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1 | =head1 NAME |
2 | |
3 | repository - Using the Perl repository |
4 | |
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5 | =head1 Synopsis |
6 | |
7 | First, we assume here that you have already decided that you will |
8 | need B<write> access to the repository. If all you need is B<read> |
9 | access, there are much better ways to access the most current state of |
10 | the perl repository, or explore individual files and patches therein. |
11 | See L<perlhack> for details. |
12 | |
13 | This document describes what a Perl Porter needs to do to start using |
14 | the Perl repository. |
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15 | |
16 | =head1 Prerequisites |
17 | |
18 | You'll need to get hold of the following software. |
19 | |
20 | =over 4 |
21 | |
22 | =item Perforce |
23 | |
24 | Download a perforce client from: |
25 | |
26 | http://www.perforce.com/perforce/loadprog.html |
27 | |
28 | You'll probably also want to look at: |
29 | |
30 | http://www.perforce.com/perforce/technical.html |
31 | |
32 | where you can look at or download its documentation. |
33 | |
34 | =item ssh |
35 | |
36 | If you don't already have access to an ssh client, then look at its |
37 | home site C<http://www.cs.hut.fi/ssh> which mentions ftp sites from |
38 | which it's available. You only need to build the client parts (ssh |
39 | and ssh-keygen should suffice). |
40 | |
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41 | If you're on Windows then you might like to obtain Cygwin from: |
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42 | |
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43 | http://cygwin.com/ |
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44 | |
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45 | which contains an ssh client. (MSYS also contains an ssh client |
46 | but it seems to time-out and disconnect from the server and doesn't |
47 | understand the ServerAliveInterval setting described later that can |
48 | be used to stop Cygwin's ssh client from doing this.) |
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49 | |
50 | Alternatively, the "plink" program, part of PuTTY: |
51 | |
52 | http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/ |
53 | |
54 | should also work fine for Windows users. |
55 | |
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56 | =back |
57 | |
58 | =head1 Creating an SSH Key Pair |
59 | |
60 | If you already use ssh and want to use the same key pair for perl |
61 | repository access then you can skip the rest of this section. |
62 | Otherwise, generate an ssh key pair for use with the repository |
63 | by typing the command |
64 | |
65 | ssh-keygen |
66 | |
67 | After generating a key pair and testing it, ssh-keygen will ask you |
68 | to enter a filename in which to save the key. The default it offers |
69 | will be the file F<~/.ssh/identity> which is suitable unless you |
70 | particularly want to keep separate ssh identities for some reason. |
71 | If so, you could save the perl repository private key in the file |
72 | F<~/.ssh/perl>, for example, but I will use the standard filename |
73 | in the remainder of the examples of this document. |
74 | |
75 | After typing in the filename, it will prompt you to type in a |
76 | passphrase. The private key will itself be encrypted so that it is |
77 | usable only when that passphrase is typed. (When using ssh, you will |
78 | be prompted when it requires a pass phrase to unlock a private key.) |
79 | If you provide a blank passphrase then no passphrase will be needed |
80 | to unlock the key and, as a consequence, anyone who gains access to |
81 | the key file gains access to accounts protected with that key |
82 | (barring additional configuration to restrict access by IP address). |
83 | |
84 | When you have typed the passphrase in twice, ssh-keygen will confirm |
85 | where it has saved the private key (in the filename you gave and |
86 | with permissions set to be only readable by you), what your public |
87 | key is (don't worry: you don't need to memorise it) and where it |
88 | has saved the corresponding public key. The public key is saved in |
89 | a filename corresponding to your private key's filename but with |
90 | ".pub" appended, usually F<~/.ssh/identity.pub>. That public key |
91 | can be (but need not be) world readable. It is not used by your |
92 | own system at all. |
93 | |
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94 | Note that the above process creates a key pair for ssh protocol 1. |
95 | You can request ssh protocol 2 (RSA) instead if you prefer (if your |
96 | particular ssh client supports it), via the command |
97 | |
98 | ssh-keygen -t rsa |
99 | |
