-
Written by Scott Harrison, January 17, 2001
-
Last updated, April 27, 2002
+
Written by Scott,
+
+sharrison@users.sourceforge.net,
+January 17, 2001
+
Last updated, August 14, 2002
-To log into CVS, CVS needs to be part of your system environment. -You can accomplish this by: +In order to log into CVS, CVS needs to be part of your system environment. +You can do this by: +
+
-
-export CVSROOT=:pserver:USERNAME@install.lon-capa.org:/home/cvs
-
+export CVSROOT=:pserver:USERNAME@install.lon-capa.org:/home/cvs
To actually login, you will need to execute the following command: +
+
-
-cvs login
-
+cvs login
-You will be prompted for a password.
+
+You are then prompted for a password. If you do not have a password, or the password is not working, you -should contact helen@lon-capa.org +should contact helen@lon-capa.org. +
++The first time you use CVS, you need to CHECKOUT the repository. +Generally speaking, you need to checkout loncapa only once +per machine. +To check-out the repository, use the checkout command. +(Otherwise, just enter your CVS directory, cd loncapa.)
-If you have yet to check out the CVS repository, you can use the
-checkout command. (Otherwise, just enter your
-CVS repository, cd loncapa.)
-
-cvs checkout loncapa
-cd loncapa
-
+cvs checkout loncapa
+cd loncapa
After you have completed your work with the CVS repository, it -is recommended that you log out: +
After completing work with the CVS repository, +you can log out: +
+
-
-cvs logout
-
+cvs logout
After entering your CVS source tree (cd loncapa), you should frequently update the software changes that -programmers other than yourself have made. This is done -with the update command. +other people have made. This is done with the update command. +
+
-
+
cvs update -d
-
+
-The cvs update command will give you output -as it updates your CVS source tree. Commonly you will -see 'U' and 'P' which indicate that a file has been updated with -changes another programmer has made. +The cvs update command creates output +as it updates your CVS source tree. Common flags are +'U' and 'P'; they indicate that a file in your +loncapa directory is now updated with +changes made by another programmer. +
+
-
-`U FILE'
- The file was brought up to date with respect to the repository.
- This is done for any file that exists in the repository but not in
- your source, and for files that you haven't changed but are not
- the most recent versions available in the repository.
-
+`U FILE'
+The file was brought up to date in your loncapa. ++
'U' is done for: +
* any file that exists in the repository but not in your source, and +
* files that you have not changed but are not the most recent versions +available in the repository. +
The network behavior of 'U' is that the entire new file is uploaded +from the CVS server. +
`P FILE' - Like `U', but the CVS server sends a patch instead of an entire - file. These two things accomplish the same thing. - - +
++Like `U', but the CVS server sends a patch instead of an entire file. ++
+'U' and 'P' essentially accomplish the same thing, just in +different ways.
-Usually, when you do not cvs commit the code changes that you
-make, the update command will tell you that you have modified
+Usually, when you do not cvs commit your code changes,
+the update command will tell you that you have modified
your file with the 'M' flag.
-
-
+
`M FILE' - The file is modified in your working directory. This is probably - based on changes you made and have not yet "cvs commit"-ed. - - +
++ The file is modified in your working loncapa directory. + This is probably based on changes you made and have not yet + "cvs commit"-ed. ++
Sometimes, it will occur that: +
Generally speaking, this is your fault. It is your
responsibility to resolve conflicts. cvs update informs
you of a conflict with the 'C' flag.
-
-
+
`C FILE' +
+A conflict was detected while trying to merge your changes to FILE with changes from the source repository. - - ++
You will need to open the file and examine it; CVS will have added in markup tags like "<<<<<<" to tell you about the merging conflicts. (Sometimes, CVS will intelligently merge in other changes and @@ -159,44 +185,35 @@ file within the repository. If a file d will first need to cvs add it as described in the following section.
-Running the cvs commit command without passing it an argument will -commit all changes that you have within the current directory and -subdirectories. - -+Running the cvs commit command without additional arguments will +commit all of your changes within the current directory and subdirectories. +- - +cvs commit -
A more precise approach to using cvs commit is to pass it specific
file names. (Usually you should do this.)
-
-
-cvs commit FILENAME
-
-
+cvs commit FILENAME +
-Note that CVS typically invokes the vi editor and solicits comments -about your latest changes to the software. Your comments should be +Note that CVS typically invokes the +vi editor and solicits +comments about your latest changes to the software. Your comments should be both short yet uniquely descriptive. For example: +
-
-
cvs add FILENAME
-
+
-
-
Then you can run cvs commit FILENAME and this file will become an "official" part of LON-CAPA. @@ -204,52 +221,55 @@ become an "official" part of LON-CAPA.
-
-
cvs add DIRECTORYNAME
-
+
-
-
There is no need to run cvs commit. Directories immediately become part of the LON-CAPA CVS source tree by only using the cvs add command.
++You should not ordinarily need to use the cvs import command. +If misused, cvs import can lead to the loss of code within +the repository. +
-Every once in a while, multiple programmers may be working on the +Once in a while, multiple programmers may be working on the same file. Most conflicts are avoidable if everybody regularly commits their changes AND if everybody regularly updates the CVS source tree they are working on.
-In other words, if you are absent from programming for a few days, and +If you are absent from programming for a few days, and fail to run cvs update -d on your CVS source repository, you have only yourself to blame if you find yourself writing code in a file that is not up-to-date.
Commands
-
-
-cd loncom/build
-rm -Rf HTML (or alternatively, "make clean")
-make HTML
-cd HTML
-(look at the index.html file with a web browser such as Netscape)
-
-
+
+cd loncom/build
+rm -Rf HTML (or alternatively, "make clean")
+make HTML
+cd HTML
+(look at the index.html file with a web browser such as Netscape)
+
General description of what happens +
This is the actual make target code. - +
HTML: @@ -260,29 +280,28 @@ HTML: > HTML/index.html- +
What basically happens is that specially marked-up data in the LON-CAPA -cvs repository file doc/loncapafiles.lpml is parsed into a more -viewable format by loncom/build/lpml_parse.pl. The resulting -file gives a very well organized view of all the files, directories, +cvs repository file doc/loncapafiles/loncapafiles.lpml is parsed +into a more viewable format by loncom/build/lpml_parse.pl. The +resulting file gives a very well organized view of all the files, directories, links, ownerships, permissions, and brief documentation of what each file does.
++- +cd loncom/build -make build -
General description of what happens
This is the actual make target code. - +
build: Makefile.build pod2html.sh pod2man.sh @@ -296,19 +315,21 @@ Makefile.build: $(SOURCE)/doc/loncapafil > Makefile.build- +
loncom/build/lpml_parse.pl reads in all the build information out of doc/loncapafiles/loncapafiles.lpml. A new Makefile named loncom/build/Makefile.build is dynamically constructed. -This dynamically generated Makefile is then run to build/compile -all the software targets from source. This currently takes 10 minutes -(depends on the speed of the machine you compile with). +This dynamically generated Makefile is then used to build and compile +all the software targets from source. This can take several minutes +(it depends on the speed of the machine you compile with).
+Example +
Here is information for one file tth.so provided in doc/loncapafiles/loncapafiles.lpml. - +
<file> <source>loncom/homework/caparesponse/capa.so</source> @@ -331,7 +352,7 @@ commands </dependencies> </file>- +
loncom/build/lpml_parse.pl sees the build tags and sets up a dynamic file Makefile.build to run the command inside the build tags. The files listed inside the dependencies tags @@ -341,7 +362,7 @@ or not there is a need to compile.
Here is an example of a dynamically generated Makefile.build that builds two LON-CAPA files (one of which is tth.so). - +
all: ../homework/caparesponse/capa.so ../modules/TexConvert/tthperl/tth.so @@ -353,20 +374,23 @@ all: ../homework/caparesponse/capa.so .. alwaysrun:- -
To add and remove (and alter) +
All that you have to do to alter the behavior of the installation is edit a single file (doc/loncapafiles/loncapafiles.lpml). Adding, removing, and altering files requires proper attention to the syntax of file format of course.
+File Format -
-The preceding "make build" documentation +
++The preceding "make build" documentation gives an example of a file entry describing one particular file. All data within loncapafiles.lpml is specified according to markup tags. The format and syntax of loncapafiles.lpml @@ -374,10 +398,13 @@ is currently best described by the HTML loncapafiles.html (as well as, by example, seeing how various information is coded). All in all, the syntax is quite simple.
