[Zope3-dev] CVS/SSH setup on Win2k (for Zope3-Rotterdam-Sprint)

[Grégoire Weber]

Hi all,

At the end I managed to get CVS over SSH access working on my Win2k box.

The follwoing instructions cover setting up SSH CVS access using:

   - WinCVS 1.3beta10: <http://www.wincvs.org/download.html>

   - Putty 0.52: <http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html>

There are some pitfalls (especially on english versions of Win2k and 
with SSH).

Setting up SHH connection to CVS server:

   1. Install Putty into a directory **not** containing spaces.

      I warn you installing putty into c:\Program Files\putty, 
      use c:\prog\putty for example. WinCVS will not able to call
      plink (ssh shell of putty) if the path contains spaces!

   2. Use puttygen to generate a public/private key pair.
      The type of key **has to be*** SSH1 (RSA)! 

      Trying to use SSH2 RSA will costs you hours without having 
      success in connecting to the cvs server.
   
   3. Go to https://cvs.zope.org/account.php enter your zope.org
      user name and password and **copy and paste** the public key 
      from puttygen to the text field. After submitting your key
      you should be able to connect to the cvs server immediately.

      You should have signed your commiter agreement before.

   4. At this point it makes sense to decide where you want the
      Zope3 code to reside (d:\path\to\zope3-dev). This will be
      used by WinCVS.

      Go to the DOS command prompt and 'cd' to the choosen directory 
      and make a new directory named '.ssh' ('mkdir .ssh' without 
      surrounding ''). The Explorer refuses to generate directories
      starting with a dot.

      Now save both your private and public key to this directory.
      Name the two files 'identity' (private key) and 'identity.pub'
      (public key).

   5. Start pageant and load your private key. You possibly get asked
      for your passphrase. Information about the key should be visible
      in the window. Lower the Pageant window.

      Pageant holds your key in memory and manages that you have to 
      enter your passphrase more than one time per machine booting.

   6. Add the location of your Putty software to the path for ease
      of use.

   7. On a dos prompt try 

         plink your-zope-login-name-here@cvs.zope.org echo "dummy text"

      The result should be a error message saying "Unknown command: 
      'dummy'" and a list of available cvs commands. You're now able
      to communicate with the CVS server. Congratulations!

      If you get a password prompt, there is a problem. :-(

   8. Install WinCVS. Path is not important.

   9. Configure WinCVS (Menu Create -> Create new repository ...):

      General Tab:

      Authentication: ssh
      Path:           /cvs-repository
      Host address:   cvs.zope.org
      user name:      zope.org username

      Settings (ssh):

         Unset "RSA public identity file ..."

         Set "If ssh is not in the path"
         Set path to: c:\prog\putty\plink.exe (take your own path!)

   10. Do your first checkout of Zope3 code (Menu Create -> Checkout module)

      Checkout settings tab:

         Moduel name:  Zope3
         Local folder: d:\path\to\zope3-dev      (same as in step 4!)

      You should see a lot of messages in the log window with a message
      "***** CVS exited normaly with code 0 *****" and at the end.

Remarks:

   Env. vars set:

      HOME=d:\path\to\zope3-dev         (same as in step 4!, used by WinCVS)
      
   It makes sense to put your putty directory and the WinCVS director 
   into the PATH. With the latter you'll be able to use WinCVS command
   line cvs client directly.

Hope that helps.

Gregoire
_____________________________________
Grégoire Weber
mailto:gregoire.weber@switzerland.org