Re: Newbie Q: "cannot open CVS/Entries for reading"

[Mike Ayers]

Albin Takami wrote:
>  -----Original Message-----
> From:   Mike Ayers [mailto:address@hidden

> Albin Takami wrote:
>
>  > To clarify, the repository location is the directory that you set the
>  > CVSROOT variable to, right?
>
>         Yes, but you should not need to set CVSROOT - in fact, I recommend
> you don't.  Use the -d flag during checkout, and let the CVS
> directories track the repository for you.
>
> I've done some more reading and it seems like Karl Fogel and Cederquist's
> book suggests that I should set CVSROOT in .cshrc.
> So, I was wondering what the benefits and drawbacks are for not setting
> CVSROOT in .cshrc, according to you?

	Okay, this may not be a perfect explanation, as I have not had time 
to fact check all this, but...

	Originally, one pointed to one's archive via CVSROOT.  However, this 
becomes a problem as soon as the second archive is accessed.  Now one 
must change env var values every time one changes one's work tree - a 
problematic way to manage the issue.

	So our thoughtful CVS developers came up with an excellent solution: 
each directory of the sandbox swould have a directory in it named 
"CVS" that held files which helped CVS operate.  One of those files, 
named "Root", contains the location of the CVS root directory.   It is 
automatically created and properly set when you checkout the 
development tree.  The order in which CVS looks for a root is:

        1)  The -d flag on the command line of a cvs command

	2)  The Root file in the CVS subdirectory of the directory in which 
you are operating.

        3)  The CVSROOT env var.

	So if you are using CVS properly, the CVSROOT env var never comes 
into play.

	Note that in many respects, Cederqvist is out of date.  This is one 
of them.

>  >   `cvs checkout /design/project/dig/V9/src` is incorrect syntax.  If
>  > you have built module src in CVSROOT /design/project/dig/V9, then you
>  > should:
>  >
>  > $ cvs -d /design/project/dig/V9 checkout src
>
>         Have you tried this?

        Well, have you?


/|/|ike