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Can anyone help a source control dummy to convert a winCVS repository to Subversion on using the cvs2svn tool?

Hi,

The level of assumption when dealing with online help articles relating to source control systems, namely winCVS and Subversion is very frustrating for a complete beginner.

All the examples give you the commands....as if you already know where to type them! I mean where do you type the commands?

I would be grateful if someone could give me some bullet proof instructions on getting started with the conversion process without assuming I know where to type commands.

I will tell you what point I am at.

I have installed subversion with TortoiseSVN and managed to set up a repository and check out the files. I have even managed to set the global-ignore extensions in the config file...oooooooh!

I have backed up my winCVS repository containing the files I want to convert.

I have downloaded and installed cvs2svn.

Now I'm lost and confused having read lots of articles assuming you know how to open the right box and type in their commands.

Sorry for the long winded question, but I am just trying to answer some of the obvious questions so that an expert can take me to the next step.

Any help is much appreciated, cos I'm lost.

amnonnes

Can you please post:
1. Your operating system
2. The path to the CVS repository
3. The path to the SVN repository

The most basic command is like that for example, assuming you are on Linux:
cvs2svn -s /work/new_svn_path /work/old_cvs_repository
For Windows just change to the new path.
NOTE: Before running this, make a backup of your CVS repository!

jazz__man

ASKER

Windows XP Pro
C:\CVS\BackupRepository
C:\SVN\MyProject

Yes but ..where do you type the command you gave??? In a command prompt or something? Does cvs2svn have its own command window or something? Remember the title of the question...I'm a "source control dummy", I need the noddies guide to repository migration, if you know what I mean.

Cheers

Paul

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

amnonnes

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jazz__man

ASKER

amnonnes

First things first..."Happy New Year"

I did exactly as you said and got the following error...

'cvs2svn' is not recognized as an internal or external command.

I have not actually installed cvs2svn because I don't know how to but I have read that you can do the conversion without actually installing cvs2svn.

Thanks

amnonnes

Well, you need to get the binary... Once you get the binary and extract it somewhere, you can just run it..

jazz__man

ASKER

What is the binary?

jazz__man

ASKER

All I know is I downloaded cvs2svn and extracted it and I now have an unzipped folder full of files. There is no obvious setup file, in fact even the files that the documentation suggest using are not there.

The documentation suggests that you can do the conversion either from this unzipped file directory or by installing the cvs2svn application. When you say run the binary, are you saying I should go the route of installing cvs2svn? If so can you give me the name of the file I have to run?

Thanks

amnonnes

Did you look at the "Requierments" section of the documentation? You need quite a few things to make it work, did you follow that?

http://cvs2svn.tigris.org/cvs2svn.html

jazz__man

ASKER

The only .bin file is "foo.bin,v"

Does this mean anything to you?

amnonnes

Follow the link I gave you to install all requirements...

jazz__man

ASKER

Are you sure its not the python command line you use???

amnonnes

On Windows you need to run:
python cvs2svn

jazz__man

ASKER

The website you pointed me to is inaccurate, for example here is the installation instructions. I'm not blaming you in any way for the fact that the info on the website is crap as this seems to be the main resource for learning cvs2svn but you have to admit, its documentation is poor.

Installation

As root, run 'make install'.
Or, if you do not wish to install cvs2svn on your system, you can simply run it out of this directory. As long as it can find the 'cvs2svn_rcsparse' library, it should be happy.

There is no such thing as 'make install' in the files
'cvs2svn_rcsparse' does not exist either

I have also looked very thoroughly at the requirements to run cvs2svn and the only thing I am not 100% sure about.is the GNU sort.exe. I don't know what this is and why we need it.

This is why I am asking the question on EE as the resources I have looked at are really crap for a complete beginner.

I am now going to give you the points to get this part of the question out the way since you have helped me a little bit, but I have to say its been like trying to draw blood from a stone. However I am grateful for the little bit of info that you did contribute.

Thanks

jazz__man

ASKER

Still unsolved but gained some level of guidance despite minimal detail.

amnonnes

You don't need the "make install".
What you can do, is extract it to a directory. make sure you have python installed. Make sure the GNU sort is in your path, you can get the GNU Sort from here:
http://unxutils.sourceforge.net/

Make sure you can run "python" - open a command prompt and enter "python" - you should get something other than "command not found".
Once you do, open a command prompt, got to where you extacted cvs2svn, (cd c:\cvs2svn for example), and run:
python cvs2svn

jazz__man

ASKER

I went onto http://unxutils.sourceforge.net/ but there is no GNU Sort. Where is the link for the GNU Sort?

jazz__man

ASKER

amnonnes

Thanks for all your help.

But never take up teaching. lol. Only kidding!!

amnonnes

Go to http://sourceforge.net/projects/unxutils (it's a link on the page I sent you to)
Click on download. You'll get UnxUtils.zip. It contains the GNU sort (sort.exe).

Thanks for the tip.. But actually, the purpose here is not teaching.. for that there are courses and tutorials. Here the purpose is to help with specific problems... :-)

jazz__man

ASKER

UnxUtils.zip??
I thought that was for unix platform only.

amnonnes

No... It's unix tools to be used on Windows.. :-) These tools are being used by cvs2svn.

jazz__man

ASKER

Thanks amnonnes.
I will no doubt be posting other questions about this as I'm still a bit bewildered. I am sure once I get it to run for the first time, things will start to fit into place.
Cheers

Paul