Upgrading a ViewCVS Installation

This document describes some of the things that you will need to consider, change, or handle when upgrading an existing ViewCVS installation to a newer version.

Upgrading from an ancient version of ViewCVS to the latest version isn't necessarily a multi step process. The instructions are only organized that way. You can certainly upgrade in a single step.

It is always recommended to install the new version in a fresh directory and to carefully compare the configuration files. A possible approach is to name the directories /usr/local/viewcvs-0.6, /usr/local/viewcvs-0.7 and so on and than create a symbolic link viewcvs pointing to the production version. This way you can easily test several versions and switch back, if your users start to complain.

• Upgrading from ViewCVS 0.9
• Upgrading from ViewCVS 0.8
• Upgrading from ViewCVS 0.7 or earlier

Upgrading from ViewCVS 0.9

This section discusses how to upgrade ViewCVS 0.9 to version 1.0 or a later version of the software.

CGI Stubs

The CGI stub scripts haved been moved from <VIEWCVS_INSTALLATION_DIRECTORY>/cgi/ to <VIEWCVS_INSTALLATION_DIRECTORY>/www/cgi/, so you will need update any ScriptAlias directives pointing to them in your apache configuration. Also, the contents of these scripts have changed, so you may need to replace copies of the old scripts you put in other directories.

Checkin Database

ViewCVS 1.0 reads and writes commit times in the MySQL database in UTC time rather than local time. This can cause times displayed on the query page to be a few hours off if an old database is being used with a new version of ViewCVS. The best way to fix this is to rebuild the database with the new version of cvsdbadmin, but it it is also possible to enable a backwards compatibility mode by setting utc_time = 0 at the top of lib/dbi.py

Removed Template Variables

directory.ezt and dir_alternate.ezt: params

Replaced with new search_tag_hidden_values variable.

graph.ezt: request.url

Replaced with new imagesrc variable.

graph.ezt: request.where

Replaced with path variable.

header.ezt: qquery

Combined into file_url variable.

markup.ezt: utc_date, href, and text_href

Replaced with new date_str, download_href>, and download_text_href variables.

log.ezt and log_table.ezt: href, query, qquery, head_href, head_abs_href, entries.href, and entries.text_href

Replaced with new entries.annotate_href, diff_url, diff_params, diff_select_action, branch_select_action, logsort_action, view_href, download_href, download_text_href, entries.download_href, and entries.download_text_href variables.

New Template Variables

All files: roottype

String denoting the type of the current repository. Either "cvs" or "svn".

All files: icons

Web path to directory containing apache icon files.

All files: docroot

Web path to directory containing ViewCVS static files (files in <VIEWCVS_INSTALLATION_DIRECTORY>/doc)

graph.ezt: imagesrc

String contain URL for graph image.

markup.ezt: date_str

String representing checkin date

markup.ezt: download_href and download_text_href

New variables for links.

log.ezt and log_table.ezt: entries.filename, entries.size, entries.copy_path, entries.copy_rev, entries.copy_href, entries.prev_path, and entries.revision_href

New attributes for Subversion revisions.

log.ezt and log_table.ezt: view_href, download_href, download_text_href, entries.download_href, and entries.download_text_href

New variables for links.

New Template Form Variables

Each HTML form that appears in ViewCVS templates is now associated with 2 new variables which should be used to determine its ACTION value and its hidden field values. Forms using the new variables look like

      <form method=get action="[my_form_action]">
        [my_form_hidden_values]
        ... form widgets go here ...
      </form>
    

Here is a list of the new variable names and the forms they are associated with:

Other Template Changes

In directory.ezt and dir_alternate.ezt

• A new form for changing the current directory revision is displayed for subversion directories.
• A new form that controls paging is displayed when cfg.options.use_pagesize is not 0
• The sorting links and "hide attic" link are no longer prefixed with "./"
• The revision number links no longer need "content-type=text/vnd.viewcvs-markup" suffixes.
• The link to Attic/ is only displayed for CVS roots
• Directory rows.name values no longer have trailing slashes

In log.ezt and log_table.ezt

• "Default branch" section moved into include/branch.ezt and is only displayed for CVS roots
• "Current tag" section moved into include/view_tag.ezt and is only displayed for CVS roots
• "Changes since" is only displayed for cvs roots
• New paging form is included from include/paging.ezt
• Arbitrary diff form moved into include/diff_form.ezt
• Branch select form moved into include/branch_form.ezt
• Log sort form moved into include/sort.ezt

Upgrading from ViewCVS 0.8

This section discusses how to upgrade ViewCVS 0.8 to version 0.9 or a later version of the software.