+Philosophy and notes (the thing nobody reads) +
Packaging the software from CVS onto a machine file system requires many things: +
I looked into, and tried, different ways of accomplishing the above including automake and recursive make. The automake system seemed quite complicated (and needlessly so in terms of this project since, by and large, it works to coordinate many different types of build/compilation parameters -whereas we are more concerned with installation parameters). Recursive make -has significant deficiencies in the sense that not all the information +whereas we are more concerned with installation parameters). The other +alternative, recursive make, +has significant deficiencies since not all the information is kept in one place, and there are significant levels of dependency between all the things that must be done to keep software packaging up to date. A particularly convincing article I found when looking into much of this was -"Recursive Make Considered Harmful" by Peter Miller. Complicating -matters was, at the time, it was unclear as to what categories +"Recursive Make Considered Harmful" by Peter Miller. Other complications +were that, at the time, it was unclear as to what categories of software files we had, and whether or not the directory structure of CVS would remain constant. With an ever-developing directory structure to CVS, I preferred to organize the information on a per-file basis -as opposed to a per-directory basis (although there is a successful -implementation of a standard big Makefile in loncom/Makefile). +as opposed to a per-directory basis. Additionally, a standard big Makefile assumes certain "normalcy" to the directory structure of different potential operating system directories (RedHat vs. Debian).
-If you take time to look at loncapafiles.lpml +If you take time to look at loncapafiles.lpml (and perhaps run the make HTML command) you will find that the organizing information according to the markup syntax in loncapafiles.lpml is simple. Simple is good. @@ -443,15 +469,20 @@ of error, and has been tested in quite a any parser however, I remain paranoid.
+Finally, some notes on the development. lpml_parse.pl is very fast and styled after a state-based SAX-like -approach. Additionally, loncapafiles.lpml has a -DTD (loncom/build/lpml.dtd) against which it is valid. -I would like to use more ENTITY's inside lpml.dtd but currently -Perl XML modules available at CPAN do not digest complex ENTITY's that well. +approach. I do eventually want to use a real XML/XSLT approach, however +I hesitate to make everyone everywhere install something like +XML::Xalan. +Also note that loncapafiles.lpml has a +DTD (loncom/build/lpml.dtd) against which it is valid. +I would also like to use more ENTITY's inside lpml.dtd but currently +the perl XML modules available at CPAN do not digest complex ENTITY's that +well.
The lpml_parse.pl-loncapafiles.lpml -combination has been working very efficiently and error-free. +combination has been highly efficient and error-free.
The current list of configurable files for the LON-CAPA system is -/etc/httpd/access.conf, /etc/smb.conf, /etc/ntp.conf, /etc/krb.conf, -/etc/atalk/config, /etc/ntp/step-tickers, -/home/httpd/html/res/adm/includes/copyright.tab, -/home/httpd/html/res/adm/includes/un_keyword.tab, -/home/httpd/hosts.tab, and -/home/httpd/spare.tab. +/etc/httpd/conf/loncapa.conf, +/etc/ntp.conf, +/etc/krb.conf, +/etc/ntp/step-tickers, +/home/httpd/html/res/adm/includes/copyright.tab, +/home/httpd/html/res/adm/includes/un_keyword.tab, +/home/httpd/hosts.tab, and +/home/httpd/spare.tab.
All of these configurable files contain machine-specific information. -For instance, the LON-CAPA system relies on unique host IDs such +For instance, the overall LON-CAPA system relies on unique host IDs such as msua3, s1, s2, msul1, and 103a1 (specified as a "PerlSetVar lonHostID" -field within /etc/httpd/access.conf). +field within /etc/httpd/conf/loncapa.conf). Non-configurable files simply do NOT have machine-specific information. +
+The impact on updating software +
-What this means in terms of software updating is that +What this means in terms of software updating is that: +
+- +cd loncom/build -make install -
General description of what happens
This is the actual make target code. - +
install: TEST_hosts_tab Makefile.install Makefile @@ -523,28 +559,29 @@ Makefile.install: $(SOURCE)/doc/loncapaf "$(TARGET)" > Makefile.install- -For safety reasons (so as to not mess up a machine's configuration), +
+For safety reasons (so as to preserve a machine's configuration), configuration files are NOT installed during this step. This means -that files such as /etc/httpd/access.conf, /etc/smb.conf, /etc/atalk/config, -/home/httpd/html/res/adm/includes/copyright.tab, and -/home/httpd/spare.tab are not overwritten, but remain as old, non-updated -copies. (To automatically update these files and save/restore +that files such as /etc/httpd/conf/loncapa.conf, +/home/httpd/html/res/adm/includes/copyright.tab, and +/home/httpd/spare.tab are not overwritten, but remain as old, +non-updated copies. (To automatically update these files and save/restore their encoded machine configuration, you must run "make configinstall").
