This is cvs.info, produced by makeinfo version 4.0b from cvs.texinfo.

START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
* CVS: (cvs).          Concurrent Versions System
END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY

   Copyright (C) 1992, 1993 Signum Support AB Copyright (C) 1993, 1994
Free Software Foundation, Inc.

   Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
preserved on all copies.

   Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of
this manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided also
that the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms
of a permission notice identical to this one.

   Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this
manual into another language, under the above conditions for modified
versions, except that this permission notice may be stated in a
translation approved by the Free Software Foundation.


File: cvs.info,  Node: editinfo,  Next: loginfo,  Prev: verifymsg,  Up: commit files

Editinfo
--------

   _NOTE:_ The `editinfo' feature has been rendered obsolete.  To set a
default editor for log messages use the `EDITOR' environment variable
(*note Environment variables::) or the `-e' global option (*note Global
options::).  See *Note verifymsg::, for information on the use of the
`verifymsg' feature for evaluating log messages.

   If you want to make sure that all log messages look the same way,
you can use the `editinfo' file to specify a program that is used to
edit the log message.  This program could be a custom-made editor that
always enforces a certain style of the log message, or maybe a simple
shell script that calls an editor, and checks that the entered message
contains the required fields.

   If no matching line is found in the `editinfo' file, the editor
specified in the environment variable `$CVSEDITOR' is used instead.  If
that variable is not set, then the environment variable `$EDITOR' is
used instead.  If that variable is not set a default will be used.  See
*Note Committing your changes::.

   The `editinfo' file is often most useful together with the `rcsinfo'
file, which can be used to specify a log message template.

   Each line in the `editinfo' file consists of a regular expression
and a command-line template.  The template must include a program name,
and can include any number of arguments.  The full path to the current
log message template file is appended to the template.

   One thing that should be noted is that the `ALL' keyword is not
supported.  If more than one matching line is found, the first one is
used.  This can be useful for specifying a default edit script in a
module, and then overriding it in a subdirectory.

   If the repository name does not match any of the regular expressions
in this file, the `DEFAULT' line is used, if it is specified.

   If the edit script exits with a non-zero exit status, the commit is
aborted.

   Note: when CVS is accessing a remote repository, or when the `-m' or
`-F' options to `cvs commit' are used, `editinfo' will not be consulted.
There is no good workaround for this; use `verifymsg' instead.

* Menu:

* editinfo example::            Editinfo example


File: cvs.info,  Node: editinfo example,  Up: editinfo

Editinfo example
................

   The following is a little silly example of a `editinfo' file,
together with the corresponding `rcsinfo' file, the log message
template and an editor script.  We begin with the log message template.
We want to always record a bug-id number on the first line of the log
message.  The rest of log message is free text.  The following template
is found in the file `/usr/cvssupport/tc.template'.

     BugId:

   The script `/usr/cvssupport/bugid.edit' is used to edit the log
message.

     #!/bin/sh
     #
     #       bugid.edit filename
     #
     #  Call $EDITOR on FILENAME, and verify that the
     #  resulting file contains a valid bugid on the first
     #  line.
     if [ "x$EDITOR" = "x" ]; then EDITOR=vi; fi
     if [ "x$CVSEDITOR" = "x" ]; then CVSEDITOR=$EDITOR; fi
     $CVSEDITOR $1
     until head -1|grep '^BugId:[ ]*[0-9][0-9]*$' < $1
     do  echo -n  "No BugId found.  Edit again? ([y]/n)"
         read ans
         case ${ans} in
             n*) exit 1;;
         esac
         $CVSEDITOR $1
     done

   The `editinfo' file contains this line:

     ^tc     /usr/cvssupport/bugid.edit

   The `rcsinfo' file contains this line:

     ^tc     /usr/cvssupport/tc.template


File: cvs.info,  Node: loginfo,  Prev: editinfo,  Up: commit files

Loginfo
-------

   The `loginfo' file is used to control where `cvs commit' log
information is sent.  The first entry on a line is a regular expression
which is tested against the directory that the change is being made to,
relative to the `$CVSROOT'.  If a match is found, then the remainder of
the line is a filter program that should expect log information on its
standard input.

   If the repository name does not match any of the regular expressions
in this file, the `DEFAULT' line is used, if it is specified.

   All occurrences of the name `ALL' appearing as a regular expression
are used in addition to the first matching regular expression or
`DEFAULT'.

   The first matching regular expression is used.

   *Note commit files::, for a description of the syntax of the
`loginfo' file.

   The user may specify a format string as part of the filter.  The
string is composed of a `%' followed by a space, or followed by a single
format character, or followed by a set of format characters surrounded
by `{' and `}' as separators.  The format characters are:

s
     file name

V
     old version number (pre-checkin)

v
     new version number (post-checkin)

   All other characters that appear in a format string expand to an
empty field (commas separating fields are still provided).

   For example, some valid format strings are `%', `%s', `%{s}', and
`%{sVv}'.

   The output will be a space separated string of tokens enclosed in
quotation marks (").  Any embedded dollar signs ($), backticks (`),
backslashes (\), or quotation marks will be preceded by a backslash
(this allows the shell to correctly parse it as a single string,
reguardless of the characters it contains).  For backwards
compatibility, the first token will be the repository subdirectory.
The rest of the tokens will be comma-delimited lists of the information
requested in the format string.  For example, if
`/u/src/master/yoyodyne/tc' is the repository, `%{sVv}' is the format
string, and three files (ChangeLog, Makefile, foo.c) were modified, the
output might be:

     "yoyodyne/tc ChangeLog,1.1,1.2 Makefile,1.3,1.4 foo.c,1.12,1.13"

   As another example, `%{}' means that only the name of the repository
will be generated.

