aecvsserver(1)

NAME
aecvsserver - serve CVS client protocol against Aegis projects

SYNOPSIS
aecvsserver server
aecvsserver pserver
aecvsserver -VERSion

DESCRIPTION
The aecvsserver command is used to serve the CVS client protocol. The repository, of course, is stored within Aegis.

The server works by retrieving file contents from locations within Aegis change sets and repositories. When necessary, appropriate aegis(1) commands are executed by the server to fulfill the requests.

This code is still experimental. At the present time only a limited number of CVS commands are understood. If you would like to extend this code, contributions are welcome. The following commands are thought to work at this time: add, admin, checkout, commit, init, remove, update.

  server
To use the server, you will need to set the following environment variables:
    CVSROOT=:ext:hostname/aegis
    CVS_RSH=ssh
    CVS_SERVER=aecvsserver

  pserver
It is also possible to use aecvsserver as a cvs pserver, with all the usual caveats about how insecure this access method is, because it transmits the password almost in the clear. The root and modules are as above.

MODULES
The CVS concept of modules is mapped onto Aegis concept of projects and changes. The special CVSROOT administrative module is simulated.

  Projects as Modules
Each Aegis project appears to the CVS client as a module; the module's name is the same as the Aegis project's name. This type of module isn't immediately useful except for the cvs export command, or to perform a read-only cvs checkout command.

You can't commit to a project-named module. This because Aegis requires all operations which would change the repository to be performed through a change set.

It is theoretically possible to code aecvsserver to create a change (via aenc(1) and aedb(1) commands), then add the necessary files (via aenf(1) and aecp(1) commands), then build (via the aeb(1) command), then test (via the aet(1) command), and finally to end development of the change (via the aede(1) command). As the CVS protocol documentation says
    "The protocol makes it possible for updates to be atomic with respect to checkins; that is, if someone commits changes to several files in one cvs command, then an update by someone else would either get all the changes, or none of them. The current cvs server can't do this, but that isn't the protocol's fault."
This code is yet to be written. Contributions welcome.

The protocol, however, doesn't make it particularly easy, either. The semantics of the Modify request change depending on whether it is followed by the commit request or the update request.

  Changes as Modules
Each Aegis change set also appears to the CVS client as a module; it's name is project.Cnumber. All cvs add commands, cvs remove commands, cvs update commands and cvs commit commands are performed against the change set, not directly to the baseline. It is necessary for the change set to already exist, and once you have run the cvs commit command, it will the be necessary to use the aede(1) command and the rest of the usual Aegis process.

Once a change is no longer in the being developed state, it cannot be changed via aecvsserver(1) and you will need to create a new Aegis change set, and then cvs checkout a new client-side work area.

Please note: if you are experimenting with the interface via cvs -d :fork:/aegis or similar, the work area you create must be outside the Aegis change set's development directory.

  CVSROOT
The CVSROOT module's contents are synthesized from Aegis meta-data. You can't add or modify files in this module; you need to administer Aegis directly with aegis(1) commands.