[cvsnt] Re: Various Confusions

[Luigi D. Sandon]

> What is confusing me, is the client server relation. I installed
> WinCVS and was able to create and use a repository. Later on I

Basically, CVS can work in two ways. In "local" mode accessing directly 
a "local" repository, or in client/server mode accessing a "remote" 
repository through a CVS server.

> Now, what is going on with this setup? Which NTCVS server is used
> here? (WinCVS has its own, right?)

WinCVS is shipped with a CVSNT executable at a given version, but could 
be instructed to use another executable (see Admin -> Preferences).

> Can two servers share the same repository and if yes, is that
> recommended?

I see no reason to do it. If they share the same lockserver it should 
work, I believe, but never tried. Anyway, a server should not access a 
remote repository via a SMB share. Unless you have a SAN where remote 
disks are accessed via FiberChannel or iSCSI protocols, the server has 
to be on the same machine of the repository.

> Is a server strictly necessary or can a CVS repository handled
> completely on a file basis? (otherwise, what are the lock files
> used for?)

The server is necessary to access a remote repository via the 
client/server protocols. Accessing a remote repository via a SMB share 
is not safe, therefore the server is necessary when more than one 
user/machine needs to access a repository.

> How can I setup remote access (over a LAN)? What protocol should I
> use (I don't need a lot of security, I just want a simple way). So
> far I could only establish :local: access.

The protocol depends on your environment. On Windows sspi is safe and 
simple. pserver is simple too. local is only for local repositories 
(local hard disk).

> Is it true, that changing the protocol later on is painful?

Not at all. WinCVS has a macro to handle it in a simple way.

> FYI, I have WinXP on my main machine, where the repository
> supposed to be. I would like to access the repository from this
> machine as well as from my Win2k laptop (using mainly the Tortoise
> CVS client on both of them).

Setup the main machine as a CVSNT server. Then from both you could 
access the repository via sspi or pserver.