   Note: when CVS is accessing a remote repository, `loginfo' will be
run on the _remote_ (i.e., server) side, not the client side (*note
Remote repositories::).

* Menu:

* loginfo example::             Loginfo example
* Keeping a checked out copy::  Updating a tree on every checkin


File: cvs.info,  Node: loginfo example,  Next: Keeping a checked out copy,  Up: loginfo

Loginfo example
...............

   The following `loginfo' file, together with the tiny shell-script
below, appends all log messages to the file
`$CVSROOT/CVSROOT/commitlog', and any commits to the administrative
files (inside the `CVSROOT' directory) are also logged in
`/usr/adm/cvsroot-log'.  Commits to the `prog1' directory are mailed to
ceder.

     ALL             /usr/local/bin/cvs-log $CVSROOT/CVSROOT/commitlog $USER
     ^CVSROOT        /usr/local/bin/cvs-log /usr/adm/cvsroot-log
     ^prog1          Mail -s %s ceder

   The shell-script `/usr/local/bin/cvs-log' looks like this:

     #!/bin/sh
     (echo "------------------------------------------------------";
      echo -n $2"  ";
      date;
      echo;
      cat) >> $1


File: cvs.info,  Node: Keeping a checked out copy,  Prev: loginfo example,  Up: loginfo

Keeping a checked out copy
..........................

   It is often useful to maintain a directory tree which contains files
which correspond to the latest version in the repository.  For example,
other developers might want to refer to the latest sources without
having to check them out, or you might be maintaining a web site with
CVS and want every checkin to cause the files used by the web server to
be updated.

   The way to do this is by having loginfo invoke `cvs update'.  Doing
so in the naive way will cause a problem with locks, so the `cvs update'
must be run in the background.  Here is an example for unix (this
should all be on one line):

     ^cyclic-pages		(date; cat; (sleep 2; cd /u/www/local-docs;
      cvs -q update -d) &) >> $CVSROOT/CVSROOT/updatelog 2>&1

   This will cause checkins to repository directories starting with
`cyclic-pages' to update the checked out tree in `/u/www/local-docs'.


File: cvs.info,  Node: rcsinfo,  Next: cvsignore,  Prev: commit files,  Up: Administrative files

Rcsinfo
=======

   The `rcsinfo' file can be used to specify a form to edit when
filling out the commit log.  The `rcsinfo' file has a syntax similar to
the `verifymsg', `commitinfo' and `loginfo' files.  *Note syntax::.
Unlike the other files the second part is _not_ a command-line
template.  Instead, the part after the regular expression should be a
full pathname to a file containing the log message template.

   If the repository name does not match any of the regular expressions
in this file, the `DEFAULT' line is used, if it is specified.

   All occurrences of the name `ALL' appearing as a regular expression
are used in addition to the first matching regular expression or
`DEFAULT'.

   The log message template will be used as a default log message.  If
you specify a log message with `cvs commit -m MESSAGE' or `cvs commit -f
FILE' that log message will override the template.

   *Note verifymsg::, for an example `rcsinfo' file.

   When CVS is accessing a remote repository, the contents of `rcsinfo'
at the time a directory is first checked out will specify a template
which does not then change.  If you edit `rcsinfo' or its templates,
you may need to check out a new working directory.


File: cvs.info,  Node: cvsignore,  Next: checkoutlist,  Prev: rcsinfo,  Up: Administrative files

Ignoring files via cvsignore
============================

   There are certain file names that frequently occur inside your
working copy, but that you don't want to put under CVS control.
Examples are all the object files that you get while you compile your
sources.  Normally, when you run `cvs update', it prints a line for
each file it encounters that it doesn't know about (*note update
output::).

   CVS has a list of files (or sh(1) file name patterns) that it should
ignore while running `update', `import' and `release'.  This list is
constructed in the following way.

   * The list is initialized to include certain file name patterns:
     names associated with CVS administration, or with other common
     source control systems; common names for patch files, object files,
     archive files, and editor backup files; and other names that are
     usually artifacts of assorted utilities.  Currently, the default
     list of ignored file name patterns is:

              RCS     SCCS    CVS     CVS.adm
              RCSLOG  cvslog.*
              tags    TAGS
              .make.state     .nse_depinfo
              *~      #*      .#*     ,*      _$*     *$
              *.old   *.bak   *.BAK   *.orig  *.rej   .del-*
              *.a     *.olb   *.o     *.obj   *.so    *.exe
              *.Z     *.elc   *.ln
              core

   * The per-repository list in `$CVSROOT/CVSROOT/cvsignore' is
     appended to the list, if that file exists.

   * The per-user list in `.cvsignore' in your home directory is
     appended to the list, if it exists.

   * Any entries in the environment variable `$CVSIGNORE' is appended
     to the list.

   * Any `-I' options given to CVS is appended.

   * As CVS traverses through your directories, the contents of any
     `.cvsignore' will be appended to the list.  The patterns found in
     `.cvsignore' are only valid for the directory that contains them,
     not for any sub-directories.

   In any of the 5 places listed above, a single exclamation mark (`!')
clears the ignore list.  This can be used if you want to store any file
which normally is ignored by CVS.

