)
296 CVS module/git head name
298 access method (one of "ext" or "pserver")
300 Name of the user running 'git-cvsserver'.
301 If no name can be determined, the
307 These variables obviate the need for command-line options in some
308 circumstances, allowing easier restricted usage through git-shell.
310 GIT_CVSSERVER_BASE_PATH takes the place of the argument to --base-path.
312 GIT_CVSSERVER_ROOT specifies a single-directory whitelist. The
313 repository must still be configured to allow access through
314 git-cvsserver, as described above.
316 When these environment variables are set, the corresponding
317 command-line arguments may not be used.
319 Eclipse CVS Client Notes
320 ------------------------
322 To get a checkout with the Eclipse CVS client:
324 1. Select "Create a new project -> From CVS checkout"
325 2. Create a new location. See the notes below for details on how to choose the
327 3. Browse the 'modules' available. It will give you a list of the heads in
328 the repository. You will not be able to browse the tree from there. Only
330 4. Pick 'HEAD' when it asks what branch/tag to check out. Untick the
331 "launch commit wizard" to avoid committing the .project file.
333 Protocol notes: If you are using anonymous access via pserver, just select that.
334 Those using SSH access should choose the 'ext' protocol, and configure 'ext'
335 access on the Preferences->Team->CVS->ExtConnection pane. Set CVS_SERVER to
336 "`git cvsserver`". Note that password support is not good when using 'ext',
337 you will definitely want to have SSH keys setup.
339 Alternatively, you can just use the non-standard extssh protocol that Eclipse
340 offer. In that case CVS_SERVER is ignored, and you will have to replace
341 the cvs utility on the server with 'git-cvsserver' or manipulate your `.bashrc`
342 so that calling 'cvs' effectively calls 'git-cvsserver'.
344 Clients known to work
345 ---------------------
347 - CVS 1.12.9 on Debian
348 - CVS 1.11.17 on MacOSX (from Fink package)
349 - Eclipse 3.0, 3.1.2 on MacOSX (see Eclipse CVS Client Notes)
355 All the operations required for normal use are supported, including
356 checkout, diff, status, update, log, add, remove, commit.
357 Legacy monitoring operations are not supported (edit, watch and related).
358 Exports and tagging (tags and branches) are not supported at this stage.
360 CRLF Line Ending Conversions
361 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
363 By default the server leaves the '-k' mode blank for all files,
364 which causes the cvs client to treat them as a text files, subject
365 to crlf conversion on some platforms.
367 You can make the server use `crlf` attributes to set the '-k' modes
368 for files by setting the `gitcvs.usecrlfattr` config variable.
369 In this case, if `crlf` is explicitly unset ('-crlf'), then the
370 server will set '-kb' mode for binary files. If `crlf` is set,
371 then the '-k' mode will explicitly be left blank. See
372 also linkgit:gitattributes[5] for more information about the `crlf`
375 Alternatively, if `gitcvs.usecrlfattr` config is not enabled
376 or if the `crlf` attribute is unspecified for a filename, then
377 the server uses the `gitcvs.allbinary` config for the default setting.
378 If `gitcvs.allbinary` is set, then file not otherwise
379 specified will default to '-kb' mode. Otherwise the '-k' mode
380 is left blank. But if `gitcvs.allbinary` is set to "guess", then
381 the correct '-k' mode will be guessed based on the contents of
384 For best consistency with 'cvs', it is probably best to override the
385 defaults by setting `gitcvs.usecrlfattr` to true,
386 and `gitcvs.allbinary` to "guess".
390 'git-cvsserver' depends on DBD::SQLite.
392 Copyright and Authors
393 ---------------------
395 This program is copyright The Open University UK - 2006.
399 - Martyn Smith <martyn@catalyst.net.nz>
400 - Martin Langhoff <martin@catalyst.net.nz>
402 with ideas and patches from participants of the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
406 Documentation by Martyn Smith <martyn@catalyst.net.nz>, Martin Langhoff <martin@catalyst.net.nz>, and Matthias Urlichs <smurf@smurf.noris.de>.
410 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite