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1. Getting Started
  1.1. CVS client list
2. Getting started with Linux/UNIX command line
  2.1. Overview
  2.2. Environment Variable
  2.3. Logging in
  2.4. Creating a new module (importing)
  2.5. Exporting a module (checking out)
  2.6. Committing a change
  2.7. Adding a file
  2.8. Delete a file
3. Getting started with WinCVS
4. Getting started with Eclipse
5. Using SSH with Eclipse
  5.1. Download the Putty suite
  5.2. Generate public and private keys
  5.3. Uploading your public key
  5.4. Tell you computer about your newly generated keys.
  5.5. Configure a new connection to CVSDude in putty
  5.6. Configure Eclipse to use your new key pair
  5.7. Finish up
6. Using SSH with TortoiseCVS
  6.1. Download the Putty suite
  6.2. Generate public and private keys
  6.3. Uploading your public key
  6.4. Tell you computer about your newly generated keys.
  6.5. Using your new keys with Tortoise.
7. Using SSH with WinCVS
  7.1. Download the Putty suite
  7.2. Generate public and private keys
  7.3. Uploading your public key
  7.4. Tell you computer about your newly generated keys.
  7.5. Now configure WinCVS to use SSH.
  7.6. Ready to go
8. Using SSH port forwarding (tunneling)
9. Using the Message tracker Email Alert system
  9.1. Introduction
  9.2. To specify email address
  9.3. To turn on email alerts
10. How do I delete a module
11. How do I upgrade my account
12. Can I upload an existing repository ?
13. A note on our Authentication system
14. Notes on Bugzilla usernames and email addresses
 

1. Getting Started

To start using CVSDude, you will need a cvs client. If your are using windows try wincvs or *NIX, try CVS home. Follow the setup instructions for each client.

Once you have your client installed you will need CVSDude server details and your login and password. These should have been emailed to you during the setup process.

Below is a quick guide to get you up and running with cvs. For more detailed commands and instructions please refer to the CVS documentation.

If you are looking for a cvs client or cvs related projects, other than a *NIX command line client, we have listed a few below that are quite popular. If you know of any others please feel free to email them in !

 
  1.1. CVS client list
CS-CVS (Windows)
CVS Home (Main CVS Site, *NIX command line)
Eclipse (Windows, Linux, Solaris, Macintosh, etc)
SmartCVS (Windows, Mac, etc)
WinCVS (Primarily Windows)
Tortoise (Windows)
MacCVS (Macintosh)
 

2. Getting started with Linux/UNIX command line

 
  2.1. Overview
Using CVS under a UNIX based system requires a number of steps. In a nutshell you first need to export your CVSROOT environment variable and perform a "cvs login" command which reads your env var and talks to the remote CVS server. This really applies to the :pserver authentication method. Using SSH is a little different. Once your have successfully logged in you can now perform all the normal commands like "commit", "checkout", "update", "import", etc.
 
  2.2. Environment Variable
export CVSROOT=:pserver:loginname@cvs8.cvsdude.com:/var/cvs
you need to tell your machine where the CVS pserver is before you log in
 
  2.3. Logging in
cvs login
you will then be prompted for your CVS password
 
  2.4. Creating a new module (importing)
First, change into the directory of your project.
cd /usr/local/myproject
Then execute an import
cvs import -m "message" projname vendortag releasetag
eg. cvs import -m "my new project" CVSDude mycompany start
 
  2.5. Exporting a module (checking out)
First, change into the directory where you want you module to end up.
cd /usr/local/projects
Then issue the checkout command "co" or "checkout" to check out your project.
cvs co my_module_name
 
  2.6. Committing a change
Change to the directory where the file is your committing
cd /usr/local/my_module_name/classes
Then issue the "commit" comand
cvs commit -m "commit message" file.ext
eg. cvs commit -m "fixed up bug 3412" myfile.java
you can leave out the -m "message" if you wish. However you will be prompted for a message via your text editor. If you leave out the "file.ext" it will commit all changes in the current directory and all sub directories
 
  2.7. Adding a file
First you must add the file to the repository and second, commit the file in.
cvs add filename.c
cvs commit -m "your message" filename.c
 
  2.8. Delete a file
Delete the file from your working directory first, then remove it from your CVS repository
rm filename.c
cvs remove filename.c
cvs commit filename.c
 

3. Getting started with WinCVS

1. Use the "Import" option under the "Create" menu
2. Select the directory containing your source code
3. Don't worry too much about the types of your files (Import Filters), just click continue.
4. Enter in your projects details, log message, etc, then click ok
5. You now have your own repository !
 

