Setting Up Your Computer For Development

[Guus]

introduction

I'm writing this for all those people that are fairly new to programming in a group, like me. I will cover basic installation of a CVS-client (to get the source-code) and I will add a section covering the project default IDE and compiler (to edit the source-code) later.

 

-Note-

I'm an utter newbie when it comes to CVS and C-programming. If there's anything wrong with this document, it's all my fault Please make suggestions for improvement.

 

-Note (part deux)-

I'm using Microsoft Windows 2000, and the description below works for me. I'm not making any guarantees though. If you run into trouble, reply to this thread and maybe we can figure out what's going wrong.

 

 

 

CVS

You use CVS ("Concurrent Version System" or something close to that name) to download the sources from the central server (hosted at SourceForge.net). After you edit them, you can upload those sources again, so everyone else can use the updated sources. This sounds an awful lot like ordinary FTP, but it isn't. CVS keeps track of things that have changed in the file. This means that you never lose stuff (not even old stuff). So, when two people edit the same file, it's quite easy to track back who edited what. CVS is supposed to have a bunch of other handy features, but I haven't looked in to them yet (I told you, I'm writing this as I go).

 

How do you connect to the CVS-server?

There are several windows-clients for CVS. I'm using one called TortoiseCVS. You can download it at http://www.tortoisecvs.org/. I used this version:

"Stable (for deployment) - TortoiseCVS1-2-2.exe - 2.6 Mb - 19th December 2002."

 

After you downloaded and installed it, you'll notice a new program folder in your start-menu. The curious thing is that it doesn't hold any programs, just something to change your preferences. Leave them at what they are for now.

 

Start up a Explorer window, and make a new folder where you want to keep your project files. I created one called D:\Projecten\Xenocide\ Open the folder you just created, and within the empty space of the folder (right side of the window, where you expect to see the files the folder holds) click on your RMB (Right-sided Mouse Button). You'll notice a couple of extra options that weren't there before.

 

Select "CVS checkout..."

 

A new window will open, called "TortoiseCVS - Checkout Module"

 

In the textbox that reads "CVSROOT", enter the next line:

 

:pserver:[email protected]:/cvsroot/xenocide

 

Don't forget the leading ":" Also, make sure that there are no leading or trailing spaces.

 

in the "Module" textbox (the bottom one) enter this:

 

xenoengine

 

After that, hit 'ok.' If everything goes well, you see a new window pop up, telling you that various files are being downloaded. After you got all files (the new window will display a line saying: "Success, CVS operation completed") you'll notice that a new folder has been created, and that that folder's icon has a light-green background to it.

 

You just downloaded your first module from the xenocide cvs-server! You downloaded this as an anonymous user, so you won't be able to upload anything back to the server. Feel free to make a mess of the downloaded code.

 

As far as I can tell, you need at least three of these modules:

 

xenoengine (that's the one we just did)

examples

utility

 

You can download (or "Check them out") the other two the same way as you did the first one.

 

So, how do I upload? Well, you don't. To upload (or "to Commit") you need a sourceforge account, and that account has to be given privileges to commit to the xenocide CVS-server. Ask one of the xenocide project-admins (not me) for that if you're serious about contributing code to the project. The project-admins can be found at the right side of the Xenocide SourceForge projectpage.

 

That's it for now. More on how to set up the default project IDE and compiler (so you can edit the code) later. Probably.

[Guus]

Please, comment on:

 

a) how usefull this document is (should I continue?).

spelling and grammar errors (I'm no native English speaker).

c) did it work for you?

d) ... anything else.

[mamutas]

I just want to mention here, that if you are a developer on the project, you will not be able to commit your changes into SourceForge CVS, if you are using pserver to login. SourceForge requirese you to use SSH for authentication. pserver login will allow you to access the repository in Read Only mode.

 

SourceForge.net has a good step by step guide to setup the client on your machine this page for developmet access.

[red knight]

It is good to have self motivation in this kind of projects, so good for you Guus, you have identified a common problem and go for it...

 

Just one clarification:

 

How do i upload if i dont have a Sourceforge account?

 

If you dont have a sourceforge account or you are not listed as a developer in Sourceforge you couldnt upload, so you have to send a mail to the programming mailing list with your patch of the code and some admin or developer will integrate that into the CVS code.

 

Greetings