4.4. Initial Setup

To make life easier in the future with regards to updating the CVS tree create the file $HOME/.cvsrc and insert the following lines. This configures useful defaults for the three most commonly used CVS commands. Do this now before proceeding any further.

diff -u -b -B
checkout -P
update -d -P

         

Also, if you are on a slow net link (like a dialup), you will want to add a line containing cvs -z5 in this file. This turns on a useful compression level for all CVS commands.

Before downloading the development source code for the first time it is required to log in to the server:

 # cvs -d :pserver:cvs@tech.sistina.com:/data/cvs login 

The password is `cvs1'. The command outputs nothing if successful and an error message if it fails. Only an initial login is required. All subsequent CVS commands read the password stored in the file $HOME/.cvspass for authentication.