100 | This will create private/public identity files called F<~/.ssh/id_rsa> |
101 | and F<~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub> respectively. Protocol 2 offers a higher |
102 | level of security than protocol 1. This is not required for access to |
103 | the Perl repository -- ssh is used for authentication rather than |
104 | encryption (the Perl sources are open anyway) -- but either protocol |
105 | is supported by the server. |
106 | |
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107 | B<IMPORTANT NOTE FOR CYGWIN USERS:> In order to make the private key |
108 | files only readable by you you must include the string "ntea" in the |
109 | "CYGWIN" environment variable in the shell used to run C<chmod(1)>, |
110 | and in the shell used to run the ssh client itself later. If "CYGWIN" |
111 | doesn't contain "ntea" then it will appear to the ssh client that the |
112 | file permissions are not set correctly, in which case the files will be |
113 | ignored and you won't be able to connect. |
114 | |
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115 | =head1 Notifying the Repository Keeper |
116 | |
117 | Mail the contents of that public key file to the keeper of the perl |
118 | repository (see L</Contact Information> below). |
119 | When the key is added to the repository host's configuration file, |
120 | you will be able to connect to it with ssh by using the corresponding |
121 | private key file (after unlocking it with your chosen passphrase). |
122 | |
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123 | There is no harm in creating both protocol 1 and protocol 2 keys and |
124 | mailing them both in. That way you'll be able to connect using either |
125 | protocol, which may be useful if you later find yourself using a client |
126 | that only supports one or the other protocol. |
127 | |
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128 | =head1 Connecting to the Repository |
129 | |
130 | Connections to the repository are made by using ssh to provide a |
131 | TCP "tunnel" rather than by using ssh to login to or invoke any |
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132 | ordinary commands on the repository. |
133 | |
134 | The ssh (secure shell) protocol runs over port number 22, so if you |
135 | have a firewall installed at the client end then you must ensure that |
136 | it is configured to allow you to make an outgoing connection to port 22 |
137 | on sickle.activestate.com. |
138 | |
139 | When you want to start a session using the repository, use the command: |
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140 | |
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141 | ssh -l perlrep -f -q -x -L 1666:127.0.0.1:1666 sickle.activestate.com foo |
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142 | |
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143 | If you are not using the default filename of F<~/.ssh/identity> or |
144 | F<~/.ssh/id_rsa> to hold your perl repository private key then you'll |
145 | need to add the option B<-i filename> to tell ssh where it is. Unless |
146 | you chose a blank passphrase for that private key, ssh will prompt you |
147 | for the passphrase to unlock that key. Then ssh will fork and put itself |
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148 | in the background, returning you (silently) to your shell prompt. |
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149 | |
150 | Note that the first time you connect you may see a message like |
151 | "The authenticity of host 'sickle.activestate.com' can't be established," |
152 | and asking you if you want to continue. Just answer yes and sickle's |
153 | details will be cached in a F<known_hosts> or F<known_hosts2> file. You |
154 | will not see that message again unless you delete the cache file. |
155 | |
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156 | The tunnel for repository access is now ready for use. |
157 | |
158 | For the sake of completeness (and for the case where the chosen |
159 | port of 1666 is already in use on your machine), I'll briefly |
160 | describe what all those ssh arguments are for. |
161 | |
162 | =over 4 |
163 | |
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164 | =item B<-l perlrep> |
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165 | |
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166 | Use a remote username of perlrep. (The account on the repository which |
167 | provides the end-point of the ssh tunnel is named "perlrep".) |
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168 | |
169 | =item B<-f> |
170 | |
171 | Tells ssh to fork and remain running in the background. Since ssh |
172 | is only being used for its tunnelling capabilities, the command |
173 | that ssh runs never does any I/O and can sit silently in the |
174 | background. |
175 | |
176 | =item B<-q> |
177 | |
178 | Tells ssh to be quiet. Without this option, ssh will output a |
179 | message each time you use a p4 command (since each p4 command |
180 | tunnels over the ssh connection to reach the repository). |
181 | |
182 | =item B<-x> |
183 | |
184 | Tells ssh not to bother to set up a tunnel for X11 connections. |
185 | The repository doesn't allow this anyway. |
186 | |
187 | =item B<-L 1666:127.0.0.1:1666> |
188 | |
189 | This is the important option. It tells ssh to listen out for |
190 | connections made to port 1666 on your local machine. When such |
191 | a connection is made, the ssh client tells the remote side |
192 | (the corresponding ssh daemon on the repository) to make a |
193 | connection to IP address 127.0.0.1, port 1666. Data flowing |
194 | along that connection is tunnelled over the ssh connection |
195 | (encrypted). The perforce daemon running on the repository |
196 | only accepts connections from localhost and that is exactly |
197 | where ssh-tunnelled connections appear to come from. |
198 | |
199 | If port 1666 is already in use on your machine then you can |
200 | choose any non-privileged port (a number between 1024 and 65535) |
201 | which happens to be free on your machine. It's the first of the |
202 | three colon separated values that you should change. Picking |
203 | port 2345 would mean changing the option to |
204 | B<-L 2345:127.0.0.1:1666>. Whatever port number you choose should |
205 | be used for the value of the P4PORT environment variable (q.v.). |
206 | |
207 | =item sickle.activestate.com |
208 | |
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209 | This is the canonical name of the host on which the perl repository |
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210 | resides. |
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211 | |
212 | =item foo |
213 | |
214 | This is a dummy place holder argument. Without an argument |
215 | here, ssh will try to perform an interactive login to the |
216 | repository which is not allowed. Ordinarily, this argument |
217 | is for the one-off command which is to be executed on the |
218 | remote host. However, the repository's ssh configuration |
219 | file uses the "command=" option to force a particular |
220 | command to run so the actual value of the argument is |
221 | ignored. The command that's actually run merely pauses and |
222 | waits for the ssh connection to drop, then exits. |
223 | |
224 | =back |
225 | |
226 | =head1 Problems |
227 | |
228 | You should normally get a prompt that asks for the passphrase |
229 | for your RSA key when you connect with the ssh command shown |
230 | above. If you see a prompt that looks like: |
231 | |
232 | perlrep@sickle.activestate.com's password: |
233 | |
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234 | Then you either don't have a F<~/.ssh/identity> or F<~/.ssh/id_rsa> |
235 | file corresponding to your public key, or that file is not readable. |
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236 | Fix the problem and try again. |
237 | |
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238 | If you only had the public key file for one protocol installed at the |
239 | server end then make sure your client is using the corresponding |
240 | protocol. An ssh client that supports protocol 2 will probably choose |
241 | that by default, which will fail if the server end only has your public |
242 | key file for protocol 1. Some ssh clients have "-1" and "-2" arguments |
243 | to force which protocol to use. |
244 | |
245 | The "-v" (verbose) flag can be useful for seeing what protocol your |
246 | client is actually trying to connect with, and for spotting any other |
247 | problems. The flag can be specified multiple times to increase |
248 | verbosity. Note that specifying the "-q" flag as well might override |
249 | your request for verbose output, so drop the "-q" flag when trying this. |
250 | |
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251 | If you're using the Cygwin ssh client on Windows then you will probably |
252 | find that the connection times out after a short period of inactivity. |
253 | You will have to keep re-entering your passphrase to reconnect, which |
254 | gets annoying after a while. In order to prevent these time-outs from |
255 | happening place the following two lines in the file F<~/.ssh/config>: |
256 | |
257 | Host sickle.activestate.com |
258 | ServerAliveInterval 120 |
259 | |
260 | This causes the ssh client to send a message to the server every 120 |
261 | seconds to check that the server is still alive. The client will not |
262 | disconnect unless "ServerAliveCountMax" many of these messages go |
