Re: CVS through .SSH

[Todd Denniston]

Arvind Kanaka Raju wrote, On 09/14/2008 11:14 PM:
> Hi, Thanks for all the support provided earlier,
>
> Background: we are CVS-Admin for an organization supporting 
> Concurrent Versions System (CVS) 1.11.21 (client/server)
>
> Current Scenario:  we are currently authenticating CVS users 
> through :pserver protocol.
>
> Requirement :  Kindly let us know if there is a possibility 
> of authenticating all users through .ssh and what are the 
> merits through .ssh.

Pro ssh:
encrypted sessions, i.e., your code is kept confidential over the wire (to the 
level of confidentiality the encryption ssh can provide), and the encryption 
provides a level of integrity on the data to.

PKI/crypto key login and server keys, i.e., the user can authenticate that the 
server s/he is using is the intended server, and with PKI/crypto keys there 
are no passwords used on the wire.

proven and audited authentication code, which you don't get with :pserver: .

You are using the system's access controls, which are usually stronger/more 
flexible than cvs's.

You _can_ configure sshd to only allow the users to run specific commands on 
the server.


Con ssh:
Each user has to have a real system account, that is maintained by the system 
level admin.

If you are using PKI/crypto keys, then admins and user will need to learn how 
to use them. (ssh-agent)

Locking the baseline from read/write means either changing the 
permissions/ownership of the baseline directories or setting /etc/nologin, 
instead of messing with the $CVSROOT/CVSROOT/readers|writers files.



> Please provide us a detailed documentation on how to 
> setup .ssh authentication if any and which would help 
> us big way.

http://ximbiot.com/cvs/manual/cvs-1.11.23/cvs_2.html#SEC28
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=cvs+ssh&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&oq=


> Thanks in advance
> Regards,
>  Arvind.K.R
> | Software Engineer |
> | Infosys Technologies Limited - MCity| Mob: 9940104010|
> | address@hidden<mailto:address@hidden>| 
> www.infosys.com<http://www.infosys.com/> |

--
Todd Denniston
Crane Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC Crane)
Harnessing the Power of Technology for the Warfighter