XFree86 Public CVS Access

The XFree86 CVS Repository is Open

The XFree86 CVS Repository is open and available for public read access 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. This has bee maOur hosting is generously provided by Internet Software Consortium.

The XFree86 Public CVS, is a copy of our master repository, and makes it possible for any developer to download and track XFree86 development almost on real-time basis. Changes are reflected on our public Commits list or can be viewed on our ChangeLog.

Questions about something that was either committed, testing errors which you have found, or even an outstanding patch that you have submitted but has yet to be committed, should be brought up on the devel list so that it can be discussed with other active XFree86 developers.

Remember, that all downloads taken from the repository are not guaranteed to either compile or run, and so may not work as expected on your platform. This is because when you check out source from the CVS repository, you are getting a snapshot of our real-time development source tree, while it is still in a state of flux.

Only released binaries and their attendant tagged sources have been community tested to run on the specific platforms we state in our current Release Notes.

Anoncvs via ssh setup in an UNIX-like environment

CVS access methods currently supported are anoncvs via ssh, anoncvs via cvs pserver, and CVSup®. In addition to these, it's possible to browse the CVS repository via cvsweb. This page will be updated if new access methods become available.

First to access the XFree86 CVS repository with anoncvs, you will need three (3) things. The first thing is the CVS utility. The second, is a SSH version1 or version2 compatible version of SSH like either ssh or OpenSSH and lastly, an Internet connection which permits ssh connections (not all ISPs do so make sure yours does.

Users downloading under French jurisdiction cannot legally use > 128 bit encryption but should download the CVS using ssf instead of ssh utilities.

If you are unfamiliar with ether using the CVS utility or the CVS commands go to the CVS web site for further information. Additional information on anoncvs can also be found at the OpenBSD web site.

Now that you have the proper environment in which to access our public CVS you then need to set the following environment variables:

If you do not want to set $CVSROOT instead you can run cvs as:

      cvs -d anoncvs@anoncvs.xfree86.org:/cvs

As of 14 November 2002, the cvs utility will no longer prompt you for a password when accessing the XFree86 anoncvs repository via ssh, and it is no longer necessary to install an ssh key to avoid the password prompting.

For further below for information about the XFree86 CVS repository.

Accessing Anoncvs via Cvs Pserver in an UNIX-like environment

To access the XFree86 CVS repository with anoncvs via cvs pserver you will need the CVS utility loaded on your machine, and an Internet connection that permits cvs pserver connections (TCP port 2401). If you are unfamiliar with CVS go to the CVS web site. Additional information about anoncvs can be found at OpenBSD's web site, but a lot of what is there is site-specific.

Next set the following environment variables:

If you don't want to set $CVSROOT instead you can run cvs as:

      cvs -d :pserver:anoncvs@anoncvs.xfree86.org:/cvs

The first time you access the CVS repository, run:

      cvs login

Enter "anoncvs" when prompted for a password after which you can run cvs commands without needing to re-enter the password on that machine.

See below for information about the XFree86 CVS repository.

Access via CVSup

CVSup is a tool for mirroring and/or accessing CVS repositories. It can be used in two modes: mirroring mode and checkout mode. Mirroring mode can be used to obtain and keep your own local copy of the XFree86 CVS repository and efficiently keep it up-to-date. Alternatively, checkout mode is used if you only want the current copy of the source tree.

To access the XFree86 CVS repository with CVSup you will need the CVSup utility installed on your machine, and an Internet connect that permits connections to TCP port 5999. You will also need to create a CVSup configuration file.

The first two lines in the file (we'll call it "xfree86.cvsup") should be:

      *default release=cvs host=anoncvs.xfree86.org base=BASEDIR
      *default prefix=PREFIX delete use-rel-suffix

BASEDIR should be replaced with the name of the directory that you want CVSup to store its administrative files. It can be any directory that isn't used for something else PREFIX should be replaced with the name of the directory that you want to store your copy of the repository or source tree in.

If you have a slow network connection, compression can be turned on by adding the following line to your CVSup config file:

      *default compress

If you are going to use CVSup in checkout mode, add the following line to your CVSup config file:

      *default tag=TAG

where TAG specifies the name of the branch or revision you want your the source tree to track. See below for information about tag names. If you want to track the main branch (trunk), TAG should be set to ".":

      *default tag=.

If instead you are using CVSup in mirroring mode, then don't add a tag line.

Finally, you need to add a line with the name of each of the CVSup "collections" you want to access. The available collections are:

Once you've created your CVSup config file, which should be called xfree86.cvsup, you can invoke cvsup by running:

      cvsup xfree86.cvsup

CVSup config file examples

The following CVSup config file can be used to mirror the entire XFree86 CVS repository:

      *default release=cvs host=anoncvs.xfree86.org base=BASEDIR
      *default prefix=PREFIX delete use-rel-suffix
      *default compress
      cvs-base
      xc-all
      contrib-all
      xtest-all
      doctools-all
      utils-all

The following CVSup config file can be used to maintain a checked out copy of the latest development revision of the main source tree plus the doctools source:

      *default release=cvs host=anoncvs.xfree86.org base=BASEDIR
      *default prefix=PREFIX delete use-rel-suffix
      *default compress
      *default tag=.
      xc-all
      doctools-all

The following CVSup config file can be used to maintain a checked out copy of the latest 3.3.x code, including the contrib directory:

      *default release=cvs host=anoncvs.xfree86.org base=BASEDIR
      *default prefix=PREFIX delete use-rel-suffix
      *default compress
      *default tag=xf-3_3-branch
      xc-all
      contrib-all

The CVS Repository

To find a list of available modules, you can check out the "modules" module by running:

      cvs checkout modules

This creates a directory named modules which has a file named modules with the CVS module definitions within it, i.e. modules/modules. The list of available modules can also be viewed here or on our cvsweb server. Some of the modules listed are out of date. The main current modules are:

The XFree86 CVS repository is tagged at fairly regular intervals. The main tags have the form of xf-X_Y_Z as in the sample release of 3.3.6 which has the tag of xf-3_3_6. The XFree86 release 4.0 has the tag xf-4_0 and intermediate (test) releases, previously referred to internally as alpha and beta releases, have either one or more letters appended to their version number as in the second release after 4.0 is 4.0b, and its tag is called xf-4_0b.

The 4.x development work occurs on the main branch. 3.3.x development is on the xf-3_3-branch branch and has been retired. It is highly recommended that you upgrade to a newer release, but to checkout the 3.3.x version run:

      cvs checkout -r xf-3_3-branch xc

To check out the latest 4.x version run:

      cvs checkout -A xc

DISCLAIMER: There are no guarantees that intermediate versions of the code, including those marked with "intermediate release" tags, which are checked out from the repository will either build or run. The source is in a constant state of development done. Only full released binaries are likely to run on their designated platform, although there can be configuration problems and other issues that were undiscovered before release.

Getting Help

The XFree86 Project does not provide support for CVS pre-release code. We do however, have community mailing lists available and then there is also our Bug-Man available so you can report issues that you may have had.

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XFree86® is a registered trademark of The XFree86 Project, Inc.

CVSup® is a registered trademark of John D. Polstra.

Last modified: 7 June 2006