Essential CVS

The local Access Method

If your repository is on the same computer as your sandbox (or the sandbox you want to make) or on a shared filesystem that is accessed as if it were a local partition, you can use the local method to access the repository.

For the local access method, the repository path format is:

[:local:]/path

When running a command that requires an explicit path declaration, put the repository path in your CVSROOT environment variable or use the path as the argument to the -d repository_path option. You will most likely need this path declaration when creating a sandbox, but it is also necessary for cvs export and cvs rtag.

Tip

If you just enter the directory path with no hostname or method declaration, CVS uses the local access method.

With local access, CVS does not run in client/server mode. One program manages both the sandbox and the repository. The program runs under the username that it was called with, and it has the access permissions of that user. Any programs CVS calls (such as programs called from a scripting file) run with the same username and access permissions.

If local access mode is being used on a single-user computer, security normally is not an issue. On shared filesystems or mainframes, your repository security problems are the same as the usual security issues for file sharing. Use the security services of your operating system to secure a shared repository that is accessed with the local method.

Example 8-1 shows how to check out a sandbox using the ...