   Specifying `-I !' to `cvs import' will import everything, which is
generally what you want to do if you are importing files from a
pristine distribution or any other source which is known to not contain
any extraneous files.  However, looking at the rules above you will see
there is a fly in the ointment; if the distribution contains any
`.cvsignore' files, then the patterns from those files will be
processed even if `-I !' is specified.  The only workaround is to
remove the `.cvsignore' files in order to do the import.  Because this
is awkward, in the future `-I !' might be modified to override
`.cvsignore' files in each directory.

   Note that the syntax of the ignore files consists of a series of
lines, each of which contains a space separated list of filenames.
This offers no clean way to specify filenames which contain spaces, but
you can use a workaround like `foo?bar' to match a file named `foo bar'
(it also matches `fooxbar' and the like).  Also note that there is
currently no way to specify comments.


File: cvs.info,  Node: checkoutlist,  Next: history file,  Prev: cvsignore,  Up: Administrative files

The checkoutlist file
=====================

   It may be helpful to use CVS to maintain your own files in the
`CVSROOT' directory.  For example, suppose that you have a script
`logcommit.pl' which you run by including the following line in the
`commitinfo' administrative file:

     ALL   $CVSROOT/CVSROOT/logcommit.pl

   To maintain `logcommit.pl' with CVS you would add the following line
to the `checkoutlist' administrative file:

     logcommit.pl

   The format of `checkoutlist' is one line for each file that you want
to maintain using CVS, giving the name of the file.

   After setting up `checkoutlist' in this fashion, the files listed
there will function just like CVS's built-in administrative files.  For
example, when checking in one of the files you should get a message
such as:

     cvs commit: Rebuilding administrative file database

and the checked out copy in the `CVSROOT' directory should be updated.

   Note that listing `passwd' (*note Password authentication server::)
in `checkoutlist' is not recommended for security reasons.

   For information about keeping a checkout out copy in a more general
context than the one provided by `checkoutlist', see *Note Keeping a
checked out copy::.


File: cvs.info,  Node: history file,  Next: Variables,  Prev: checkoutlist,  Up: Administrative files

The history file
================

   The file `$CVSROOT/CVSROOT/history' is used to log information for
the `history' command (*note history::).  This file must be created to
turn on logging.  This is done automatically if the `cvs init' command
is used to set up the repository (*note Creating a repository::).

   The file format of the `history' file is documented only in comments
in the CVS source code, but generally programs should use the `cvs
history' command to access it anyway, in case the format changes with
future releases of CVS.


File: cvs.info,  Node: Variables,  Next: config,  Prev: history file,  Up: Administrative files

Expansions in administrative files
==================================

   Sometimes in writing an administrative file, you might want the file
to be able to know various things based on environment CVS is running
in.  There are several mechanisms to do that.

   To find the home directory of the user running CVS (from the `HOME'
environment variable), use `~' followed by `/' or the end of the line.
Likewise for the home directory of USER, use `~USER'.  These variables
are expanded on the server machine, and don't get any reasonable
expansion if pserver (*note Password authenticated::) is in use;
therefore user variables (see below) may be a better choice to
customize behavior based on the user running CVS.

   One may want to know about various pieces of information internal to
CVS.  A CVS internal variable has the syntax `${VARIABLE}', where
VARIABLE starts with a letter and consists of alphanumeric characters
and `_'.  If the character following VARIABLE is a non-alphanumeric
character other than `_', the `{' and `}' can be omitted.  The CVS
internal variables are:

`CVSROOT'
     This is the absolute path to the current CVS root directory.
     *Note Repository::, for a description of the various ways to
     specify this, but note that the internal variable contains just
     the directory and not any of the access method information.

`RCSBIN'
     In CVS 1.9.18 and older, this specified the directory where CVS
     was looking for RCS programs.  Because CVS no longer runs RCS
     programs, specifying this internal variable is now an error.

`CVSEDITOR'
`VISUAL'
`EDITOR'
     These all expand to the same value, which is the editor that CVS
     is using.  *Note Global options::, for how to specify this.

`USER'
     Username of the user running CVS (on the CVS server machine).
     When using pserver, this is the user specified in the repository
     specification which need not be the same as the username the
     server is running as (*note Password authentication server::).  Do
     not confuse this with the environment variable of the same name.

   If you want to pass a value to the administrative files which the
user who is running CVS can specify, use a user variable.  To expand a
user variable, the administrative file contains `${=VARIABLE}'.  To set
a user variable, specify the global option `-s' to CVS, with argument
`VARIABLE=VALUE'.  It may be particularly useful to specify this option
via `.cvsrc' (*note ~/.cvsrc::).

   For example, if you want the administrative file to refer to a test
directory you might create a user variable `TESTDIR'.  Then if CVS is
invoked as

     cvs -s TESTDIR=/work/local/tests

and the administrative file contains `sh ${=TESTDIR}/runtests', then
that string is expanded to `sh /work/local/tests/runtests'.

   All other strings containing `$' are reserved; there is no way to
quote a `$' character so that `$' represents itself.

   Environment variables passed to administrative files are:

`CVS_USER'
     The CVS-specific username provided by the user, if it can be
     provided (currently just for the pserver access method), and to
     the empty string otherwise.  (`CVS_USER' and `USER' may differ
     when `$CVSROOT/CVSROOT/passwd' is used to map CVS usernames to
     system usernames.)

