Logging into CVS / Setting CVSROOT

Now let's cover what is possible the most difficult component of CVSNT and that is security and adding users. Please be aware that as I write this section of the documentation, I still have a tremendous amount to learn about security within CVSNT. I am only writing this section with what I know and how to get logged on using a local area network. If you are connecting your CVS repository to the Internet, please be aware that there are security problems with the :pserver: protocol. As I learn more about security with CVSNT, I will continue in updating this section of the documentation.

Using a Local Version of CVS

In some cases, you may be developing on the same machine as the CVS server. In this case, you can simply set the CVSROOT environment variable to the absolute path of the CVS Repository. For example:

C:\> set cvsroot=c:\cvsrepo\test    C:\> cvs ls -l -R    Listing modules on server    Directory CVSROOT    checkoutlist                   
1.1     Fri Jan 23 16:19:24 2004  commitinfo                      
1.1     Fri Jan 23 16:19:24 2004  config                          
1.1     Fri Jan 23 16:19:24 2004  cvsrc                           
1.1     Fri Jan 23 16:19:24 2004  cvswrappers                     
1.1     Fri Jan 23 16:19:24 2004  editinfo                        
1.1     Fri Jan 23 16:19:24 2004  historyinfo                     
1.1     Fri Jan 23 16:19:24 2004  loginfo                         
1.1     Fri Jan 23 16:19:24 2004  modules                        
1.1     Fri Jan 23 16:19:24 2004  notify                         
1.1     Fri Jan 23 16:19:24 2004  postcommit                      
1.1     Fri Jan 23 16:19:24 2004  rcsinfo                         
1.1     Fri Jan 23 16:19:24 2004  taginfo                       
1.1     Fri Jan 23 16:19:24 2004  verifymsg                   
1.1     Fri Jan 23 16:19:24 2004  Directory CVSROOT/Emptydir

Using the :pserver: Protocol

This section discusses how to add CVS users. Keep in mind that adding users to CVS is only required if you are using the :pserver: protocol. If your users are all on MS Windows PC's, this is not recommended since it has inherent security flaws. It would be better to use either SSPI or :ntserver: (keep in mind however that :ntserver: is being phased out now) because these protocols integrate much better with Windows NT. If you do plan on using the SSPI protocol, then you can skip this discussion of how to add and manage users.

To start, open a command window and do the following - (replace all items <text> with the real values from your system) :

C:\> set cvsroot=:pserver:<username>@<computername>:/TEST
The following example, I will loging to CVS using the :pserver: protocol. The CVS server is named bartman and my user name is jhunter. Keep in mind that I needed to first create the local user, jhunter, on the CVS host. (Which in this example is named bartman.)

C:\> set cvsroot=:pserver:jhunter@bartman:/TEST    C:\> cvs login  (Logging in to jhunter@bartman)  CVS password: *******

To logout of the CVS user, use the following:

C:\> cvs logout

Using Other Protocols

C:\> set cvsrot=:sspi:jhunter@bartman:/test    
C:\> cvs login  CVS password:**********    
C:\> cvs logout

---

C:\> set cvsrot=:local:jhunter@bartman:/test    
C:\> cvs login  (  CVS password:**********    
C:\> cvs logout