cvsfs - the CVS virtual filesystem for the GNU Hurd


 what is it?
==========================
   cvsfs is a virtual (netfs based) filesystem allowing you to mount
   remotely located CVS modules into your local filesystem.  The version
   controlled files will appear to you just like regular ones.  If you just
   want to view one file (or a small bunch) you furthermore save a lot of
   network bandwidth since only these files will be downloaded.  The usual
   way to do so would be to check out the whole tree and deleting it after
   using.


 how to use it?
==========================
   create a directory which you'd like to use as the mount point

     mkdir -p cvsfs_test

   then set up the translator using settrans

     settrans -a cvsfs_test /sbin/cvsfs \
       cvs.sourceforge.net /cvsroot/xmltvr3 xmltVR3

   the settrans command will take some time to finish, since cvsfs needs
   to download the directory tree first.  

   If you try to browse a really large cvs module (for example glibc or
   xfree package) you may need to tell settrans not to time the operation
   out (settrans defaults to kill the child process after 60 seconds, you
   may overwrite that using the -t option). 

   If the settrans command finished successfully, just use

     cd cvsfs_test

   to enter the directory.  Feel free to use ls, emacs, etc. now.

 
 cvs server access through :ext:
========================================
   cvsfs is able to connect to a remotely located repository
   through rsh or ssh instead of only pserver. If you want or need to
   do so, specify -r on the command line.

   For example I could use 

     settrans -a test ./cvsfs -rssh -u stesie savannah.nongnu.org \
        /cvsroot/hurdextras cvsfs

   to access the CVS repository of cvsfs.

   You probably want to use authorized-keys feature of ssh, as you will
   not be able to enter it interactively, since cvsfs translator does not
   have a connected terminal.


 it doesn't work! what to do now?
========================================
   cvsfs is work in progress.  If you stumble over a bug, please
   please either tell me by writing an email or by filing a bug
   report.

   Before complaining you probably want to make sure that you're
   using the most recent cvs version.

   Patches against CVS HEAD are welcome as well of course ;)



More (detailed) documentation can be found in the cvsfs texinfo
manual.  Enter 'info cvsfs' at the command line to display it.

Have fun with cvsfs
 and enjoy the GNU generation ..

Stefan Siegl <stesie@brokenpipe.de>
$Id: README,v 1.7 2005/11/16 21:18:08 stesie Exp $