info-cvs-faq -- New flavour of F.A.Q. to be included to CVS

[Alexey Mahotkin]

[ Please keep me in Cc: list when answering ]

I propose to include the 'info-cvs-faq' which I have started some time
ago, to the main CVS distribution. 

It does not clash in purpose with existing FAQ file.  The latter
should probably be greatly merged with existing documentation, and
probably not be called FAQ (>8000 lines would not be read by newbie,
and lots of the questions inside are really too obscure to be asked
that frequently).  It should probably be called Knowledge Base or
something.

The new F.A.Q. system on cvshome.org is also more of a Knowledge
Base.

I think there is a need of real Frequently Asked Questions, and the
primary place of questions is info-cvs@gnu.org.  

If the info-cvs-faq will be included to the main distribution, we
could hopefully call for a patches to that.  Just do not try to
include here every imaginable piece of information about CVS -- better
patch documentation.

I think it shold be placed to top-level directory.  A current
development version of it should always be available online, in order
to not wait for the next CVS release to become available.



        TOO FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS OF INFO-CVS MAILING LIST

Revision: $Id: info-cvs-faq,v 1.3 2001/02/10 22:38:23 alexm Exp $


TABLE OF CONTENTS
-----------------
0. PREAMBLE
1. META-QUESTIONS
2. GENERAL CVS USAGE
3. CLIENTS AND ADDITIONAL SOFTWARE
4. PSERVER SETUP
5. INFRASTRUCTURE


0. PREAMBLE
=================================================================

This is a list of questions that are too frequently asked on
info-cvs@gnu.org mailing list.  Answers to those questions are
provided, too.  This file is complementary to FAQ file from CVS
distribution, because that one is too big and contains too many not so
frequently asked questions.

If you have noticed that some question is being asked too often,
please, write up an answer to it and send it to bug-cvs@gnu.org.
Thank you.



1. META-QUESTIONS
=================================================================

Q: How do I subscribe to info-cvs mailing list?  How do I unsubscribe?

A: Please visit http://mail.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-cvs.

***DO NOT*** send subscription or unsubscription requests to the
<info-cvs@gnu.org>.  You will only waste other's time and bandwidth.


Q: Where can I find CVS documentation?  What is "Cederquist"?

A: The CVS manual is included in distribution.  If your UNIX vendor
has properly installed a CVS package , you can most probably access it
by typing `info cvs' in your command prompt.

You can go to http://cvshome.org/docs/ and read the manual online
there.  There is also a PostScript version of manual in distribution,
which could be printed out.

Per Cederquist was the original author of CVS manual.  His name now
became an unofficial alias for the manual.


2. GENERAL USAGE
=================================================================

Q: I have tagged my repository with 'cvs tag', and now when I am
trying to commit, it says 

  cvs commit: sticky tag `TAG' for file `myfile' is not a branch

and does not commit!

A: To get rid of this sticky tag, run 'cvs update -A'.

This is because you gave '-r TAG' option to 'cvs co', and the 'TAG'
was not branch tag.


3. CLIENTS AND ADDITIONAL SOFTWARE
=================================================================

Q: Is there a GUI program for using CVS under Windows?

A: Yes, http://www.cvsgui.org/


Q: How do I access repository that needs ssh if I am using Windows?

A: Look in chapter "CVS -- OS Specific Information" at

        http://sourceforge.net/docman/?group_id=1 



4. PSERVER SETUP
=================================================================

Q: I have setup CVS-pserver, and now when I'm trying to do

        $ cvs checkout foo

it says: 
cvs server: cannot open /root/.cvsignore: Permission denied


A: Workaround: You could create small .sh-file:

= my-pserver.sh ====
#!/bin/sh
unset HOME
exec /usr/bin/cvs -f --allow-root=/repository pserver
====================

And use it in /etc/inetd.conf, instead of calling cvs binary itself:

= /etc/inetd.conf ==
2401  stream  tcp  nowait  root  /usr/local/bin/my-pserver.sh cvs
====================


5. INFRASTRUCTURE
=================================================================

Q: I have a large MS Visual SourceSafe repository.  How could I
convert it to use it from CVS?

A: There are two different scripts for that purpose:

Laine Stump <laine+info-cvs(at)laine.org> has taken scripts originally
written in Perl by Jerry Nairn <jnairn(at)realnames.com>, and enhanced
it quite a bit.  The result is available at:

        http://www.laine.org/cvs/vss2cvs/

Curt Hagenlocher <curt(at)hagenlocher.org> has written another script
in JavaScript, which is available at:

        http://www.hagenlocher.org/software/vss2rcs.js

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--alexm