263 | unanswered. Run C<man ssh_config> for more details. Note also that |
264 | this option applies to protocol version 2 only. |
265 | |
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266 | =head1 Using the Perforce Client |
267 | |
268 | Remember to read the documentation for Perforce. You need |
269 | to make sure that three environment variable are set |
270 | correctly before using the p4 client with the perl repository. |
271 | |
272 | =over 4 |
273 | |
274 | =item P4PORT |
275 | |
276 | Set this to localhost:1666 (the port for your ssh client to listen on) |
277 | unless that port is already in use on your host. If it is, see |
278 | the section above on the B<-L 1666:127.0.0.1:1666> option to ssh. |
279 | |
280 | =item P4CLIENT |
281 | |
282 | The value of this is the name by which Perforce knows your |
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283 | host's workspace. You need to pick a name (normally, your |
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284 | Perforce username, a dash, and your host's short name) |
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285 | when you first start using the perl repository and then |
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286 | stick with it. |
287 | |
288 | Perforce keeps track of the files you have on your machine. It |
289 | does this through your client. When you first sync a version of a |
290 | file, the file comes from the server to your machine. If you sync |
291 | the same file again the server does nothing because it |
292 | knows you already have the file. |
293 | |
294 | You should NOT use the same client on different machines. If you do |
295 | you probably won't get the files you expect, and may end up with |
296 | nasty corruption. Perforce allows you to have as many clients as |
297 | you want. For example, sally-home, sally-openbsd, sally-laptop. |
298 | |
299 | Also, never change the client's root and view at the same time. |
300 | See C<http://www.perforce.com/perforce/doc.002/manuals/p4guide/04_details.html#1048341> |
301 | |
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302 | If you have multiple hosts sharing the same directory structure |
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303 | via NFS then you may be able to get away with only one client name, |
304 | but be careful. |
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305 | |
306 | The C<p4 clients> command lists all currently known clients. |
307 | |
308 | =item P4USER |
309 | |
310 | This is the username by which perforce knows you. Use your |
311 | username if you have a well known or obvious one or else pick |
312 | a new one which other perl5-porters will recognise. There is |
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313 | a licence limit on the number of these usernames, so be sure not |
314 | to use more than one. |
315 | |
316 | It is very important to set a password for your Perforce username, |
317 | or else anyone can impersonate you. Use the C<p4 passwd> command |
318 | to do this. Once a password is set for your account, you'll need |
319 | to tell Perforce what it is. You can do this by setting the |
320 | environment variable P4PASSWD, or you can use the C<-P> flag |
321 | with the C<p4> command. |
322 | |
323 | There are a few techniques you can use to avoid having to either |
324 | set an environment variable or type the password on every command. |
325 | One is to create a shell alias, for example, in bash, add something like |
326 | alias p4='p4 -P secret' |
327 | to your F<.bash_profile> file. Another way is to create a small shell |
328 | script, for example |
329 | #!/bin/bash |
330 | p4 -P secret $@ |
331 | And use this instead of running C<p4> directly. |
332 | |
333 | With either of these, be sure the file containing your password |
334 | (the F<.bash_profile> or shell script file) is only readable by you. |
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335 | |
336 | The C<p4 users> command lists all currently known users. |
337 | |
338 | =back |
339 | |
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340 | Note that on Windows P4PORT and P4USER are requested when installing |
341 | Perforce. They are stored in the registry, so they do not need to be |
342 | set in the environment. |
343 | |
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344 | Once these three environment variables are set, you can use the |
345 | perforce p4 client exactly as described in its documentation. |
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346 | |
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347 | After setting these variables and connecting to the repository |
