Re: [cvs] Question on user repository restrictions

[Jeremie Le Hen]

Hi Luis,

> Here is the context of the problem: I teach Java and J2EE at a
> university. My students use Eclipse+WTP as the development environment,
> but the lab PCs are shared and it is currently very messy for them to
> keep their eclipse projects: the lab PCs are cleaned after every boot,
> so the students must manually backup all their work.
> 
> That is why I am thinking of setting up a CVS server. In addition to
> simplify their work so they can focus on learning, they will no longer
> have the typical excuse of "I lost my hard drive and the practical work
> I had to present today was there".
> 
> The problem is that this is not a typical CVS setup, since each student
> should only be able to see the code he submits, and not be aware of any
> other code from other students (otherwise they would copy the code from
> the good students).
> 
> ...And here goes the question: how should I setup CVS in order to
> support that approach? Is there a way to configure the user/password
> files so that a given CVS resource can only be seen by the user that
> created it? They should not be able even to see the directory structure
> of other student's projects, as they would learn how the project is
> structured (in Java, a file usually corresponds to an object).
> Or maybe the best approach is to setup a separate repository for each
> student? If so, how scalable is that? My classes have 20 to 40
> students, and if this approach works fine it may be used by other
> groups and add up to, say, a total of 120 students.

As a side note to what has been answered, I would add that you should
really rely on strong cryptgraphy.  The cryptography scheme applied
to CVS pserver is very weak and can be deciphered pretty easily with
the dsniff tool.  Given that students are often more arful than
hardworking, I think you should not provide them an easy way to
steal their schoolmate work, especially those who are hardworking and
not willing to fob their work off on the others.

Best regards,
-- 
Jeremie Le Hen
< jeremie at le-hen dot org >< ttz at chchile dot org >