`LOGNAME'
     The username of the system user.

`USER'
     Same as `LOGNAME'.  Do not confuse this with the internal variable
     of the same name.


File: cvs.info,  Node: config,  Prev: Variables,  Up: Administrative files

The CVSROOT/config configuration file
=====================================

   The administrative file `config' contains various miscellaneous
settings which affect the behavior of CVS.  The syntax is slightly
different from the other administrative files.  Variables are not
expanded.  Lines which start with `#' are considered comments.  Other
lines consist of a keyword, `=', and a value.  Note that this syntax is
very strict.  Extraneous spaces or tabs are not permitted.

   Currently defined keywords are:

`RCSBIN=BINDIR'
     For CVS 1.9.12 through 1.9.18, this setting told CVS to look for
     RCS programs in the BINDIR directory.  Current versions of CVS do
     not run RCS programs; for compatibility this setting is accepted,
     but it does nothing.

`SystemAuth=VALUE'
     If VALUE is `yes', then pserver should check for users in the
     system's user database if not found in `CVSROOT/passwd'.  If it is
     `no', then all pserver users must exist in `CVSROOT/passwd'.  The
     default is `yes'.  For more on pserver, see *Note Password
     authenticated::.

`TopLevelAdmin=VALUE'
     Modify the `checkout' command to create a `CVS' directory at the
     top level of the new working directory, in addition to `CVS'
     directories created within checked-out directories.  The default
     value is `no'.

     This option is useful if you find yourself performing many
     commands at the top level of your working directory, rather than
     in one of the checked out subdirectories.  The `CVS' directory
     created there will mean you don't have to specify `CVSROOT' for
     each command.  It also provides a place for the `CVS/Template'
     file (*note Working directory storage::).

`LockDir=DIRECTORY'
     Put CVS lock files in DIRECTORY rather than directly in the
     repository.  This is useful if you want to let users read from the
     repository while giving them write access only to DIRECTORY, not
     to the repository.  It can also be used to put the locks on a very
     fast in-memory file system to speed up locking and unlocking the
     repository.  You need to create DIRECTORY, but CVS will create
     subdirectories of DIRECTORY as it needs them.  For information on
     CVS locks, see *Note Concurrency::.

     Before enabling the LockDir option, make sure that you have
     tracked down and removed any copies of CVS 1.9 or older.  Such
     versions neither support LockDir, nor will give an error
     indicating that they don't support it.  The result, if this is
     allowed to happen, is that some CVS users will put the locks one
     place, and others will put them another place, and therefore the
     repository could become corrupted.  CVS 1.10 does not support
     LockDir but it will print a warning if run on a repository with
     LockDir enabled.

`LogHistory=VALUE'
     Control what is logged to the `CVSROOT/history' file (*note
     history::).  Default of `TOFEWGCMAR' (or simply `all') will log
     all transactions.  Any subset of the default is legal.  (For
     example, to only log transactions that modify the `*,v' files, use
     `LogHistory=TMAR'.)

`RereadLogAfterVerify=VALUE'
     Modify the `commit' command such that CVS will reread the log
     message after running the program specified by `verifymsg'.  VALUE
     may be one of `yes' or `always', indicating that the log message
     should always be reread; `no' or `never', indicating that it
     should never be reread; or VALUE may be `stat', indicating that
     the file should be checked with the filesystem `stat()' function
     to see if it has changed (see warning below) before rereading.
     The default value is `always'.

     _Note that `stat' mode can cause CVS to pause for up to one extra
     second per directory committed.  This can be less IO and CPU
     intensive but is not recommended for use with large repositories_

     *Note verifymsg::, for more information on how verifymsg may be
     used.


File: cvs.info,  Node: Environment variables,  Next: Compatibility,  Prev: Administrative files,  Up: Top

All environment variables which affect CVS
******************************************

   This is a complete list of all environment variables that affect CVS.

`$CVSIGNORE'
     A whitespace-separated list of file name patterns that CVS should
     ignore. *Note cvsignore::.

`$CVSWRAPPERS'
     A whitespace-separated list of file name patterns that CVS should
     treat as wrappers. *Note Wrappers::.

`$CVSREAD'
     If this is set, `checkout' and `update' will try hard to make the
     files in your working directory read-only.  When this is not set,
     the default behavior is to permit modification of your working
     files.

`$CVSUMASK'
     Controls permissions of files in the repository.  See *Note File
     permissions::.

`$CVSROOT'
     Should contain the full pathname to the root of the CVS source
     repository (where the RCS files are kept).  This information must
     be available to CVS for most commands to execute; if `$CVSROOT' is
     not set, or if you wish to override it for one invocation, you can
     supply it on the command line: `cvs -d cvsroot cvs_command...'
     Once you have checked out a working directory, CVS stores the
     appropriate root (in the file `CVS/Root'), so normally you only
     need to worry about this when initially checking out a working
     directory.

`$EDITOR'
`$CVSEDITOR'
`$VISUAL'
     Specifies the program to use for recording log messages during
     commit.  `$CVSEDITOR' overrides `$EDITOR'.  See *Note Committing
     your changes::.

`$PATH'
     If `$RCSBIN' is not set, and no path is compiled into CVS, it will
     use `$PATH' to try to find all programs it uses.

