Re: CVS with a Novell repository (academic environement)?

[Todd Denniston]

Christopher Fuhrman wrote:
> 
> Hello,
> 
> At our university we'd like to integrate CVS with Eclipse for all of our
> software engineering students (they would like it, too!). However, at this
> time, the file servers are all Novell. This seems to be pretty limiting in
> terms of the technology, but I wonder if there's not another solution
> without proposing another file server system.
> 
> Two things make CVS a challenge in an academic environment:
> 
> 1) Having an administrator create projects each time a student team requests
> it is an administrative nightmare, especially with 700+ students. CVS was
> never designed for this kind of environment (that I know of).

If the students can create the CVSROOT in their own area, give ACL controls
for the area that allow only other members of their group in, and run the
server against that area, then let the student manage it.

> 
> 2) Last-minute check-ins tend to kill the CVS server just before an
> assignment deadline. A deadline is the same for, say groups of 40+
> programmers.

check how much temp space/RAM/swap the machine has, and if it's network
adapter can handle the burst.

> 
> I thought of a couple of possible scenarios. One is to run CVS on a Windows
> machine, that has a Novell store mounted for the repository. I'm not sure if
> there is a way to have pserver authentication info be used to try to access
> a Novell folder (say, on a mounted drive).
> 
<SNIP>
> 
> Another scenario is to use a Linux server with standard CVS, which mounts
> (somehow) the Novell stores as repositories. 

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&q=linux+novell+filesystem&btnG=Search
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/IPX-HOWTO-9.html
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/NLM-HOWTO-2.html
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Networking-Overview-HOWTO-5.html

But you should be aware that most data loss/corruption troubles CVS has ever
had, involved a network file system. (correct Larry?)

> We already have a solution to
> share authentication info on our Linux machines, but I'm not sure Novell
> stores can be mounted reliably on Linux, or if their file access schemes are
> compatible.
The question I would have is, do the ACL's map well into the linux system?

If you can authenticate from Linux to the Novell servers why not just put a
60+GB disk (can you get anything smaller today?:) on the linux machine and
have the CVSROOTs on the  Linux machine?  The students should not need any
access to the CVSROOTs that they can not get with CVS (after the CVSROOT is
init'ed).  If you want the machine locked down a bit, and the client machines
support it, look at using ssh as the access method. If you want it tied down a
lot, use ssh and setup quotas on the linux machine.

<SNIP>
-- 
Todd Denniston
Crane Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC Crane) 
Harnessing the Power of Technology for the Warfighter