1.7 Using CVS source code (advanced users only)

Developers and advanced end-users might want to use CVS, which is an acronym for Concurrent Versions System. It allow you to get the very latest version of the code - later than the very latest relese. The code can sometimes be unrelieable as it is not tested properly. On rare occasions it may not even compile, but that should be very rare and indicates one of the developers has made a mistake.

CVS is a client-server type application. The CVS server sits on the Sourceforge site and holds the master copy of all files. You must have a CVS client on your computer. Most UNIX/Linux systems will come with a CVS client, called just 'cvs'. Windows does not come with a CVS client, but you can download a free CVS client if you wish. Installation of that is not quite as obvious as you think, as there are two setup programs. Read the docs to see how to install it.

Anyone can read the CVS by checking out the code anonymously. You need a Sourceforge account and developer status, to write to the CVS.

Browsing the repository online

The CVS repository can be browsed at http://chessdb.cvs.sourceforge.net/chessdb/ This is a nice convenient interface to use, but does not replace the need for a CVS client if seriously want to use CVS.

Checking out the VERY latest source anonymously

You can check out the very latest source code with CVS. There are three modules (chessdb, website and website2). Only the 'chessdb' module should be of any interest to most people, as it contains all the code. 'website' is no longer used and is best ignored. The module 'website2' holds the current website at http://chessdb.sourceforge.net/ and allow us to find old version of files, should a problem be found with the current ones.

To check out the chessdb module, use:

cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@chessdb.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/chessdb co -P chessdb

When prompted for a password for anonymous, simply press the Enter key.

You may find that the latest source does not compile - that is not unusual. In this case, use the latest snapshot release. A tag is applied to the CVS at points which I'd like to mark in time - such as when it was working pretty good.

Getting the latest tagged release (quite reliably compiles)

The latest tagged release at the time of writing (2007-03-07) is Version-3_6_17. You can check that out with:

cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@chessdb.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/chessdb co -r Version-3_6_17 chessdb

Developer access

If you are serious about developing code, and can prove competence, you may be permitted write access to the CVS repository. Please use this with care. You need to use your own user name, (not anonymous) and use 'ext' rather than 'pserver'. This is the line I use for checking out a module.

cvs -z3 -d:ext:drkirkby@chessdb.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/chessdb co -P chessdb

Links about CVS

If you would like to contribute to the tutorial or see anything that should be updated, corrected or improved, please contact David Kirkby. But please note David only speaks English.


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This page was last modified: September 16, 2007. 10:41:38 am GMT