[cvsnt] Switching from CVS to CVSNT

[Rez P]

Hi Arthur

 

Please see my comments and questions below. Thanks for your feedback.
 

> Subject: RE: [cvsnt] Switching from CVS to CVSNT
> Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2009 10:22:23 +1100
> From: arthur.barrett at march-hare.com
> To: pons32 at hotmail.com; cvsnt at cvsnt.org
> 
> Rez,
> 
> > 1-Is it possible to switch from CVS 1.10.x to CVSNT w/o 
> > compromising the repository structure or format? 
> 
> I've no idea what you mean by 'compromising'. CVSNT will automatically
> detect that the repository is an old CVS one and upgrade it for you as
> you change/commit files. If you want to force CVSNT to upgrade your
> whole repository then checkout the whole repository and do a 'force
> commit' - however that is not usually required.
> 
> Once your repository is used with CVSNT there is no going back to CVS.

 

That's ^^ what I meant by compromising. Your comment above just answered my question: 

"Once your repository is used with CVSNT there is no going back to CVS". Naturally, I'll do a test migration first but somewhere or so many months down the line, should we become wishywashy and decide to switch back to CVS, there will be no going back nor do I see any tools or utilities out there for converting cvsnt repo to a cvs repo.


> 
> You should be aware that CVSNT is much more secure than CVS and in
> particular:
> * the 'repository path' used in the $CVSROOT does not need to be the
> same as the physical path (configure in /etc/cvsnt/PServer)
> * the permissions/mode of checked out files does not need to match the
> permissions/mode of the RCS files in the repostiory
> * CVSNT has it's own ACL's
> * CVSNT can run in a chroot jail
> * etc

 

Yes, the items you listed and many more features, are tantalizing enough for us to consider switching.

 


> 
> > 2-Does anything special need to be done to the repository or 
> > are both flavors of CVS able to read the repository 
> > universally w/o any additional formatting or tweaking? 
> 
> The simple answer is: CVS cannot read a CVSNT repostiory. There are
> much more complicated answers available in the newsgroup archive.
> 

 

:( Thanks.


> > 3-Once we switch, is there any way of going back to CVS or 
> > switch to Subversion w/o tweaking the repository or does 
> > CVSNT has some proprietary format and won't allow you to switch back?
> 
> You can instead switch to CM Server (EVS/CVSNT 3.1) which is a single
> server that allows both CVS and Subversion clients. A migration utility
> is provided.

 

I was just on evscm.org and only see a Windows server version and don't see any support for Redhat rpm or installers.  Is there an EVS release for Redhat?
> 
> Unless there is a measurable benefit to the organisation moving to a
> different SCCM tool then it is going to cost you money (ie: a negative
> cost/benefit). Moving from CVS to CVSNT has a low cost (since the
> upgrade is seamless and the CVSNT workflow a superset of the CVS
> workflow) however it still has costs (time, training etc) but many
> people find the benefits outweight those costs (eg: failsafe audit, user
> defined change sets, commit id's (what SVN calls 'atomic commit'),
> rename, merge tracking, auto merge point, access control, reliable
> process interlocking (lock server), support for reserved and unreserved
> methodologies, track and merge change not just files, etc). 
> 
> If some other SCCM tool provides enough benefit then the costs to
> migrate your existing data is largely irrelevant.
> 

 

We have to factor the above into consideration definitely. Thanks
> 
> > 4-The reason we're switching is because CVS via Pserver 
> > method doesn't allow users to change their password w/o 
> > logging into the server and the CVS user group running as 
> > root in the background has access to all sort of things. 
> > We're considering CVSNT because of its active directory 
> > capabilities. 
> 
> Since your server will be on linux but you want AD integration you need
> to think carefully about what protocol to use and what configuration
> that requires on the server side. Our recommendations are here (got to
> the bottom of the page):
> http://march-hare.com/cvspro/security.htm
> 
> Our recommendation is that from windows clients to red hat server you
> use the :ssh: protocol, however that will require you AD integrate your
> ssh authentication on red hat - this is NOT a topic for this forum, it
> is a red hat/ssh/winbind/pam discussion. Alternatively you can use
> gserver which is also very secure - but again you firstly need to get
> kinit working on your redhat server and that is also not a discussion
> for this forum (it's a kerberos/redhat discussion). Other protocol
> options include sspi (ntlm only on linux) and pserver (with PAM).
> 
> Setting all this up is 'easy' for someone who knows what they are doing
> and is not CVSNT specific (but yes CVSNT has particular 'hooks' to take
> advantage of it once it is set up).

 

I'll definitely have to consult and corroborate with our linux admin on the connection method and many other things.  Thanks again.
> 
> You probably know all this already, but if you get stuck then I strongly
> recommend purchasing pro support (preferably from us since we are the
> authors), but even our pro support is limited to fixing problems with
> CVSNT, but 'general' authentication problems with the OS (though we do
> work closely with customers to help them identify those problems when we
> can).
> 
> Regards,
> 
> 
> Arthur Barrett


_________________________________________________________________
See how Windows connects the people, information, and fun that are part of your life.
http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/msnnkwxp1020093175mrt/direct/01/