Setting up TortoiseCVS for use with SourceForge

This document describes how to set up TortoiseCVS for use with an existing SourceForge project.  TortoiseCVS is a CVS (Concurrent Versions System) client for Windows.  See also SourceForge's documents F1. Basic Introduction to CVS and SourceForge.net and Guide to Generation and Posting of SSH Keys.

In this document, we will assume that your SourceForge project is named myproject, and that your SourceForge username is myuser.  We'll assume that myproject has a module named mymodule.  On the PC side, we'll assume that the project will be placed in C:\projects\myproject, and the module mymodule in directory C:\projects\myproject\mymodule. 

Associating PC directories with CVS modules

This step will associate directories on your PC with modules on the remote server.  (Modules are similar to directories within a project.)  It will also download all files in the modules to your computer.

• Download TortoiseCVS from http://www.tortoisecvs.org/download.shtml.
• Install TortoiseCVS on your PC
• Create a directory on your PC to correspond to the base directory of the SourceForge project.  
• For each module in the project, do this:
• Right-click on the base folder (C:\projects\myproject) and choose CVS Checkout...
• In the Checkout Module dialog, in the Module tab, enter this information:

CVSROOT	:ext:myuser@cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/myproject
Protocol	(automatically filled in with Secure shell (:ext:))
Protocol parameters	(empty)
Server	(automatically filled in with cvs.sourceforge.net)
Port	(empty)
Repository folder	(automatically filled in with /cvsroot/myproject)
User name	(automatically filled in with myuser)
Module	mymodule

For example:



You must type the module name; the "Fetch list" button will not work.  Evidently, SourceForge's CVS server does not respond to the module list command.

• Choose OK to start the checkout process.
• You will be prompted for your password.  Enter it.
• CVS will download files from the remove server.  When it's done, in the Finish checkout dialog, choose OK.

Using SSH public key authentication

At this point, you have created the necessary associations between your computer and the remote server, so you could proceed directly to using CVS.  However, it is much more convenient to use CVS when you don't have to continually type your CVS password.  You can avoid the annoying password dialogs by setting up SSH public key authentication.

Download PC SSH applications

• Download PuTTY, PSFTP, and PuTTYGen from http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html

Generate keypair on PC

• Generate a keypair:
• Run PuTTYGen.exe
• Choose Generate
• Move the mouse around until PuTTYGen is satisfied:
  
• Choose Save public key and save to a file named c:\projects\mykey.pub. 
• Choose Save private key.  When you are asked "Are you sure you want to save this key without a passphrase to protect it?" answer Yes.  Save to a file named c:\projects\mykey.ppk.  (This assumes that you are comfortable with the level of security on the file mykey.ppk.  If you are very concerned about security for your SourceForge project, you may want to use a passphrase--but this will become annoying later.)
• Select the lengthy text in the edit box labeled "Public key for pasting into OpenSSH authorized_keys file" and copy it to the clipboard with Control-C.

Configure public half of key on SourceForge for CVS

• Point your browser at http://sourceforge.net/account/ and login.
• On the Account Maintenance page, scroll down to [Edit SSH Keys for Shell/CVS] and click on it.
• Paste your public key (which you copied to your Windows clipboard) into a separate line at the end of the Authorized keys edit box.
• Choose Update.

The keys won't take effect for several hours.

Configure TortoiseCVS to use SSH

• On your PC, run Start | Programs | TortoiseCVS | Preferences
• Choose the Tools tab
• Change the SSH parameters setting to -l "%u" "%h" -i c:\projects\mykey.ppk
• While you're at it, you might as well set the Diff application.  If you have Microsoft Visual Studio installed, you may wish to enter the full path to windiff.exe here.
• Choose OK

Using TortoiseCVS without passwords

Subsequent TortoiseCVS operations should not prompt you for your password.  However, it appears that there is a delay in synchronized configurations between cvs.sf.net and sh.sf.net.

Mark Riordan  21 March 2005  riordan AT rocketmail dot com