CVS : File Permission Preservation Patch

This patch enables CVS to preserve file permissions in the repository and correctly apply those permissions on checkout and updates using either a local or remote repository.

Current version is 0.3 which works with CVS version 1.11.5.

(For a patch that works with cvs version 1.10, see version 0.2)

Installation Instructions
Handling a pre-existing module
Notes
Download
Bug Reporting

Installation Instructions

Current version is 0.3 -- March 18, 2003

Download patch

Download file from below

Apply patch

In the cvs source code directory (cvs-#.##/) run 'patch -p1 < patchfile'

NOTE: If you are having problems applying the patch, make sure you have the latest version of GNU patch.

Configure

If you want to, set the default file permissions (see 'with_filemode' in configure or configure.in) used when files in the repository don't have the file permissions saved -- default is 0600. (Running ./configure with '--with-filemode=0XXX' should work as well although I have not tested it.)

Make and Install

From within the top level CVS source directory (cvs-#.##/) running './noautomake.sh --noautoconf && ./configure && make && make install' usually does the trick

Change the repository configuration

Check out CVSROOT and edit CVSROOT/config -- set PreservePermissions to 'file_perms' (PreservePermissions=file_perms) and make sure the line is uncommented. Commit config back in to the repository.

Import a module or commit the permissions for an existing module

Importing is done the same way as before the patch. See below for handling an existing module

Handling a pre-existing module

Modules that already exist in the repository prior to enabling the file permission preservation will not have permission information already saved.

These modules can be updated to store the current file permissions by performing the following steps (with an existing sandbox on a Unix machine):

cd to the root sandbox directory
Modify the timestamp of all files: 'find . -exec touch {} \;'
Commit the files into the repository: 'cvs commit'

Notes

Directory permissions are not preserved -- CVS does not record directory information in the same way as it does file info (if it records it at all)
CVS assumes a file is the same if the 'last modified' date has not changed -- 'chmod'ing a file does not change the 'last modified' date, so if you are just changing the file permissions, you will need to 'touch' the file before you can commit the change into the repository
Files already in a repository prior to enabling file permission preservation will not have any permission settings saved. My changes make CVS use a default file permission when none is found in the repository. This is set through the 'with_filemode' definition in configure (configure.in) or by running configure with the '--with-filemode' argument. Currently it is set to 0600.
To get existing files in the repository to record the file permissions when first enabling file permission preservation, you will need to touch all the files in the working directory, then do a commit. This will add a version number to the files.
Non-unix (and non-file permissions preserving) clients definitely won't handle the file permissions (particularly with imports and additions) and may unintentionally change the permissions in the repository on commit.

Download

Version 0.3 -- March 18, 2003: Updated patch to work with CVS version 1.11.5
Download earlier version (works with CVS version 1.10)

Reporting Bugs

Please send all bug reports on this patch to Larry Coffin <lcoffin@PointInfinity.com>