`$HOME'

`$HOMEPATH'

`$HOMEDRIVE'
     Used to locate the directory where the `.cvsrc' file, and other
     such files, are searched.  On Unix, CVS just checks for `HOME'.
     On Windows NT, the system will set `HOMEDRIVE', for example to
     `d:' and `HOMEPATH', for example to `\joe'.  On Windows 95, you'll
     probably need to set `HOMEDRIVE' and `HOMEPATH' yourself.

`$CVS_RSH'
     Specifies the external program which CVS connects with, when
     `:ext:' access method is specified.  *note Connecting via rsh::.

`$CVS_SERVER'
     Used in client-server mode when accessing a remote repository
     using RSH.  It specifies the name of the program to start on the
     server side (and any necessary arguments) when accessing a remote
     repository using the `:ext:', `:fork:', or `:server:' access
     methods.  The default value for `:ext:' and `:server:' is `cvs';
     the default value for `:fork:' is the name used to run the client.
     *note Connecting via rsh::

`$CVS_PASSFILE'
     Used in client-server mode when accessing the `cvs login server'.
     Default value is `$HOME/.cvspass'.  *note Password authentication
     client::

`$CVS_CLIENT_PORT'
     Used in client-server mode when accessing the server via Kerberos,
     GSSAPI, or CVS's password authentication if the port is not
     specified in $CVSROOT.  *note Remote repositories::

`$CVS_RCMD_PORT'
     Used in client-server mode.  If set, specifies the port number to
     be used when accessing the RCMD demon on the server side.
     (Currently not used for Unix clients).

`$CVS_CLIENT_LOG'
     Used for debugging only in client-server mode.  If set, everything
     sent to the server is logged into ``$CVS_CLIENT_LOG'.in' and
     everything sent from the server is logged into
     ``$CVS_CLIENT_LOG'.out'.

`$CVS_SERVER_SLEEP'
     Used only for debugging the server side in client-server mode.  If
     set, delays the start of the server child process the specified
     amount of seconds so that you can attach to it with a debugger.

`$CVS_IGNORE_REMOTE_ROOT'
     For CVS 1.10 and older, setting this variable prevents CVS from
     overwriting the `CVS/Root' file when the `-d' global option is
     specified.  Later versions of CVS do not rewrite `CVS/Root', so
     `CVS_IGNORE_REMOTE_ROOT' has no effect.

`$COMSPEC'
     Used under OS/2 only.  It specifies the name of the command
     interpreter and defaults to CMD.EXE.

`$TMPDIR'
`$TMP'
`$TEMP'
     Directory in which temporary files are located.  The CVS server
     uses `TMPDIR'.  *Note Global options::, for a description of how
     to specify this.  Some parts of CVS will always use `/tmp' (via
     the `tmpnam' function provided by the system).

     On Windows NT, `TMP' is used (via the `_tempnam' function provided
     by the system).

     The `patch' program which is used by the CVS client uses `TMPDIR',
     and if it is not set, uses `/tmp' (at least with GNU patch 2.1).
     Note that if your server and client are both running CVS 1.9.10 or
     later, CVS will not invoke an external `patch' program.


File: cvs.info,  Node: Compatibility,  Next: Troubleshooting,  Prev: Environment variables,  Up: Top

Compatibility between CVS Versions
**********************************

   The repository format is compatible going back to CVS 1.3.  But see
*Note Watches Compatibility::, if you have copies of CVS 1.6 or older
and you want to use the optional developer communication features.

   The working directory format is compatible going back to CVS 1.5.
It did change between CVS 1.3 and CVS 1.5.  If you run CVS 1.5 or newer
on a working directory checked out with CVS 1.3, CVS will convert it,
but to go back to CVS 1.3 you need to check out a new working directory
with CVS 1.3.

   The remote protocol is interoperable going back to CVS 1.5, but no
further (1.5 was the first official release with the remote protocol,
but some older versions might still be floating around).  In many cases
you need to upgrade both the client and the server to take advantage of
new features and bugfixes, however.


File: cvs.info,  Node: Troubleshooting,  Next: Credits,  Prev: Compatibility,  Up: Top

Troubleshooting
***************

   If you are having trouble with CVS, this appendix may help.  If
there is a particular error message which you are seeing, then you can
look up the message alphabetically.  If not, you can look through the
section on other problems to see if your problem is mentioned there.

* Menu:

* Error messages::              Partial list of CVS errors
* Connection::                  Trouble making a connection to a CVS server
* Other problems::              Problems not readily listed by error message


File: cvs.info,  Node: Error messages,  Next: Connection,  Up: Troubleshooting

Partial list of error messages
==============================

   Here is a partial list of error messages that you may see from CVS.
It is not a complete list--CVS is capable of printing many, many error
messages, often with parts of them supplied by the operating system,
but the intention is to list the common and/or potentially confusing
error messages.

   The messages are alphabetical, but introductory text such as `cvs
update: ' is not considered in ordering them.

   In some cases the list includes messages printed by old versions of
CVS (partly because users may not be sure which version of CVS they are
using at any particular moment).

`FILE:LINE: Assertion 'TEXT' failed'
     The exact format of this message may vary depending on your
     system.  It indicates a bug in CVS, which can be handled as
     described in *Note BUGS::.

`cvs COMMAND: authorization failed: server HOST rejected access'
     This is a generic response when trying to connect to a pserver
     server which chooses not to provide a specific reason for denying
     authorization.  Check that the username and password specified are
     correct and that the `CVSROOT' specified is allowed by
     `--allow-root' in `inetd.conf'.  See *Note Password
     authenticated::.

