Help:Working with CVS
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The MediaWiki software is developed on SourceForge using CVS. One way to obtain the MediaWiki code is to check it out directly from the repository, as this page describes. An easier way is to simply download a snapshot from the File List page.
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Basic instructions
You'll first need a CVS client. Several examples are in the sub-sections below. You'll need to give your client these pieces of information:
- server type
- pserver
- server host
- cvs.sourceforge.net
- username
- anonymous
- directory
- /cvsroot/wikipedia
All the above info is usually combined like this: :pserver:anonymous@cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/wikipedia You'll also need to specify the password, which is blank.
Another consideration is which version, or branch, to get. By default, you'll get CVS HEAD, the latest unstable development version. You may also wish to specify a stable branch, like REL1_3. See the section below on branches for more information.
The next few sections give examples on how to check out the code with different clients. For a more complete introduction, see Basic Introduction to CVS and SourceForge.net (SF.net) Project CVS Services and Introduction to SourceForge.net Project CVS Services for Developers.
phase3 is the CVS project that is used for live Wikipedia code.
Command-line
Login:
cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/wikipedia login
When asked for a password, just press "Enter". Now check out the code:
cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/wikipedia checkout -P phase3
If you'd like to use a directory with a different name than "phase3", use the "-d' option after "checkout", e.g. "-d wiki". To specify another branch, use the "-r" flag after "checkout".
For example, if you want to checkout version 1.3.7, into a directory called "mywiki", use this command:
cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/wikipedia checkout -P -d mywiki -r REL1_3_7 phase3
See the CVS documentation for more details.
TortoiseCVS
When using TortoiseCVS (a CVS client for Windows), just enter the following in CVSROOT field and phase3 in the Module field and press OK:
:pserver:anonymous@cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/wikipedia
You also need to specify the "module" that you want to retrieve. For example, to access the code for basic MediaWiki software, the module to specify would be "phase3".
Repository mirrors
In case of SourceForge mirror failure, you may use the CVS mirror at :pserver:anoncvs@cvs.defau.lt:/root.
SSH
Only project developers can access the CVS tree via this method. A SSH client must be installed on your client machine. Substitute modulename and developername with the proper values. Enter your site password when prompted.
Developers may also make use of shared SSH keys for authentication.
export CVS_RSH=ssh cvs -z3 -d:ext:developername@cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/wikipedia co modulename
NOTE: UNIX file and directory names are case sensitive. The path to the project CVSROOT must be specified using lowercase characters (i.e. /cvsroot/wikipedia)
Branches and tags
The current development code is in the main trunk/head branch. A branch is split off when it comes time to prepare release candidates for a major release (eg, 1.4), with individual releases tagged (eg, 1.4.1). In general, you won't need to work with other branches unless preparing release packages or applying fixes to a the stable branch.
- the old stable branch prior to version numbers
- last snapshot November 18, 2003
- REL1_1 branch for 1.1.x:
- REL1_1_0 is latest release tag (December 8, 2003)
- REL1_2 branch for 1.2.x:
- REL1_3 branch for 1.3.x:
- REL1_4 branch for 1.4.x:
There are a few other tags in the repository which can mainly be ignored, which held temporary experimental versions or marked some old milestones. For a complete listing, browse the source online and look at the drop-down at the bottom of the page.
For example, you might wish to download version 1.3.7 into a directory called "wiki". Here's the command to run:
cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/wikipedia checkout -d wiki -r REL1_3_7 phase3
Other modules
WikiHiero and EasyTimeline are kept in the module extensions.
See also
- Documentation: Developer's Guide here on meta
- CVS Info page on SourceForge
- 'normal' GNU cvs under Cygwin (same syntax as above)
- How to use CVS with two repositories: updating from your own CVS → updating/merging from master CVS (MediaWiki) → committing to your own CVS (page incl. work flow diagramm)