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348 | for the first time, you should use the C<p4 user> command to |
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349 | set a valid email address for yourself. Messages to the commit list |
350 | are sent (faked) from whatever email address you set here. |
351 | |
352 | Also use the C<p4 client> command to specify your workspace |
353 | specifications for each individual client from which you will interact |
354 | with the repository. The P4CLIENT environment variable, of course, |
355 | needs to be set to one of these client workspace names. |
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356 | |
357 | =head1 Ending a Repository Session |
358 | |
359 | When you have finished a session using the repository, you |
360 | should kill off the ssh client process to break the tunnel. |
361 | Since ssh forked itself into the background, you'll need to use |
362 | something like ps with the appropriate options to find the ssh |
363 | process and then kill it manually. The default signal of |
364 | SIGTERM is fine. |
365 | |
366 | =head1 Overview of the Repository |
367 | |
368 | Please read at least the introductory sections of the Perforce |
369 | User Guide (and perhaps the Quick Start Guide as well) before |
370 | reading this section. |
371 | |
372 | Every repository user typically "owns" a "branch" of the mainline |
373 | code in the repository. They hold the "pumpkin" for things in this |
374 | area, and are usually the only user who will modify files there. |
375 | This is not strictly enforced in order to allow the flexibility |
376 | of other users stealing the pumpkin for short periods with the |
377 | owner's permission. |
378 | |
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379 | Here is (part of) the current structure of the repository: |
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380 | |
381 | /----+-----perl - Mainline development (bleadperl) |
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382 | +-----perlio - PerlIO Pumpkin's Perl |
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383 | +-----vmsperl - VMS Pumpkin's Perl |
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384 | +-----maint-5.004------perl - Maintenance branches |
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385 | +-----maint-5.005------perl |
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386 | +-----maint-5.6--------perl |
387 | +-----maint-5.8--------perl |
388 | +-----pureperl---------pureperl |
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389 | |
390 | Perforce uses a branching model that simply tracks relationships |
391 | between files. It does not care about directories at all, so |
392 | any file can be a branch of any other file--the fully qualified |
393 | depot path name (of the form //depot/foo/bar.c) uniquely determines |
394 | a file for the purpose of establishing branching relationships. |
395 | Since a branch usually involves hundreds of files, such relationships |
396 | are typically specified en masse using a branch map (try `p4 help branch`). |
397 | `p4 branches` lists the existing branches that have been set up. |
398 | `p4 branch -o branchname` can be used to view the map for a particular |
399 | branch, if you want to determine the ancestor for a particular set of |
400 | files. |
401 | |
402 | The mainline (aka "trunk") code in the Perl repository is under |
403 | "//depot/perl/...". Most branches typically map its entire |
404 | contents under a directory that goes by the same name as the branch |
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405 | name. Thus the contents of the perlio branch are to be found |
406 | in //depot/perlio. |
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407 | |
408 | Run `p4 client` to specify how the repository contents should map to |
409 | your local disk. Most users will typically have a client map that |
410 | includes at least their entire branch and the contents of the mainline. |
411 | |
412 | Run `p4 changes -l -m10` to check on the activity in the repository. |
413 | //depot/perl/Porting/genlog is useful to get an annotated changelog |
414 | that shows files and branches. You can use this listing to determine |
415 | if there are any changes in the mainline that you need to merge into |
416 | your own branch. A typical merging session looks like this: |
417 | |
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418 | % cd ~/p4view/perlio |
419 | % p4 integrate -b perlio # to bring parent changes into perlio |
420 | % p4 resolve -am ./... # auto merge the changes |
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421 | % p4 resolve ./... # manual merge conflicting changes |
422 | % p4 submit ./... # check in |
423 | |
