Re: PATCH: Support :ssh: method in CVS/Repository - How common

[Mark D. Baushke]

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Bryce Nesbitt <address@hidden> writes:

> Mark D. Baushke wrote: 
> > I do not know who these people are. It sounds
> > like they are mostly ignorant of what CVS does
> > these days.
> >
> > They should consider opening dialogue with the
> > CVS maintainers if they think they are trying
> > to support CVS as a source control mechanism
> > and do not like how the client server stuff is
> > defined or are actively refusing to actually
> > use options that are used by a large number of
> > the opensource projects on the planet.

> I agree. They're in their own little world. They
> seem to have their own internal CVS & SSH
> implementation (they also support several
> perforce, subversion, sourcesafe & starteam).

Hmmm... Is this is the IntelliJ IDEA product from
www.jetbrains.com? If so, I believe you can
specify :ext: and name an external 'rsh' program
where you could provide a path to an ssh
executable and then you would not have a problem.

> However: except for the ":ssh" access method,
> it's all compatible!

This is probably in spite of them rather than
because of them.

> My guess is most of their customers are
> fully-IDE people, who never want the option of
> looking at things from the command line. Too
> bad.

As you have neglected to name the company, you do
not provide anyone enough information to support
or reject your opinion.

> > >> NB: IDEA is not open source.
> > Then you should probably reject it and support
> > an open source project tool.
> I'm very happy with IDEA, and unlikely to
> change. Sorry.

That is your own choice with your own consequences.

For myself, what little Java I might hack these
days is done using GNU Emacs. I would be more
likely to use an open source IDE that runs on an
open source operating system in any case.

> Unfortunately this means I'll have to run a
> patched (hacked) version of cvs. I don't like
> doing that, but it seems necessary if I can't
> convince the developers of IDEA/CVSNT and CVS to
> settle on a common construction for the CVS/Root
> file.

As I said, CVSNT already supports the ill-chosen
name :ssh: as a method. While I believe this was a
mistake, it is their right to do so if they wish.

I also believe that the :extssh: name first in
CVSNT and then in CVS was probably a mistake, but
it was in aid of supporting an Open Source IDE
(eclipse.org), so I did not object.

> Any suggestions where to go next?

If Larry and Derek are interested in adding the
:ssh: method to CVS, I will not stand in the way.

However, I suggest that you name the company in
public so that other customers can find out they
do not play well with the open source community
and/or point them at this current discussion
thread:

  http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/info-cvs/2006-03/msg00269.html
  http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/info-cvs/2006-04/msg00000.html

You are presumably paying them for support, so try
to get them to support :extssh: like Eclipse if
that is the only way to get them to do something
reasonable.

> Any suggestions on a workaround?

You could explicitly specify the CVSROOT on the
command line:

cvs -d 
':ext;CVS_RSH=ssh:address@hidden:/Users/xxxxxxxxx/ccs_cvshome/xxxxxxxxxxxx' 
cvs-command cvs-arguments

> 
>                                -Bryce
> 
> address@hidden:~/cvs/ccs/denali> cat CVS/Root CVS/Repository
> :ssh:address@hidden:/Users/xxxxxxxxx/ccs_cvshome/
> xxxxxxxxxxxx
> 
> Note: I've helped perhaps a dozen other
> developers set up cvs repositories. The "ssh"
> thing is always a point of confusion. The
> conceptual leaps and syntax are not so clear for
> a first time setup, for a person who does not
> know the layers of history regarding rsh/ssh and
> other ext access methods.

Feel free to suggest changes to cvs documentation
if you have any suggestions to make life easier for
users.

        Good luck,
        -- Mark
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