NOTE: these changes will bring you up to the requirements of version 0.9. You must also follow the directions for upgrading from 0.9.

Configuration Options

More templates were introduced in version 0.8 of the software, which made many of the configuration options obsolete. This section covers which options were removed. If you made any changes to these options, then you will need to make corresponding changes in the templates.

Colors: diff_heading, diff_empty, diff_remove, diff_change, diff_add, and diff_dark_change

These options have been incorporated into the diff.ezt template.

markup_log

This option has been incorporated into the markup.ezt template.

Colors: nav_header and alt_background

These options have been incorporated into the header.ezt template.

Images: back_icon, dir_icon, and file_icon

These options have been incorporated into the directory.ezt, header.ezt, log.ezt, log_table.ezt, and query.ezt templates.

use_java_script and open_extern_window

The templates now use JavaScript in all applicable places, and open external windows for most downloading and viewing of files. If you wish to not use JavaScript and/or external windows, then remove the feature(s) from the templates.

show_author

Changing this option would be quite strange and rare. If you do not want to show the author for the revisions, then you should remove it from the various templates.

hide_non_readable

This option was never used, so it has been removed.

flip_links_in_dirview

This option is no longer available. If you want the links in your directory view flipped, then you may use the dir_alternate.ezt template.

Template Variables

Some template variables that were available in 0.8 have been removed in 0.9. If you have custom templates that refer to these variables, then you will need to modify your templates.

directory.ezt: headers

The headers are now listed explicitly in the template, rather than made available through a list.

directory.ezt: rows.cols, and rows.span

These variables were used in conjunction with the headers variable to control the column displays. This is now controlled explicitly within the templates.

directory.ezt: rev_in_front

This was used to indicate that revision links should be used in the first column, rather than in their standard place in the second column. Changing the links should now be done in the template, rather than according to this variable. You may want to look at the dir_alternate.ezt template, which has the revision in front.

directory.ezt: rows.attic and rows.hide_attic_href

These variable were used to manage the hide and showing of the contents of the Attic/ subdirectory. Several new variables were introduced which can be used to replace this functionality: show_attic_href, hide_attic_href, and rows.state.

Upgrading from ViewCVS 0.7 or earlier

This section discusses how to upgrade ViewCVS 0.7, or earlier, to 0.8 or a later version of the software.

NOTE: these changes will bring you up to the requirements of version 0.8. You must also follow the directions for upgrading from 0.8.

Configuration Options

The largest change from 0.7 to 0.8, that you will need to deal with, is the introduction of templates. This shifted many configuration file options into the templates, for more direct editing of the output style, colors, and layout. Below is a list of options that no longer exist, and where you can find their counterpart in the current version of ViewCVS.

The following options have all been removed in ViewCVS 0.8. If you made local changes to your ViewCVS configuration, then you will need to edit templates in the templates/ subdirectory.

The [text] section: short_intro, long_intro, and doc_info

These options have been incorporated into the doc/help_rootview.html page and the doc/help_dirview.html page.

repository_info

This option is now incorporated into the directory.ezt template.

table_padding

The table padding values can be changed in the directory.ezt template.

table_border

Edit directory.ezt to add a border around the directory table.

column_header_normal and column_header_sorted

Edit directory.ezt to modify the colors of the column headers.

extern_window_width and extern_window_height

These options were never used and have been removed.

logo

Edit the templates directly (directory.ezt, log.ezt or log_table.ezt and if needed query.ezt) to alter the URL and size of your logo.

allow_version_select

Edit the log.ezt template if you want to remove the link which allows the user to select a revision for a diff.

input_text_size

Edit the log.ezt template if you want to change the size of the entry box for revisions for performing diffs.

even_odd

Edit the directory.ezt and query.ezt templates if you want to change the colors of the rows in the directory and query result tables.

Colors: text and background

These options have been incorporated into the directory.ezt, log.ezt, and log_table.ezt templates.