`cvs COMMAND: conflict: removed FILE was modified by second party'
     This message indicates that you removed a file, and someone else
     modified it.  To resolve the conflict, first run `cvs add FILE'.
     If desired, look at the other party's modification to decide
     whether you still want to remove it.  If you don't want to remove
     it, stop here.  If you do want to remove it, proceed with `cvs
     remove FILE' and commit your removal.

`cannot change permissions on temporary directory'
          Operation not permitted
     This message has been happening in a non-reproducible, occasional
     way when we run the client/server testsuite, both on Red Hat Linux
     3.0.3 and 4.1.  We haven't been able to figure out what causes it,
     nor is it known whether it is specific to linux (or even to this
     particular machine!).  If the problem does occur on other unices,
     `Operation not permitted' would be likely to read `Not owner' or
     whatever the system in question uses for the unix `EPERM' error.
     If you have any information to add, please let us know as
     described in *Note BUGS::.  If you experience this error while
     using CVS, retrying the operation which produced it should work
     fine.

`cvs [server aborted]: Cannot check out files into the repository itself'
     The obvious cause for this message (especially for
     non-client/server CVS) is that the CVS root is, for example,
     `/usr/local/cvsroot' and you try to check out files when you are
     in a subdirectory, such as `/usr/local/cvsroot/test'.  However,
     there is a more subtle cause, which is that the temporary
     directory on the server is set to a subdirectory of the root
     (which is also not allowed).  If this is the problem, set the
     temporary directory to somewhere else, for example `/var/tmp'; see
     `TMPDIR' in *Note Environment variables::, for how to set the
     temporary directory.

`cannot commit files as 'root''
     See `'root' is not allowed to commit files'.

`cannot open CVS/Entries for reading: No such file or directory'
     This generally indicates a CVS internal error, and can be handled
     as with other CVS bugs (*note BUGS::).  Usually there is a
     workaround--the exact nature of which would depend on the
     situation but which hopefully could be figured out.

`cvs [init aborted]: cannot open CVS/Root: No such file or directory'
     This message is harmless.  Provided it is not accompanied by other
     errors, the operation has completed successfully.  This message
     should not occur with current versions of CVS, but it is documented
     here for the benefit of CVS 1.9 and older.

`cvs server: cannot open /root/.cvsignore: Permission denied'
`cvs [server aborted]: can't chdir(/root): Permission denied'
     See *Note Connection::.

`cvs [checkout aborted]: cannot rename file FILE to CVS/,,FILE: Invalid argument'
     This message has been reported as intermittently happening with
     CVS 1.9 on Solaris 2.5.  The cause is unknown; if you know more
     about what causes it, let us know as described in *Note BUGS::.

`cvs [COMMAND aborted]: cannot start server via rcmd'
     This, unfortunately, is a rather nonspecific error message which
     CVS 1.9 will print if you are running the CVS client and it is
     having trouble connecting to the server.  Current versions of CVS
     should print a much more specific error message.  If you get this
     message when you didn't mean to run the client at all, you
     probably forgot to specify `:local:', as described in *Note
     Repository::.

`ci: FILE,v: bad diff output line: Binary files - and /tmp/T2a22651 differ'
     CVS 1.9 and older will print this message when trying to check in
     a binary file if RCS is not correctly installed.  Re-read the
     instructions that came with your RCS distribution and the INSTALL
     file in the CVS distribution.  Alternately, upgrade to a current
     version of CVS, which checks in files itself rather than via RCS.

`cvs checkout: could not check out FILE'
     With CVS 1.9, this can mean that the `co' program (part of RCS)
     returned a failure.  It should be preceded by another error
     message, however it has been observed without another error
     message and the cause is not well-understood.  With the current
     version of CVS, which does not run `co', if this message occurs
     without another error message, it is definitely a CVS bug (*note
     BUGS::).

`cvs [login aborted]: could not find out home directory'
     This means that you need to set the environment variables that CVS
     uses to locate your home directory.  See the discussion of `HOME',
     `HOMEDRIVE', and `HOMEPATH' in *Note Environment variables::.

`cvs update: could not merge revision REV of FILE: No such file or directory'
     CVS 1.9 and older will print this message if there was a problem
     finding the `rcsmerge' program.  Make sure that it is in your
     `PATH', or upgrade to a current version of CVS, which does not
     require an external `rcsmerge' program.

`cvs [update aborted]: could not patch FILE: No such file or directory'
     This means that there was a problem finding the `patch' program.
     Make sure that it is in your `PATH'.  Note that despite
     appearances the message is _not_ referring to whether it can find
     FILE.  If both the client and the server are running a current
     version of CVS, then there is no need for an external patch
     program and you should not see this message.  But if either client
     or server is running CVS 1.9, then you need `patch'.

`cvs update: could not patch FILE; will refetch'
     This means that for whatever reason the client was unable to apply
     a patch that the server sent.  The message is nothing to be
     concerned about, because inability to apply the patch only slows
     things down and has no effect on what CVS does.

`dying gasps from SERVER unexpected'
     There is a known bug in the server for CVS 1.9.18 and older which
     can cause this.  For me, this was reproducible if I used the `-t'
     global option.  It was fixed by Andy Piper's 14 Nov 1997 change to
     src/filesubr.c, if anyone is curious.  If you see the message, you
     probably can just retry the operation which failed, or if you have
     discovered information concerning its cause, please let us know as
     described in *Note BUGS::.

