Re: XML interface to cvs

[Dan Langille]

On Tue, 26 Mar 2002 08:45:40 -0800, Rob Helmer <address@hidden> wrote:

> Hi Dan,
> 
> What kind of interface are you looking for?

A programmatic one.  At present, I use cvsweb (e.g.
http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/cvsweb.cgi/) to extract what is needed via http.

Basically, I'd like to be able to traverse the tree using XML..  Here is
some background information which might be useful.  The following
information is slanted towards the FreeBSD operating system and its
community, but the underlying design is OS independent.

http://www.FreshPorts.org/ [1] has been running for about 2 years.  During 
that period I've been working [no, not full time] on the next generation 
of FP (and I've been calling that FP2).  To the end user, the differences 
between FP1 and FP2 is minimal.  There are some new features [2] and minor 
face lifts, but for the most part, it's same-old-same-old.

The basic change has been the underlying database structure.  It's now 
PostgreSQL and was mySQL.  The main reason for the change was stored 
procedures and triggers [3] which allowed for a recursive design.  This 
new structure will allow me to do for the whole source tree what FP does 
for the ports tree.  This new project is called FreshSource [4].  With FS, 
you can place any file or  directory on your watch list; in FP, you can 
only put a port on your watch list [which makes sense; it's only for the 
Ports tree].

FreshPorts was designed for the FreeBSD ports tree, but the goal is to 
allow other port trees to use it as well.  With FP2, we have moved to XML 
as the primary input.  Each cvs-all message is converted to XML and then 
processed by FP2.  This will greatly simplify the inclusion of other port 
trees.

The FP2 database was populated by migrating data from FP1.  However, the 
ideal population method would be directly from CVS, hence the query about 
an XML interface to CVS.  It would also allow FP2 to query any CVS 
repository and populate itself.  This feature would probably have a bigger 
effect on FreshSource than FreshPorts, but the capability would useful for 
both.

[1] - The basic purpose of FP is a FreshMeat website but for the FreeBSD
Ports tree.for ports.  As port tree changes come out, FP captures the
information via the cvs-all mailing  list. and stores the details in a
database. A registered user can create a watch list containing the ports
they care about.

[2] - the biggest new feature is the ability to upload your pkg_info 
output and add that to your watch list.

[3] - some will point out that mySQL has this now.  Sorry, it didn't when 
I started FP2.

[4] - http://www.FreshSource.org/

> You can generate CVS changelogs in XML format with this tool :
> http://www.red-bean.com/cvs2cl/

Thanks.  I didn't know about that.