## Using CVSup ### Introduction **CVSup** is a software package for distributing and updating source trees from a master CVS repository on a remote server host. The DragonFly sources are maintained in a CVS repository on a central development machine in California. With **CVSup** , DragonFly users can easily keep their own source trees up to date. **CVSup** uses the so-called ***pull*** model of updating. Under the pull model, each client asks the server for updates, if and when they are wanted. The server waits passively for update requests from its clients. Thus all updates are instigated by the client. The server never sends unsolicited updates. Users must either run the **CVSup** client manually to get an update, or they must set up a `cron` job to run it automatically on a regular basis. The term **CVSup** , capitalized just so, refers to the entire software package. Its main components are the client `cvsup` which runs on each user's machine, and the server `cvsupd` which runs at each of the DragonFly mirror sites that use **CVSup** . ### Installation **CVSup** is installed by default on all DragonFly systems. ### CVSup Configuration **CVSup** 's operation is controlled by a configuration file called the `supfile`. There are some sample `supfiles` in the directory [`/usr/share/examples/cvsup/`](file://localhost/usr/share/examples/cvsup/). The information in a `supfile` answers the following questions for **CVSup** : * [ Which files do you want to receive?](cvsup.html#CVSUP-CONFIG-FILES) * [ Which versions of them do you want?](cvsup.html#CVSUP-CONFIG-VERS) * [ Where do you want to get them from?](cvsup.html#CVSUP-CONFIG-WHERE) * [ Where do you want to put them on your own machine?](cvsup.html#CVSUP-CONFIG-DEST) * [ Where do you want to put your status files?](cvsup.html#CVSUP-CONFIG-STATUS) In the following sections, we will construct a typical `supfile` by answering each of these questions in turn. First, we describe the overall structure of a `supfile`. A `supfile` is a text file. Comments begin with `#` and extend to the end of the line. Lines that are blank and lines that contain only comments are ignored. Each remaining line describes a set of files that the user wishes to receive. The line begins with the name of a ***collection***, a logical grouping of files defined by the server. The name of the collection tells the server which files you want. After the collection name come zero or more fields, separated by white space. These fields answer the questions listed above. There are two types of fields: flag fields and value fields. A flag field consists of a keyword standing alone, e.g., `delete` or `compress`. A value field also begins with a keyword, but the keyword is followed without intervening white space by `#` and a second word. For example, `releasecvs` is a value field. A `supfile` typically specifies more than one collection to receive. One way to structure a `supfile` is to specify all of the relevant fields explicitly for each collection. However, that tends to make the `supfile` lines quite long, and it is inconvenient because most fields are the same for all of the collections in a `supfile`. **CVSup** provides a defaulting mechanism to avoid these problems. Lines beginning with the special pseudo-collection name `*default` can be used to set flags and values which will be used as defaults for the subsequent collections in the `supfile`. A default value can be overridden for an individual collection, by specifying a different value with the collection itself. Defaults can also be changed or augmented in mid-supfile by additional `*default` lines. With this background, we will now proceed to construct a `supfile` for receiving and updating the main source tree of [ DragonFly](updating.html#UPDATING-SETUP). * Which files do you want to receive? The files available via **CVSup** are organized into named groups called ***collections***. The collections that are available are described in the [ following section](cvsup.html#CVSUP-COLLEC). In this example, we wish to receive the entire main source tree for the DragonFly system. There is a single large collection `cvs-src` which will give us all of that. As a first step toward constructing our `supfile`, we simply list the collections, one per line (in this case, only one line): cvs-src * Which version(s) of them do you want? With **CVSup** , you can receive virtually any version of the sources that ever existed. That is possible because the **cvsupd** server works directly from the CVS repository, which contains all of the versions. You specify which one of them you want using the `tag#` and `date` value fields. **Warning:** Be very careful to specify any `tag#` fields correctly. Some tags are valid only for certain collections of files. If you specify an incorrect or misspelled tag, **CVSup** will delete files which you probably do not want deleted. In particular, use ***only *** `tag.` for the `ports-*` collections. The `tag=` field names a symbolic tag in the repository. There are two kinds of tags, revision tags and branch tags. A revision tag refers to a specific revision. Its meaning stays the same from day to day. A branch tag, on the other hand, refers to the latest revision on a given line of development, at any given time. Because a branch tag does not refer to a specific revision, it may mean something different tomorrow than it means today. [Section A.4](cvs-tags.html) contains branch tags that users might be interested in. When specifying a tag in **CVSup** 's configuration file, it must be preceded with `tag#` (`RELENG_4` will become `tagRELENG_4`). Keep in mind that only the `tag=.