`end of file from server (consult above messages if any)'
     The most common cause for this message is if you are using an
     external `rsh' program and it exited with an error.  In this case
     the `rsh' program should have printed a message, which will appear
     before the above message.  For more information on setting up a
     CVS client and server, see *Note Remote repositories::.

`cvs [update aborted]: EOF in key in RCS file FILE,v'
`cvs [checkout aborted]: EOF while looking for end of string in RCS file FILE,v'
     This means that there is a syntax error in the given RCS file.
     Note that this might be true even if RCS can read the file OK; CVS
     does more error checking of errors in the RCS file.  That is why
     you may see this message when upgrading from CVS 1.9 to CVS 1.10.
     The likely cause for the original corruption is hardware, the
     operating system, or the like.  Of course, if you find a case in
     which CVS seems to corrupting the file, by all means report it,
     (*note BUGS::).  There are quite a few variations of this error
     message, depending on exactly where in the RCS file CVS finds the
     syntax error.

`cvs commit: Executing 'mkmodules''
     This means that your repository is set up for a version of CVS
     prior to CVS 1.8.  When using CVS 1.8 or later, the above message
     will be preceded by

          cvs commit: Rebuilding administrative file database

     If you see both messages, the database is being rebuilt twice,
     which is unnecessary but harmless.  If you wish to avoid the
     duplication, and you have no versions of CVS 1.7 or earlier in
     use, remove `-i mkmodules' every place it appears in your `modules'
     file.  For more information on the `modules' file, see *Note
     modules::.

`missing author'
     Typically this can happen if you created an RCS file with your
     username set to empty.  CVS will, bogusly, create an illegal RCS
     file with no value for the author field.  The solution is to make
     sure your username is set to a non-empty value and re-create the
     RCS file.

`cvs [checkout aborted]: no such tag TAG'
     This message means that CVS isn't familiar with the tag TAG.
     Usually this means that you have mistyped a tag name; however
     there are (relatively obscure) cases in which CVS will require you
     to try a few other CVS commands involving that tag, before you
     find one which will cause CVS to update the `val-tags' file; see
     discussion of val-tags in *Note File permissions::.  You only need
     to worry about this once for a given tag; when a tag is listed in
     `val-tags', it stays there.  Note that using `-f' to not require
     tag matches does not override this check; see *Note Common
     options::.

`*PANIC* administration files missing'
     This typically means that there is a directory named CVS but it
     does not contain the administrative files which CVS puts in a CVS
     directory.  If the problem is that you created a CVS directory via
     some mechanism other than CVS, then the answer is simple, use a
     name other than CVS.  If not, it indicates a CVS bug (*note
     BUGS::).

`rcs error: Unknown option: -x,v/'
     This message will be followed by a usage message for RCS.  It
     means that you have an old version of RCS (probably supplied with
     your operating system), as well as an old version of CVS.  CVS
     1.9.18 and earlier only work with RCS version 5 and later; current
     versions of CVS do not run RCS programs.

`cvs [server aborted]: received broken pipe signal'
     This message seems to be caused by a hard-to-track-down bug in CVS
     or the systems it runs on (we don't know--we haven't tracked it
     down yet!).  It seems to happen only after a CVS command has
     completed, and you should be able to just ignore the message.
     However, if you have discovered information concerning its cause,
     please let us know as described in *Note BUGS::.

`'root' is not allowed to commit files'
     When committing a permanent change, CVS makes a log entry of who
     committed the change.  If you are committing the change logged in
     as "root" (not under "su" or other root-priv giving program), CVS
     cannot determine who is actually making the change.  As such, by
     default, CVS disallows changes to be committed by users logged in
     as "root".  (You can disable this option by commenting out the
     definition of `CVS_BADROOT' in `options.h' before building CVS.

`Too many arguments!'
     This message is typically printed by the `log.pl' script which is
     in the `contrib' directory in the CVS source distribution.  In
     some versions of CVS, `log.pl' has been part of the default CVS
     installation.  The `log.pl' script gets called from the `loginfo'
     administrative file.  Check that the arguments passed in `loginfo'
     match what your version of `log.pl' expects.  In particular, the
     `log.pl' from CVS 1.3 and older expects the logfile as an argument
     whereas the `log.pl' from CVS 1.5 and newer expects the logfile to
     be specified with a `-f' option.  Of course, if you don't need
     `log.pl' you can just comment it out of `loginfo'.

`cvs [update aborted]: unexpected EOF reading FILE,v'
     See `EOF in key in RCS file'.

`cvs [login aborted]: unrecognized auth response from SERVER'
     This message typically means that the server is not set up
     properly.  For example, if `inetd.conf' points to a nonexistent
     cvs executable.  To debug it further, find the log file which
     inetd writes (`/var/log/messages' or whatever inetd uses on your
     system).  For details, see *Note Connection::, and *Note Password
     authentication server::.

`cvs commit: Up-to-date check failed for `FILE''
     This means that someone else has committed a change to that file
     since the last time that you did a `cvs update'.  So before
     proceeding with your `cvs commit' you need to `cvs update'.  CVS
     will merge the changes that you made and the changes that the
     other person made.  If it does not detect any conflicts it will
     report `M FILE' and you are ready to `cvs commit'.  If it detects
     conflicts it will print a message saying so, will report `C FILE',
     and you need to manually resolve the conflict.  For more details
     on this process see *Note Conflicts example::.