4. Getting started with Eclipse

1. First open up the CVS perspective. Click on "Window" -> "Open perspective" -> "Other" -> "CVS Repository Explorer"
2. Create a new Repository Location. Right click on the left window -> "New" -> "Repository Location".
3. Fill out the form as detailed in your CVSDude sign up email.
4. Create a new project, File -> New -> Project
5. Open up your resource perspective, you should see the project you just created
6. Right click on it and select Team -> Share Project
7. Now select the CVS repository location you set up in step 3.
8. Follow the steps and it will commit to the CVSDude server.
9. Try creating a file (in eclipse) and then CVS adding it to the repository, then committing it.
 

5. Using SSH with Eclipse

Make sure you are running the latest copy of eclipse, at the time of writing this we were running version 3.1.0. This version of eclipse comes built with support for SSH2 (extssh). However this method does not seem to work, so in this tutorial we use the "ssh" method in combination with the Putty suite.

You will need an upgraded account with us that comes with its own CVSROOT + SSH. Please select from our "more developer" or above plans which come with this feature. See http://node8.cvsdude.com/accountUpgrade.pl.

 
  5.1. Download the Putty suite
- Download the Putty suite (putty.exe, plink.exe, pageant.exe, etc). They can all be downloaded in one zip file here
- Extract the files to a path on your computer
 
  5.2. Generate public and private keys
* If you already have an SSH key pair, then you can ignore this step.
- Execute puttygen.exe
- Go to the parameters section and select your desired key type, SSH1 or 2
- Click on the "generate" button
- Enter "your-username@cvs8.cvsdude.com" in the key comment field. This is merely a comment you can use to identify you key later on
- Enter in your passphrase (used to unlock your SSH key on the client side)
- Click on "Save private key" and give it a name.
- Cut and paste the public key string (don't use the "save public key" button) in the top box labeled "Public key for pasting into OpenSSH authorized keys file" and save it to a file. Make sure it is all on one line with no end of line characters !
 
  5.3. Uploading your public key
- You need to upload your public key to our servers in order for SSH key authentication to work.
- Login into our website, node8.cvsdude.com. Click on, Admin -> Files -> Upload -> SSH Key
- Click on browse and select your public key you saved earlier. Make sure its the public key and not private key !
- Click on "upload".
- ...Wait 20mins for your key to be installed on our servers.
 
  5.4. Tell you computer about your newly generated keys.
- Execute pageant.exe you downloaded earlier.
- This will leave a new icon in your system tray. Right click on this new pageant icon and click "Add Key". Locate your private key and click ok, then enter your passphrase you entered while generating your keys. Your computer now knows about your private key. Using pageant means you will not be prompted for your password every time you interact with our server. Wich can get annoying otherwise.
 
  5.5. Configure a new connection to CVSDude in putty
- execute putty.exe
- In the hostname/IP field, enter the hostname as listed in your upgrade email
eg. cvs8.cvsdude.com
- Select SSH as the protocol
- Enter for the session name "CVSDude"
- Under the "SSH" -> "Auth" Category, in the "private key for authentication" field, enter in the location of your private key
eg. C:\ssh\id.private.key
- In the "SSH" Category for the "preferred SSH protocol version", be sure to select the same version as the key you generated above
- Click on the "Session" category and click "save"
- You have now created a putty SSH connection to CVSDude
 
  5.6. Configure Eclipse to use your new key pair
- Click on "Window" -> "preferences"
- Expand the menus "Team" -> "CVS" -> "Ext Connection Method"
- For "CVS_RSH" enter the location of plink.exe,
eg. -C:\bin\plink.exe
- For "Parameters" enter the same session name as you did in the above step in putty when creating a connection to CVSDude
eg. CVSDude
- Leave the rest as default and click "ok"
- Open up the CVS perspective
- Right click in the perspective "right" pane and click "new" -> "repository location
- Enter for the host field, the hostname as listed in your upgrade email
eg. cvs8.cvsdude.com
- Enter for the "repository path", the path as listed in your upgrade email
eg. /cvs/login_name
- Enter in your username in the "User" field
- Select "ext" for the "connection type"
- Click finish and eclipse will go off and verify your connection, provided you have checked the box
 
  5.7. Finish up
The above steps will set you up with a CVS repository location via CVS+SSH with public key authentication. Now you can go ahead and perform all the normal CVS operations like "import", "checkout" etc
 

6. Using SSH with TortoiseCVS

Authenticating via SSH with Tortoise CVS is simple. First make sure you have the latest copy of Tortoise CVS, check the web site, http://www.tortoisecvs.org. Once you have downloaded and installed tortoise CVS you need to decide whether you want to use SSH public key authentication or SSH tunneled password authentication. Using public key authentication is more secure but requires you to generate SSH key pairs and upload your public key to our servers. One thing to note, if tortoise fails to authenticate you via public key authentication it will automatically fall back on tunneled password authentication.

