Next: , Previous: ~/.cvsrc, Up: CVS commands



A.4 Global options

The available cvs_options (that are given to the left of cvs_command) are:

--allow-root=rootdir
Specify legal cvsroot directory. See Password authentication server.


-a
Authenticate all communication between the client and the server. Only has an effect on the cvs client. As of this writing, this is only implemented when using a GSSAPI connection (see GSSAPI authenticated). Authentication prevents certain sorts of attacks involving hijacking the active tcp connection. Enabling authentication does not enable encryption.


-b bindir
In cvs 1.9.18 and older, this specified that rcs programs are in the bindir directory. Current versions of cvs do not run rcs programs; for compatibility this option is accepted, but it does nothing.


-T tempdir
Use tempdir as the directory where temporary files are located. Overrides the setting of the $TMPDIR environment variable and any precompiled directory. This parameter should be specified as an absolute pathname. (When running client/server, -T affects only the local process; specifying -T for the client has no effect on the server and vice versa.)


-d cvs_root_directory
Use cvs_root_directory as the root directory pathname of the repository. Overrides the setting of the $CVSROOT environment variable. See Repository.


-e editor
Use editor to enter revision log information. Overrides the setting of the $CVSEDITOR and $EDITOR environment variables. For more information, see Committing your changes.
-f
Do not read the ~/.cvsrc file. This option is most often used because of the non-orthogonality of the cvs option set. For example, the cvs log option -N (turn off display of tag names) does not have a corresponding option to turn the display on. So if you have -N in the ~/.cvsrc entry for log, you may need to use -f to show the tag names.
-H
--help
Display usage information about the specified cvs_command (but do not actually execute the command). If you don't specify a command name, cvs -H displays overall help for cvs, including a list of other help options.


-n
Do not change any files. Attempt to execute the cvs_command, but only to issue reports; do not remove, update, or merge any existing files, or create any new files.

Note that cvs will not necessarily produce exactly the same output as without -n. In some cases the output will be the same, but in other cases cvs will skip some of the processing that would have been required to produce the exact same output.

-Q
Cause the command to be really quiet; the command will only generate output for serious problems.
-q
Cause the command to be somewhat quiet; informational messages, such as reports of recursion through subdirectories, are suppressed.


-r
Make new working files read-only. Same effect as if the $CVSREAD environment variable is set (see Environment variables). The default is to make working files writable, unless watches are on (see Watches).
-s variable=value
Set a user variable (see Variables).


-t
Trace program execution; display messages showing the steps of cvs activity. Particularly useful with -n to explore the potential impact of an unfamiliar command.
-v
--version
Display version and copyright information for cvs.


-w
Make new working files read-write. Overrides the setting of the $CVSREAD environment variable. Files are created read-write by default, unless $CVSREAD is set or -r is given.
-x
Encrypt all communication between the client and the server. Only has an effect on the cvs client. As of this writing, this is only implemented when using a GSSAPI connection (see GSSAPI authenticated) or a Kerberos connection (see Kerberos authenticated). Enabling encryption implies that message traffic is also authenticated. Encryption support is not available by default; it must be enabled using a special configure option, --enable-encryption, when you build cvs.
-z gzip-level
Set the compression level. Valid levels are 1 (high speed, low compression) to 9 (low speed, high compression), or 0 to disable compression (the default). Only has an effect on the cvs client.