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424 | If the owner of the mainline wants to bring the changes in perlio |
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425 | back into the mainline, they do: |
426 | |
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427 | % p4 integrate -r -b perlio |
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428 | ... |
429 | |
430 | Generating a patch for change#42 is done as follows: |
431 | |
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432 | % p4genpatch 42 > change-42.patch |
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433 | |
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434 | F<p4genpatch> is to be found in //depot/perl/Porting/. |
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435 | |
436 | The usual routine to apply a patch is |
437 | |
438 | % p4 edit file.c file.h |
439 | % patch < patch.txt |
440 | |
441 | (any necessary, re-Configure, make regen_headers, make clean, etc, here) |
442 | |
443 | % make all test |
444 | |
445 | (preferably make all test in several platforms and under several |
446 | different Configurations) |
447 | |
448 | % while unhappy |
449 | do |
450 | $EDITOR |
451 | make all test |
452 | done |
453 | % p4 submit |
454 | |
455 | Other useful Perforce commands |
456 | |
457 | % p4 describe -du 12345 # show change 12345 |
458 | |
459 | Note: the output of "p4 describe" is not in proper diff format, use |
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460 | the F<Porting/p4genpatch> to get a diff-compatible format. |
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461 | (Note that it may be easier to get one already prepared: grep |
462 | L<perlhack> for APC, and append eg "/diffs/12345.gz" to one of the |
463 | URLs to get a usable patch.) |
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464 | |
465 | % p4 diff -se ./... # have I modified something but forgotten |
466 | # to "p4 edit", easy faux pas with autogenerated |
467 | # files like proto.h, or if one forgets to |
468 | # look carefully which files a patch modifies |
469 | % p4 sync file.h # if someone else has modified file.h |
470 | % p4 opened # which files are opened (p4 edit) by me |
471 | % p4 opened -a # which files are opened by anybody |
472 | % p4 diff -du file.c # what changes have I done |
473 | % p4 revert file.h # never mind my changes |
474 | % p4 sync -f argh.c # forcibly synchronize your file |
475 | # from the repository |
476 | % p4 diff -sr | p4 -x - revert |
477 | # throw away (opened but) unchanged files |
478 | # (in Perforce it's a little bit too easy |
479 | # to checkin unchanged files) |
480 | |
481 | Integrate patch 12345 from the mainline to the maint-5.6 branch: |
482 | (you have to in the directory that has both the mainline and |
483 | the maint-5.6/perl as subdirectories) |
484 | |
485 | % p4 integrate -d perl/...@12345,12345 maint-5.6/perl/... |
486 | |
487 | Integrate patches 12347-12350 from the perlio branch to the mainline: |
488 | |
489 | % p4 integrate -d perlio/...@12347,12350 perl/... |
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490 | |
491 | =head1 Contact Information |
492 | |
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493 | The mail alias E<lt>perl-repository-keepers@perl.orgE<gt> can be used to reach |
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494 | all current users of the repository. |
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495 | |
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496 | The repository keeper is currently Philippe M. Chiasson |
497 | E<lt>gozer@ActiveState.comE<gt>. |
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498 | |
499 | =head1 AUTHORS |
500 | |
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501 | Malcolm Beattie, E<lt>mbeattie@sable.ox.ac.ukE<gt>, 24 June 1997. |
502 | |
503 | Gurusamy Sarathy, E<lt>gsar@activestate.comE<gt>, 8 May 1999. |
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504 | |
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505 | Slightly updated by Simon Cozens, E<lt>simon@brecon.co.ukE<gt>, 3 July 2000. |
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506 | |
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507 | More updates by Jarkko Hietaniemi, E<lt>jhi@iki.fiE<gt>, 28 June 2001. |
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508 | |
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509 | Perforce clarifications by Randall Gellens, E<lt>rcg@users.sourceforge.netE<gt>, 12 July 2001. |
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510 | |
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511 | Windows-related updates by Steve Hay E<lt>shay@cpan.orgE<gt>, 23 July 2004 |
512 | and 08 Aug 2005. |
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513 | |
0c97a5ed |
514 | =cut |