` is relevant for the ports collection. **Warning:** Be very careful to type the tag name exactly as shown. **CVSup** cannot distinguish between valid and invalid tags. If you misspell the tag, **CVSup** will behave as though you had specified a valid tag which happens to refer to no files at all. It will delete your existing sources in that case. When you specify a branch tag, you normally receive the latest versions of the files on that line of development. If you wish to receive some past version, you can do so by specifying a date with the `date#` value field. The [cvsup(1)](http://leaf.dragonflybsd.org/cgi/web-man?commandcvsup§ion=1) manual page explains how to do that. For our example, we wish to receive the current release of DragonFly. We add this line at the beginning of our `supfile`: *default tag=. There is an important special case that comes into play if you specify neither a `tag#` field nor a `date` field. In that case, you receive the actual RCS files directly from the server's CVS repository, rather than receiving a particular version. Developers generally prefer this mode of operation. By maintaining a copy of the repository itself on their systems, they gain the ability to browse the revision histories and examine past versions of files. This gain is achieved at a large cost in terms of disk space, however. * Where do you want to get them from? We use the `host=` field to tell `cvsup` where to obtain its updates. Any of the [ CVSup mirror sites](cvsup.html#CVSUP-MIRRORS) will do, though you should try to select one that is close to you in cyberspace. In this example we will use a fictional DragonFly distribution site, `cvsup666.dragonflybsd.org`: *default host=cvsup666.dragonflybsd.org You will need to change the host to one that actually exists before running **CVSup** . On any particular run of `cvsup`, you can override the host setting on the command line, with `-h `***hostname******. * Where do you want to put them on your own machine? The `prefix=` field tells `cvsup` where to put the files it receives. In this example, we will put the source files directly into our main source tree, `/usr/src`. The `src` directory is already implicit in the collections we have chosen to receive, so this is the correct specification: *default prefix=/usr * Where should `cvsup` maintain its status files? The **CVSup** client maintains certain status files in what is called the ***base*** directory. These files help **CVSup** to work more efficiently, by keeping track of which updates you have already received. We will use the standard base directory, `/usr/local/etc/cvsup`: *default base=/usr/local/etc/cvsup This setting is used by default if it is not specified in the `supfile`, so we actually do not need the above line. If your base directory does not already exist, now would be a good time to create it. The `cvsup` client will refuse to run if the base directory does not exist. * Miscellaneous `supfile` settings: There is one more line of boiler plate that normally needs to be present in the `supfile`: *default release=cvs delete use-rel-suffix compress `release=cvs` indicates that the server should get its information out of the main DragonFly CVS repository. This is virtually always the case, but there are other possibilities which are beyond the scope of this discussion. `delete` gives **CVSup** permission to delete files. You should always specify this, so that **CVSup** can keep your source tree fully up-to-date. **CVSup** is careful to delete only those files for which it is responsible. Any extra files you happen to have will be left strictly alone. `use-rel-suffix` is ... arcane. If you really want to know about it, see the [cvsup(1)](http://leaf.dragonflybsd.org/cgi/web-man?command#cvsup§ion1) manual page. Otherwise, just specify it and do not worry about it. `compress` enables the use of gzip-style compression on the communication channel. If your network link is T1 speed or faster, you probably should not use compression. Otherwise, it helps substantially. * Putting it all together: Here is the entire `supfile` for our example: *default tag=. *default host=cvsup666.dragonflybsd.org *default prefix=/usr *default base=/usr/local/etc/cvsup *default release=cvs delete use-rel-suffix compress src-all #### The refuse File As mentioned above, **CVSup** uses a ***pull method***. Basically, this means that you connect to the **CVSup** server, and it says, ***Here is what you can download from me...***, and your client responds ***OK, I will take this, this, this, and this.