++- + +cd loncom/build make configinstall -
General description of what happens +
This is the actual make target code. - +
configinstall: Makefile.configinstall @@ -559,11 +596,11 @@ Makefile.configinstall: $(SOURCE)/doc/lo "$(TARGET)" > Makefile.configinstall- +
Configuration files are installed during this step. This means -that files such as /etc/httpd/access.conf, /etc/smb.conf, /etc/atalk/config, -/home/httpd/html/res/adm/includes/copyright.tab, and -/home/httpd/spare.tab are overwritten. Before being overwritten, +that files such as /etc/httpd/conf/loncapa.conf, +/home/httpd/html/res/adm/includes/copyright.tab, and +/home/httpd/spare.tab are overwritten. Before being overwritten, a backup copy is made though. Information is read out of these backup copies and restored to the new files by the loncaparestoreconfigurations script. To ensure that @@ -579,42 +616,35 @@ If you are truly paranoid, you can just Makefile.configinstall file and then save, copy, and restore all the configuration values yourself. loncaparestoreconfigurations is pretty smart though, has yet to -fail, and besides, when needed backup copies are made. +fail, and besides, when needed, backup copies are made.
-LON-CAPA is currently installed through "intelligent tarballs". This
-is part of an earlier (and perhaps future) effort involving RPMs.
-Commands
-
-
-cd loncom/build
-rm -Rf BinaryRoot (or alternatively, "make clean")
-make RPM
- (to subsequently install, you can type commands like
- "rpm -Uvh --force LON-CAPA-base-3.1-1.i386.rpm")
-
-
+LON-CAPA is currently installed through "intelligent tarballs".
+What I am describing now is part of an earlier (and perhaps future) effort
+involving RPMs.
-Never never never never never manually install the -LON-CAPA-setup-3.1-1.i386.rpm. This RPM is meant to only be -installed by the CD installation process (it wipes out -the existing /etc/passwd file). +Commands
+
+cd loncom/build
+rm -Rf BinaryRoot (or alternatively, "make clean")
+make RPM
+(to subsequently install, you can type commands like
+"rpm -Uvh --force LON-CAPA-base-3.1-1.i386.rpm")
+
Configuration files
Configuration files are automatically saved with the file suffix -".rpmsave". So /etc/httpd/conf/access.conf is saved as -/etc/httpd/conf/access.conf.rpmsave. You can restore -the machine-specific configuration information by running -the /usr/sbin/loncaparestoreconfigurations. However, -a warning is important here. If you install an RPM twice -without restoring your configuration, you will overwrite the +".rpmsave". So /etc/httpd/conf/loncapa.conf is saved as +/etc/httpd/conf/loncapa.conf.rpmsave. +The loncaparestoreconfigurations script should work to restore +configurations in this case. However, please note that if you install an RPM +twice without restoring your configuration, you will overwrite the ".rpmsave" files.
@@ -622,7 +652,7 @@ without restoring your configuration, yo
This is the actual make target code. - +
RPM: BinaryRoot base_rpm_file_list @@ -641,21 +671,20 @@ base_rpm_file_list: 'BinaryRoot' | sort > base_rpm_file_list.txt- +
A BinaryRoot directory is generated that reflects the locations, ownerships, permissions, and contents for all the CVS source files, compiled binaries, directories, and links as they should eventually occur on the '/' filesystem location.
-loncom/build/make_rpm.pl is robust (tested over the +loncom/build/make_rpm.pl (also available at +CPAN) is robust (tested over the span of months) and, unlike other automated RPM-builders, cleanly builds new RPMs without any after-effect of temporary files left -on the system. (On the negative side, there are a number of -LON-CAPA specific customizations inside make_rpm.pl which, for -the sake of reusability, should eventually be removed). Two new RPMs -are generated: LON-CAPA-base-3.1-1.i386 and LON-CAPA-setup-3.1-1.i386.rpm -(again, never manually install LON-CAPA-setup-3.1-1.i386.rpm). +on the system. The generated RPM is labeled in the format +LON-CAPA-base-(VERSION)-1.i386. VERSION is specified inside the +Makefile.