Using `cvsd' to setup cvs pserver

CVS was designed to use `xinetd' to startup service. But now most Linux distributions do not install xinetd by default, and configuration of CVS is somewhat complicated. `cvsd' is a wrapper program for CVS in pserver mode, it can startup CVS as a standalone daemon, under a special uid/gid in a chroot jail. It is relatively easy to use cvsd and its configuration file to setup CVS repositories.

In this article, I will describe how to setup a cvs pserver step by step.

1. Installation of cvsd package

For RPM-based distributions, you may download precompiled RPMS from this site:

cvsd-1.0.14-1.i386.rpm
cvsd-1.0.14-1.src.rpm (source)

For other distributions, you may download source tarball here, compile and install it yourself.


2. Configuration file /etc/cvsd/cvsd.conf

Check cvsd's configuration file /etc/cvsd/cvsd.conf. Something should be mentioned:

• RootJail: the location of the chroot jail cvs should be run in. The default value should like
  

  RootJail /var/lib/cvsd

  For RPM-based installation, the installation process should have initialized this directory for you, by the command
  

  # cvsd-buildroot /var/lib/cvsd

  If the directory is not initialized yet, or you change `RootJail' to another directory, you need to use the command `cvsd-buildroot' to initialize it by hand.


• Uid and Gid: the user and group cvsd should be run as. The default values:
  

  Uid cvsd
Gid cvsd

  For non-RPM based installation, you need to create them by hand.


• Repos: paths to repositories, one repository per line. Every path is relative to RootJail and begins with a `/'. For example:
  

  Repos /coolsoft
Repos /hotsoft

3. Creation of repositories

To create a repository, for example, `coolsoft', use the command:

# cvs -d /var/lib/cvsd/coolsoft init

The command will create a directory /var/lib/cvsd/coolsoft and a CVSROOT tree in it.

If you allow users to create top level directories in this repository:

# chown cvsd:cvsd /var/lib/cvsd/coolsoft

Edit the file /var/lib/cvsd/coolsoft/CVSROOT/config and modify the `LockDir' option:

LockDir /tmp/coolsoft

The directory is relative to `RootJail', /var/lib/cvsd. Create the directory:

# mkdir /var/lib/cvsd/tmp/coolsoft
# chown cvsd:cvsd /var/lib/cvsd/tmp/coolsoft

Now create users that can access this repository and set the passwords:

# cvsd-passwd /var/lib/cvsd/coolsoft jack

If you want anonymous access to your repository, create a user named `anonymous' or `anoncvs', and leave the password blank:

# cvsd-passwd /var/lib/cvsd/coolsoft anoncvs

Create a new file /var/lib/cvsd/coolsoft/CVSROOT/writers:

# touch /var/lib/cvsd/coolsoft/CVSROOT/writers

to protect write access to the repository. Without this file, all users have write access! Add users you want write access to this file, one user per line.

Optional, create top level directories in your repository that will hold files committed:

# cd /var/lib/cvsd/coolsoft
# mkdir client server
# chown cvsd:cvsd client server

4. Startup cvsd and test your repositories

To startup cvsd, use the command

# /etc/init.d/cvsd start

To test the new repository:

# cvs -d :pserver:jack@myhost.at.office/coolsoft login
# cvs -d :pserver:jack@myhost.at.office/coolsoft co client