5. CVS Server Configuration

This section deals with best practices for CVS server side setup and configuration.

5.1. Server side scripting

Server side scripting refers to the ability to make CVS server execute certain scripts when an event occurs. A common script that helps is to verify that all cvs commits contain acomment entered by the developer. The process involves setting up the CVSROOT/verifymsg file to run a script when a file is checked-in.

------CVSROOT/verifymsg---------

#Set the verifymsg file to fire a script
DEFAULT /usr/local/bin/validate-cvs-log.sh


------/usr/local/bin/validate-cvs-log.sh ---------

#!/bin/sh
#
# validate-cvs-log.sh logfile
 
# test that log message has some characters in it
if [ `cat $1 | wc -c ` -lt 10 ] ; then
echo "log message too short; please enter a description for the changes"
    exit 1
else
    exit 0
fi

5.2. Server Notification

The CVS server can be configured to notify through e-mails in case of a commit happening. This can be used to verify whether commits are occurring during the course of a daily/release build. If such commits occur, based on the project policy, the commits can be ignored or the entire build automatically restarted.