If you choose to use SSH tunneled password authentication you can skip to the final step. Keep in mind that public key authentication is way more secure than tunneled password authentication as passwords are tunneled over in clear text.

You will need an upgraded account with us that comes with its own CVSROOT + SSH. Please select either the "more developer" or "project team" account which come with this feature. See http://node8.cvsdude.com/accountUpgrade.pl.

 
  6.1. Download the Putty suite
- Download the Putty suite (putty.exe, plink.exe, pageant.exe, etc). They can all be downloaded in one zip file here
- Extract the files to a path on your computer
 
  6.2. Generate public and private keys
- Execute puttygen.exe
- Go to the parameters section and select your desired key type, SSH1 or 2
- Click on the "generate" button
- Enter "your-username@cvs8.cvsdude.com" in the key comment field. This is merely a comment you can use to identify you key later on
- Enter in your passphrase (used to unlock your SSH key on the client side)
- Click on "Save private key" and give it a name.
- Cut and paste the public key string (don't use the "save public key" button) in the top box labeled "Public key for pasting into OpenSSH authorized keys file" and save it to a file. Make sure it is all on one line with no end of line characters !
 
  6.3. Uploading your public key
- You need to upload your public key to our servers in order for SSH key authentication to work.
- Login into our website, node8.cvsdude.com. Click on, Admin -> Files -> Upload -> SSH Key
- Click on browse and select your public key you saved earlier. Make sure its the public key and not private key !
- Click on "upload".
- ...Wait 20mins for your key to be installed on our servers.
 
  6.4. Tell you computer about your newly generated keys.
- Execute pageant.exe you downloaded earlier.
- This will leave a new icon in your system tray. Right click on this new pageant icon and click "Add Key". Locate your private key and click ok, then enter your passphrase you entered while generating your keys. Your computer now knows about your private key. Using pageant means you will not be prompted for your password every time you interact with our server. Wich can get annoying otherwise.
 
  6.5. Using your new keys with Tortoise.
- Assuming you know the basics of Tortoise, bring up the Tortoise CVS server preferences by right clicking on a folder and selecting, CVS -> Make New Module.
- Enter in the server details you were emailed in your upgrade email your received from us, making sure to select "Secure Shell :ext" in the "protocol" field.
- Click on "Ok" and provided you are using public key authentication and followed the above steps it will happily go ahead and "import" your folder as a module. If you have skipped the above steps and opted for tunneled password authentication, you will be prompted for your CVSDude password (the same one you access our web site with).
 

7. Using SSH with WinCVS

Authenticating via SSH with WinCVS is quite simple. But you need to download a few programs and generate your SSH public/private keys in order to get started. You will also need an upgraded account with CVSDude that comes with SSH enabled. Below you'll find a quick guide to using the popular SSH suite, Putty.
 
  7.1. Download the Putty suite
- Download the Putty suite (putty.exe, plink.exe, pageant.exe, etc). They can all be downloaded in one zip file here
- Extract the files to a path on your computer
 
  7.2. Generate public and private keys
- Execute puttygen.exe
- Go to the parameters section and select your desired key type, SSH1 or 2
- Click on the "generate" button
- Enter "your-username@cvs8.cvsdude.com" in the key comment field. This is merely a comment you can use to identify you key later on
- Enter in your passphrase (used to unlock your SSH key on the client side)
- Click on "Save private key" and give it a name.
- Cut and paste the public key string in the top box labeled "Public key for pasting into OpenSSH authorized keys file" and save it to a file. Make sure it is all on one line with no end of line characters !
 
  7.3. Uploading your public key
- You need to upload your public key to our servers in order for SSH key authentication to work.
- Login into our website, node8.cvsdude.com. Click on, Admin -> Files -> Upload -> SSH Key
- Click on browse and select your public key you saved earlier. Make sure its the public key and not private key !
- Click on "upload".
- ...Wait 20mins for your key to be installed on our servers.
 
  7.4. Tell you computer about your newly generated keys.
- Execute pageant.exe you downloaded earlier.
- This will leave a new icon in your system tray. Right click on this new pageant icon and click "Add Key". Locate your private key and click ok, then enter your passphrase you entered while generating your keys. Your computer now knows about your private key.
 
