To use the server, you will need to set the following environment variables:

CVSROOT=:ext:hostname/aegis
CVS_RSH=ssh
CVS_SERVER=

It is also possible to use as a cvs pserver, with all the usual caveats about how insecure this access method is, because it transmits the password almost in the clear. The root and modules are as above.

Each Aegis project appears to the CVS client as a module; the module's name is the same as the Aegis project's name. This type of module isn't immediately useful except for the cvs export command, or to perform a read-only cvs checkout command.

You can't commit to a project-named module. This because Aegis requires all operations which would change the repository to be performed through a change set.

It is theoretically possible to code aecvsserver to create a change (via aenc(1) and aedb(1) commands), then add the necessary files (via aenf(1) and aecp(1) commands), then build (via the aeb(1) command), then test (via the aet(1) command), and finally to end development of the change (via the aede(1) command). As the CVS protocol documentation says "The protocol makes it possible for updates to be atomic with respect to checkins; that is, if someone commits changes to several files in one cvs command, then an update by someone else would either get all the changes, or none of them. The current cvs server can't do this, but that isn't the protocol's fault." This code is yet to be written. Contributions welcome.

The protocol, however, doesn't make it particularly easy, either. The semantics of the CW]Modify request change depending on whether it is followed by the CW]commit request or the CW]update request.

Each Aegis change set also appears to the CVS client as a module; it's name is projectCW].Cnumber. All cvs add commands, cvs remove commands, cvs update commands and cvs commit commands are performed against the change set, not directly to the baseline. It is necessary for the change set to already exist, and once you have run the cvs commit command, it will the be necessary to use the aede(1) command and the rest of the usual Aegis process.

Once a change is no longer in the being developed state, it cannot be changed via aecvsserver(1) and you will need to create a new Aegis change set, and then cvs checkout a new client-side work area.

Please note: if you are experimenting with the interface via cvs -d :fork:/aegis or similar, the work area you create must be outside the Aegis change set's development directory.

The CVSROOT module's contents are synthesized from Aegis meta-data. You can't add or modify files in this module; you need to administer Aegis directly with aegis(1) commands.