*** In the default configuration, the **CVSup** client will take every file associated with the collection and tag you chose in the configuration file. However, this is not always what you want, especially if you are synching the `doc`, `ports`, or `www` trees -- most people cannot read four or five languages, and therefore they do not need to download the language-specific files. If you are **CVSup** ing the ports collection, you can get around this by specifying each collection individually (e.g., ***ports-astrology***, ***ports-biology***, etc instead of simply saying ***ports-all***). However, since the `doc` and `www` trees do not have language-specific collections, you must use one of **CVSup** 's many nifty features: the `refuse` file. The `refuse` file essentially tells **CVSup** that it should not take every single file from a collection; in other words, it tells the client to ***refuse*** certain files from the server. The `refuse` file can be found (or, if you do not yet have one, should be placed) in ***base***`/sup/`. `***base***` is defined in your `supfile`; by default, `base` is `/usr/local/etc/cvsup`, which means that by default the `refuse` file is `/usr/local/etc/cvsup/sup/refuse`. The `refuse` file has a very simple format; it simply contains the names of files or directories that you do not wish to download. For example, if you cannot speak any languages other than English and some German, and you do not feel the need to use the German applications (or applications for any other languages, except for English), you can put the following in your `refuse` file: ports/chinese ports/french ports/german ports/hebrew ports/hungarian ports/japanese ports/korean ports/polish ports/portuguese ports/russian ports/ukrainian ports/vietnamese doc/da_* doc/de_* doc/el_* doc/es_* doc/fr_* doc/it_* doc/ja_* doc/nl_* doc/no_* doc/pl_* doc/pt_* doc/ru_* doc/sr_* doc/zh_* and so forth for the other languages (you can find the full list by browsing the [FreeBSD CVS repository](http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/cvsweb.cgi/)). With this very useful feature, those users who are on slow links or pay by the minute for their Internet connection will be able to save valuable time as they will no longer need to download files that they will never use. For more information on `refuse` files and other neat features of **CVSup** , please view its manual page. ### Running CVSup You are now ready to try an update. The command line for doing this is quite simple: # cvsup `***supfile***` where ' **supfile** ' is of course the name of the `supfile` you have just created. Assuming you are running under X11, `cvsup` will display a GUI window with some buttons to do the usual things. Press the go button, and watch it run. Since you are updating your actual `/usr/src` tree in this example, you will need to run the program as `root` so that `cvsup` has the permissions it needs to update your files. Having just created your configuration file, and having never used this program before, that might understandably make you nervous. There is an easy way to do a trial run without touching your precious files. Just create an empty directory somewhere convenient, and name it as an extra argument on the command line: # mkdir /var/tmp/dest # cvsup supfile /var/tmp/dest The directory you specify will be used as the destination directory for all file updates. **CVSup** will examine your usual files in `/usr/src`, but it will not modify or delete any of them. Any file updates will instead land in `/var/tmp/dest/usr/src`. **CVSup** will also leave its base directory status files untouched when run this way. The new versions of those files will be written into the specified directory. As long as you have read access to `/usr/src`, you do not even need to be `root` to perform this kind of trial run. If you are not running X11 or if you just do not like GUIs, you should add a couple of options to the command line when you run `cvsup`: # cvsup -g -L 2 supfile The `-g` tells **CVSup** not to use its GUI. This is automatic if you are not running X11, but otherwise you have to specify it. The `-L 2` tells **CVSup** to print out the details of all the file updates it is doing. There are three levels of verbosity, from `-L 0` to `-L 2`. The default is 0, which means total silence except for error messages. There are plenty of other options available. For a brief list of them, type `cvsup -H`. For more detailed descriptions, see the manual page. Once you are satisfied with the way updates are working, you can arrange for regular runs of **CVSup** using [cron(8)](http://leaf.dragonflybsd.org/cgi/web-man?command#cron§ion8). Obviously, you should not let **CVSup** use its GUI when running it from [cron(8)](http://leaf.dragonflybsd.org/cgi/web-man?command=cron§ion=8). ### CVSup File Collections The most commonly used collections is `cvs-src` `cvs-src`:: The DragonFly source code.`cvs-doc`:: Documentation. This does not include the DragonFly website.`cvs-dfports`:: Overrides for the FreeBSD Ports Collection.`cvs-site`:: The DragonFly website code.`cvs-root`:: Basic CVS data. This is only needed if you are pulling the RCS data. ### For More Information For the **CVSup** FAQ and other information about **CVSup** , see [The CVSup Home Page](http://www.polstra.com/projects/freeware/CVSup/). ### CVSup Sites [CVSup](cvsup.html) servers for DragonFly are running at the following sites: [ Primary Mirror Sites](cvsup.html#HANDBOOK-MIRRORS-CHAPTER-SGML-MIRRORS-PRIMARY-CVSUP), [ Australia](cvsup.html#HANDBOOK-MIRRORS-CHAPTER-SGML-MIRRORS-AU-CVSUP), [ USA](cvsup.html#HANDBOOK-MIRRORS-CHAPTER-SGML-MIRRORS-US-CVSUP). (as of 2005/06/27 23:37:47 UTC) **Primary Mirror Sites** : * chlamydia.fs.ei.tum.de * cvsup.allbsd.org * grappa.unix-ag.uni-kl.de * mirror.isp.net.au * alxl.info * dragonflybsd.delphij.net * fred.acm.cs.rpi.edu **Australia** : * mirror.isp.net.au **USA** : * fred.acm.cs.rpi.edu CategoryHandbook CategoryHandbook-obtainingdragonfly