`Usage:	diff3 [-exEX3 [-i | -m] [-L label1 -L label3]] file1 file2 file3'
          Only one of [exEX3] allowed
     This indicates a problem with the installation of `diff3' and
     `rcsmerge'.  Specifically `rcsmerge' was compiled to look for GNU
     diff3, but it is finding unix diff3 instead.  The exact text of
     the message will vary depending on the system.  The simplest
     solution is to upgrade to a current version of CVS, which does not
     rely on external `rcsmerge' or `diff3' programs.

`warning: unrecognized response `TEXT' from cvs server'
     If TEXT contains a valid response (such as `ok') followed by an
     extra carriage return character (on many systems this will cause
     the second part of the message to overwrite the first part), then
     it probably means that you are using the `:ext:' access method
     with a version of rsh, such as most non-unix rsh versions, which
     does not by default provide a transparent data stream.  In such
     cases you probably want to try `:server:' instead of `:ext:'.  If
     TEXT is something else, this may signify a problem with your CVS
     server.  Double-check your installation against the instructions
     for setting up the CVS server.

`cvs commit: [TIME] waiting for USER's lock in DIRECTORY'
     This is a normal message, not an error.  See *Note Concurrency::,
     for more details.

`cvs commit: warning: editor session failed'
     This means that the editor which CVS is using exits with a nonzero
     exit status.  Some versions of vi will do this even when there was
     not a problem editing the file.  If so, point the `CVSEDITOR'
     environment variable to a small script such as:

          #!/bin/sh
          vi $*
          exit 0


File: cvs.info,  Node: Connection,  Next: Other problems,  Prev: Error messages,  Up: Troubleshooting

Trouble making a connection to a CVS server
===========================================

   This section concerns what to do if you are having trouble making a
connection to a CVS server.  If you are running the CVS command line
client running on Windows, first upgrade the client to CVS 1.9.12 or
later.  The error reporting in earlier versions provided much less
information about what the problem was.  If the client is non-Windows,
CVS 1.9 should be fine.

   If the error messages are not sufficient to track down the problem,
the next steps depend largely on which access method you are using.

`:ext:'
     Try running the rsh program from the command line.  For example:
     "rsh servername cvs -v" should print CVS version information.  If
     this doesn't work, you need to fix it before you can worry about
     CVS problems.

`:server:'
     You don't need a command line rsh program to use this access
     method, but if you have an rsh program around, it may be useful as
     a debugging tool.  Follow the directions given for :ext:.

`:pserver:'
     Errors along the lines of "connection refused" typically indicate
     that inetd isn't even listening for connections on port 2401
     whereas errors like "connection reset by peer", "received broken
     pipe signal", or "recv() from server: EOF" typically indicate that
     inetd is listening for connections but is unable to start CVS
     (this is frequently caused by having an incorrect path in
     `inetd.conf').  "unrecognized auth response" errors are caused by
     a bad command line in `inetd.conf', typically an invalid option or
     forgetting to put the `pserver' command at the end of the line.
     Another less common problem is invisible control characters that
     your editor "helpfully" added without you noticing.

     One good debugging tool is to "telnet servername 2401".  After
     connecting, send any text (for example "foo" followed by return).
     If CVS is working correctly, it will respond with

          cvs [pserver aborted]: bad auth protocol start: foo

     If instead you get:

          Usage: cvs [cvs-options] command [command-options-and-arguments]
          ...

     then you're missing the `pserver' command at the end of the line
     in `inetd.conf'; check to make sure that the entire command is on
     one line and that it's complete.

     Likewise, if you get something like:

          Unknown command: `pserved'
          
          CVS commands are:
                  add          Add a new file/directory to the repository
          ...

     then you've misspelled `pserver' in some way.  If it isn't
     obvious, check for invisible control characters (particularly
     carriage returns) in `inetd.conf'.

     If it fails to work at all, then make sure inetd is working right.
     Change the invocation in `inetd.conf' to run the echo program
     instead of cvs.  For example:

          2401  stream  tcp  nowait  root /bin/echo echo hello

     After making that change and instructing inetd to re-read its
     configuration file, "telnet servername 2401" should show you the
     text hello and then the server should close the connection.  If
     this doesn't work, you need to fix it before you can worry about
     CVS problems.

     On AIX systems, the system will often have its own program trying
     to use port 2401.  This is AIX's problem in the sense that port
     2401 is registered for use with CVS.  I hear that there is an AIX
     patch available to address this problem.

     Another good debugging tool is the `-d' (debugging) option to
     inetd.  Consult your system documentation for more information.

     If you seem to be connecting but get errors like:

          cvs server: cannot open /root/.cvsignore: Permission denied
          cvs [server aborted]: can't chdir(/root): Permission denied

     then you probably haven't specified `-f' in `inetd.conf'.  (In
     releases prior to CVS 1.11.1, this problem can be caused by your
     system setting the `$HOME' environment variable for programs being
     run by inetd.  In this case, you can either have inetd run a shell
     script that unsets `$HOME' and then runs CVS, or you can use `env'
     to run CVS with a pristine environment.)

     If you can connect successfully for a while but then can't, you've
     probably hit inetd's rate limit.  (If inetd receives too many
     requests for the same service in a short period of time, it
     assumes that something is wrong and temporarily disables the
     service.)  Check your inetd documentation to find out how to
     adjust the rate limit (some versions of inetd have a single rate
     limit, others allow you to set the limit for each service
     separately.)

