Last updated: 3 Oct 2003

CVS

CVS is the Concurrent Versions System -- "the open standard for version control". One uses version control to manage access to and track changes to files. Version control is typically used in a software development environment where there are many people making changes to the project's CVS's best feature may be its client-server architecture, which makes it possible to manage files from anywhere on the Internet, and is one of the reasons that it is so popular with open source developers.

While there are many clients supporting CVS, this document only addresses:

• WinCVS -- a GUI-oriented Windows client for CVS.

In addition, it only covers configuring it for use in the development labs. You will need to read our tutorial documentation or other documentation on how to use WinCVS.

Configuring WinCVS

1. Double-click on the WinCVS icon

   This starts the process of setting up your environment to use SSH to communicate with the CVS server (cssgate), which is what WinCVS will use.

   1. Click on OK when the error box containing the following appears:

      Failed to update system registry.
      Please try using REGEDIT.
        

   2. Ignore this warning message in the log window:

      TCL is *not* available, shell is disabled
        

   3. Click on OK whenever this error box appears (usually after startup):

      f:\ is not accessible.
      
      folder was moved or removed.
        

2. For one-time only, you need to configure some things on the server and on your Windows login account:
   1. The SSH Client will be open behind the WinCVS window. Use the SSH Client to connect to

      cssgate.tacoma.washington.edu
        

      1. login with INSTTECH name and password

      2. enter:

         mounthome
             

         and enter INSTTECH login password.

         This grants access to your home directory, which holds your SSH keys(in H:\.ssh), for the next step.

      3. enter at the shell prompt:

         gen_cvskey
             

         If this completes without any output, it worked. Essentially, it copies the public key generated the first time you started WinCVS, converts it to a form that OpenSSH can accept, and places it on your Linux home directory (in the file ~/.ssh/authorized_keys).

         It also creates the ~/cvs directory and performs this command on it (which you will be doing from within WinCVS to check communications later):

         cvs -d ~/cvs init
             

         That way, you are all set to use CVS from within cssgate, if you desire.

      4. exit shell and SSH client

         You don't have to exit now if you have other things to do in that session, but there is nothing more that you need to do with it for this configuration work.

   2. Configure CVS in WinCVS Preferences (also available from file menu Admin/Preferences...):
      1. On the General tab, Enter the CVSROOT: field, type the following, substituting your login name for "uwnetid"

         :ext:uwnetid@cssgate.tacoma.washington.edu:/home/UWTCSS/uwnetid/cvs
             

         For example, for uwnetid "test0002":

         :ext:test0002@cssgate.tacoma.washington.edu:/home/UWTCSS/test0002/cvs
             

         This tells WinCVS that you are referencing an external server (cssgate) via your login account (test0002) there, and defines the respository to be your home directory's cvs subdirectory.

      2. In Authentication: drop-down box, select:

         SSH server
             

         This informs WinCVS of how you will be authenticating yourself to the CVS server.

      3. On the Ports tab, check the box to the left of Check for an alternate rsh name

      4. In the field to the right of Check for an alternate rsh name, enter:

         ssh2.exe
             

         This is the command that, together with the public key authentication set up above (via clicking on the WinCVS icon and running gen_cvskey on cssgate), will enable CVS commands from our client Windows computer to be issued to the CVS server.

      5. Click on the OK button to save the preferences. If your uwnetid was "test0002", you would see in the log window:

         NEW CVSROOT: ext:test0002@cssgate.tacoma.washington.edu:
         /home/UWTCSS/test0002/cvs (ssh authentication)
             

   3. Check communication with the server by creating your CVS repository via the file menu Create/Create a new repository... item
      1. Click on the OK button to initialize the repository

      2. In the log window, you should see:

         cvs -d :ext:test0002@cssgate.tacoma.washington.edu:/home/UWTCSS/test0002/cvs init
         
         *****CVS exited normally with code 0*****
             

         If you don't, you probably mistyped something in the Preferences; read the messages preceding the CVS exited message to get an idea about what went wrong.

At this point, you are finished with configuring CVS and can work with it.

Note that when you add modules, the path is relative to your CVSROOT, so you should not specify an absolute path name when prompted.

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