  7.5. Now configure WinCVS to use SSH.
- Load up WinCVS and click on, Admin -> Preferences.
- Enter in details for our servers as detailed to you in you upgrade email you received after signing up for your upgraded CVSDude account. In the Authentication drop down menu, select SSH.
- Click on "Settings" beside the Authentication tab.
- In the "SSH client" section, you need to enter in the location of "plink.exe" you downloaded earlier. You can click on the "..." button to help you locate this file. Plink is a program that will link an external program (WinCVS) to "pageant", which you have running in your system tray. Click "Ok"
 
  7.6. Ready to go
- Your now ready to start performing CVS operations. Try importing a new module. Under WinCVS, click on Remote -> Import to create a new module.
 

8. Using SSH port forwarding (tunneling)

First your need to locate or have access to a SSH enabled machine which will allow you to SSH in, for our example we'll call this "localorremotemachine.com". You will also need an upgraded account that comes with the SSH feature to authenticated over SSH

Enter you SSH command to configure your port ford
eg. ssh -C -L 2401:cvs8.cvsdude.com:2401 -N username@localorremotemachine.com
Enter you password to authenticate, then you can background this process if you wish.
Your new CVSROOT will now become
:pserver:login@localhost:/var/cvs
 

9. Using the Message tracker Email Alert system

 
  9.1. Introduction
Using the Message tracker Email Alert system is quite simple. All you need to do is make sure each of your team members who you want to receive email alerts, specifies their email address on their "accounts" page and turns on "Email Alerts" on their "project manage" page.
 
  9.2. To specify email address
Each team member must log into our web site, then click on "edit" under the " Name, contact and project" heading.
 
  9.3. To turn on email alerts
The master account holder must add each team member to a notification. To do so, login, click settings -> Email Notification -> View/Edit.
 

10. How do I delete a module

You can do this via our website. Log into our site, node8.cvsdude.com and you will be taken to your "account" page. On you "account" page, under the title "Projects", you will see a list of projects you have uploaded. Click on the "del" link beside the project you wish to delete and then follow the steps by confirming your password.
 

11. How do I upgrade my account

To obtain an upgraded account with CVSDude you must first register for a free account with us, http://node8.cvsdude.com/createAccount.pl You are welcome to use this free account for as long as you wish. However if you feel you require more features, storage space, authorized accounts, etc then you can you can upgrade your free account to an upgraded account. To do this just log into our site with your username/password and click on the "account upgrade" link, then choose an upgrade plan that suits you. Once you have made your payment, you'll receive an upgrade notice from us detailing your upgrade details.

After upgrading your account, your CVS connection details will be the same unless you have registered for an upgrade plan that includes its own CVSROOT. In this case your CVSROOT will change, which will be detailed in the upgrade email. Along with the CVSROOT change you might need to move over any existing modules you have uploaded to this new CVSROOT. If you require your existing modules to be moved over please email us, http://node8.cvsdude.com/contact.pl, and we will be more than happy to accommodate your request.

 

12. Can I upload an existing repository ?

Yes, we allow users to upload an existing archive of their repository. You must be on an upgraded account (any plan) first.
 

13. A note on our Authentication system

CVSDude uses a central authentication system for all its services. This includes everything from our main website (admin interface), to Bugzilla, Trac, ViewVC, ViewCVS, WebSVN, etc, etc. This means that all new user accounts (sub-accounts) and password changes need to be configured via our admin interface (http://node8.cvsdude.com) for all systems.

A note on Bugzilla. Our Bugzilla installations for customers were converted over to our central authentication system in Janurary of 2006, all installations prior to this will not share our central authentication system. If you wish to have your installation migrated over, please contact us at support. Also with the new Bugzilla installations, you will still be able to create new Bugzilla only accounts via your Bugzilla admin account (CVSDude master account), these will not share our central authentication system. We recommend always using our admin interface (http://node8.cvsdude.com) for creating new users and changing passwords.

 

14. Notes on Bugzilla usernames and email addresses

Bugzilla will share the same username and password combinations (see above). When logging in with your CVSDude username/password combination, Bugzilla will internally translate this username into the corresponding email address for that user (as configure via CVSDude's admin interface). Historically Bugzilla uses an email address for authentication and identification of users, which is the reason for this translation.

New Bugzilla users will not be created internally in Bugzilla until that user actually logs into Bugzilla, until this time they will only exist in CVSDude's LDAP (authentication) database. So until this user logs in for the first time, you won't be able to assign bugs to this user.

Please also be aware that creating new CVSDude accounts with the same email address will cause conflicts with Bugzilla.