Chapter 3. Get the Source

Table of Contents

Getting the Source Code from the CVS Repository
Anonymous CVS Access
Developers with Commit Access
Getting a Snapshot of the Source Code

As an open source product, the VR Juggler source code is freely available to anyone who wants to use it. In this chapter, we explain how to get the source. There are two ways to get the VR Juggler source code:

  1. Get the source directly from the CVS repository.

  2. Download a snapshot of the source code as a TAR file from the “Download” page.

Both methods are described in this section, though the second is mostly self-explanatory.

Getting the Source Code from the CVS Repository

Before you can use CVS to get the source code, you must be sure that CVS itself is set up properly on your system. Depending on your platform, CVS may be available in several different forms. The most common version is the original command-line interface. If CVS is not available on your system, you can get the source from CVShome.org. This version is available for all platforms including Win32. For graphical interfaces, you can choose from the following:

  • MacCVS/WinCVS: A freely available front-end for CVS available from WinCvs.org

  • jCVS: A CVS client written in Java available from jCVS.org

  • tkCVS: A Tcl/Tk-based interface to CVS available from Two BarleyCorns

Once you have CVS running in some form, you are ready to download the source from the VR Juggler repository, hosted at SourceForge. The instructions given here are from the CVS section VR Juggler project page and are subject to change if the SourceForge policies change. Note that there are two sets of directions on that page: one for anonymous access and one for developers with commit access. Each of those is discussed in the following subsections.

Anonymous CVS Access

Anonymous CVS access is for those who want the latest source code but do not have commit access. This would include developers who are working on patches they wish to submit for addition to the source base. As of this writing, the following are the basic instructions for anonymous CVS access:

  1. Log in” to the SourceForge CVS server. This step only has to be done the first time you access the repository. Afterward, the login setting is saved in your $HOME/.cvspass file.

    % cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.vrjuggler.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/vrjuggler login
  2. Check out a copy of the current VR Juggler source tree:

    % cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.vrjuggler.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/vrjuggler checkout juggler

    If what you really want is the VR Juggler 1.0 release branch instead of the developmental main branch, use the following command:

    % cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.vrjuggler.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/vrjuggler checkout -rRELENG_1_0 juggler_1.0

    (The string RELENG_1_0 is the name of the branch in the CVS repository containing the VR Juggler 1.0 release code. “RELENG” means “release engineering”.)

    Note

    Two different CVS modules are used in the above examples: juggler and juggler_1.0. This arises from the restructuring of the repository that occurred as part of the VR Juggler 1.1 evolution. In the juggler_1.0 module, only the RELENG_1_0 branch is still used. For more information about the branches, please refer to the information on the public Wiki site.

Once you have the source checked out, you can use CVS as you normally would keeping in mind that you have read-only access to the repository when using anonymous access.

You may find it useful to retain the CVSROOT value rather than always giving the -d option on the command line. Setting the $CVSROOT environment variable does just that. Defining a shell alias such as cvsjuggler that sets the environment variable is the recommended method.

Developers with Commit Access

For those developers with commit access, the steps are slightly different. You must have some version of SSH installed to access the repository as a developer. This is required by SourceForge, and we (the VR Juggler Team) have no control over this. The steps then to get a read/write copy of the VR Juggler source tree are as follows:

  1. Set the environment variable $CVS_RSH to use ssh(1).

    % CVS_RSH = ssh

    (Note that this is using the shell-independent environment variable syntax defined in the Getting Started Guide.) It is recommended that you set this environment variable in your shell's configuration appropriate configuration file or as part of an alias that configures your environment to work with the VR Juggler CVS repository.

  2. Check out the source using your SourceForge login name.

    % cvs -dlogin_name@cvs.vrjuggler.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/vrjuggler checkout juggler

    Be sure to use the appropriate branch name.

Note that there is no login step in this case. Your SourceForge password is required for all CVS commands.

After this point, you can access the CVS repository as though it is a normal, local repository. As with the anonymous CVS access, you can set the $CVSROOT environment variable to the value given with the -d option above. For further information about using SSH with SourceForge, please refer to the appropriate SSH documentation and to SourceForge's documentation.