RE: [boost] SourceForge/CVS Progress

From: Beman Dawes (beman_at_[hidden])
Date: 2000-07-17 09:06:52

I spent an hour looking at OpenAvenue; it is very new and seems even more 
immature that SourceForge.  So it is back to trying to make SourceForge 
work for boost.

Thanks to Mark Rodgers, Dan Nuffer, and others who sent in suggestions.  As 
several of you speculated, deleting files involves getting the support 
people to do it for you.

I would like it if Dave Abrahams and Jens Maurer would try to commit their 
pending changes to cast, operators, and random headers.  Dave already has 
write access, Jens needs to send me his S/F login name.  If there are 
problems, be sure to ask Mark or I for help as we have been through it 
already.

Boost members in general might want to try the web based read-only CVS 
access.  The various color diff options are quite nice. See 
http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/cvsweb.cgi/?cvsroot=boost Try a diff on 
boost/config.hpp. AFAIK, you don't have to sign up for a SourceForge 
account to view the CVS.

Below are some hints for using S/F CVS for those needing write 
access.  Hopefully the considerable advantages of CVS will outweigh the 
teething troubles.

--Beman

SourceForge Usage Notes
-----------------------

*  Not all browsers work well with S/F.  Netscape 4.73 seems to work 
OK.  Netscape 3.03 has graphics problems which make some pages very 
difficult to read.  IE 5.01 works somewhat but http page loads often fail; 
just keep hitting refresh.

*  Don't waste much time trying to get something to work that isn't 
working; some SourceForge and SourceForge CVS features are broken, and 
others work only erratically. Don't let the fact that a certain feature 
(SSH login, for example) is working for other boost members fool you.  S/F 
does many things differently from other sites (only syncing servers every 
six hours, for example), and user experiences vary a lot.  Sometimes a 
feature works one minute and doesn't work the next. I had to sign up three 
different times before getting an fully working account; Mark Rodgers 
lucked out on his first try.

*  The S/F WinCVS documentation is full of errors and omissions.  S/F 
acknowledges corrections people send in, but doesn't seem to post 
them.  Instead of fixing what is there, people just add new docs.

Try http://sfdocs.sourceforge.net/sfdocs/display_topic.php?topicid=19 for 
command line CVS or WinCVS.  Presumably the MacCVS instructions would be 
similar.  Known problems:

   In ssh examples like: ssh -l bsimser projectname.sourceforge.net
   always add a -v switch: ssh -v -l bsimser projectname.sourceforge.net
   It makes troubleshooting a lot easier

   The instructions under Windows GUI result in read-only access.
   For write access, in Admin->Preferences->General for Enter CVSROOT use:
     :ext:username_at_[hidden]:/cvsroot/boost
   and select Authentication: SSH Server.  Do not check RSA identity.
   On the Ports tab, check "Check for an alternate rsh name"
   and set it to "ssh"
   Click OK.
   DO NOT ADMIN->LOGIN.
   Whenever you access the repository, a command line box will pop up
   for you to enter your password.  Note: on Win95 there is a Password
   prompt, but on Win2K there is no prompt.

   If you don't want to enter a password for every operation, use the
   ssh-keygen program (downloaded with ssh) to generate a public key.
   Contrary to various S/F docs and support people, this does work.
   The trick is to invoke it with a comment like:
      ssh-keygen -C "my key"
   This is required.  Thanks to Mark Rodgers for this fix.
   Then use your browser to supply this to SourceForge via
   "CVS/SSH Shared Keys [edit]" on the Account Maintenance page.
   Then wait for the 6 hour cron delay.  But beware, this
   this feature fails on some account; this is a known
   SourceForge issue.  The only apparent workaround to is open
   a new account and try again.