CVS version control system

Cvs version

Tested with CVS 1.12.7 and cvsd 1.0. (26th June 2005: upgraded to CVS 1.12.12 and cvsd 1.0.7)

Introduction

CVS is the most commonly used version control system in the Unix/Linux world. The configuration described here allows write access via SSH, and anonymous read access via the CVS pserver protocol, running in a chroot for security.

Installing CVS

Install /usr/local/configure-wrappers/configure-cvs.

tar jxf cvs-1.x.y.tar.bz2
cd cvs-1.x.y
/usr/local/configure-wrappers/configure-cvs
make
sudo make install

In /etc/profile, add /usr/local/cvs/bin to LOCAL_PATH, and /usr/local/cvs/man to LOCAL_MANPATH. Also add a symlink so CVS-over-SSH will find the cvs binary:

sudo ln -s /usr/local/cvs/bin/cvs /usr/bin/cvs

Create a repository, setting permissions as described in the Debian reference manual:

export CVSROOT=/usr/local/cvsroot
sudo /usr/local/cvs/bin/cvs init
cd $CVSROOT
sudo chown root:src .
sudo chmod 3775 .
cd CVSROOT
sudo chown -R root:staff .
sudo chmod 2775 .
sudo touch history val-tags
sudo chmod 664 history val-tags
sudo chown root:src history val-tags

Next, you have to add users that will be using cvs to the system group src; see StandardUsersGroups for instructions.

Now edit the CVS config file, by checking it out first:

cd
cvs co CVSROOT
cd CVSROOT

Replace the file config that you checked out with this one. Then check it back in:

cvs commit

Installing cvsd

cvsd is a daemon that provides anonymous read access to CVS repositories by implementing the CVS pserver protocol in a chroot jail. Download the latest stable version. Install /usr/local/configure-wrappers/configure-cvsd, and make it exectuable. Install cvsd:

tar zxf cvsd-x.y.z.tar.gz
cd cvsd-x.y.z
/usr/local/configure-wrappers/configure-cvsd
make
sudo make install

Set up its init script:

sudo cp /usr/local/cvsd/etc/init.d/cvsd /etc/init.d
sudo update-rc.d cvsd defaults

In /etc/profile, add /usr/local/cvsd/sbin to LOCAL_PATH, and /usr/local/cvsd/man to LOCAL_MANPATH.

Create a user and group for it:

sudo addgroup cvsd
sudo adduser --system --ingroup cvsd --home /chroot/cvs --shell /bin/false --gecos 'cvs pserver daemon' cvsd

Install /usr/local/cvsd/etc/cvsd/cvsd.conf.

Copy your CVS repository into the chroot:

sudo cp -a /usr/local/cvsroot /chroot/cvs
sudo mv /usr/local/cvsroot /usr/local/cvsroot-old
sudo ln -s /chroot/cvs/cvsroot /usr/local/cvsroot
sudo ln -s /chroot/cvs/cvsroot /cvsroot

Build the chrooted file system:

sudo /usr/local/cvsd/sbin/cvsd-buildroot /chroot/cvs

Create a CVS user for anonymous access:

sudo /usr/local/cvsd/sbin/cvsd-passwd /chroot/cvs/cvsroot anonymous

When prompted for the password, leave it blank.

Create a file /chroot/cvs/cvsroot/CVSROOT/readers, containing the single line:

anonymous

Disallow CVS write access via pserver:

sudo touch /chroot/cvs/cvsroot/CVSROOT/writers

Make a directory for CVS to put its lock files in:

sudo mkdir -p /chroot/cvs/tmp/cvsroot
sudo chmod a+w /chroot/cvs/tmp/cvsroot

Remove the history file, which just keeps a log of all transfers, and which causes unnecessary warnings because cvsd can't write to it:

sudo rm /chroot/cvs/cvsroot/CVSROOT/history

Open TCP port 2401 on your firewall. Then start cvsd:

sudo /etc/init.d/cvsd start

Testing

Import a project into your repository, then check it out. You can see how to do that from the info cvs manual pages installed onto your server together with the cvs, look for a section called "Creating a directory tree from a number of files". You can find it by browsing following links:

• Starting a project with CVS
  • Setting up the files
    • Creating a directory tree from a number of files

or, you can read it on the web at this page.

To test pserver access, try something like this:

cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@myserver.example.org:/cvsroot login
cvs -z3 -d :pserver:anonymous@myserver.example.org:/cvsroot checkout myproject

If it works, you can delete the old copy of your repository:

sudo rm -rf /usr/local/cvsroot-old

Upgrading

If you upgrade CVS, you'll need to run this again:

sudo /usr/local/cvsd/sbin/cvsd-buildroot /chroot/cvs

To upgrade cvsd:

tar zxf cvsd-x.y.z.tar.gz
cd cvsd-x.y.z
/usr/local/configure-wrappers/configure-cvsd
make
sudo /etc/init.d/cvsd stop
sudo make install
sudo /etc/init.d/cvsd start

Additional documentation

http://www.mebsuta.com/cvs.htm - short intro (there are many on the web)

http://www.cvshome.org/docs/manual/ - official manual

http://cvsbook.red-bean.com/cvsbook.html - Open Source Development with CVS by Karl Fogel and Moshe Bar, a free CVS book
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