The easiest way to obtain the uClinux-dist through CVS is to use the uClinux.org's anonymous CVS access. This will provide read only access to the CVS repository and access to any updates that are added to the repository.

Before using anonymous CVS to get the tree you must do a "cvs login". Run the following command and when it asks for a password just press <Enter>.

   cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.uclinux.org:/var/cvs login

This sets up the appropriate authorisations to run the following CVS commands. Now we can get a copy of non-kernel portions of the uClinux-dist by running a CVS checkout. Note that the uClinux-dist is a large source tree and such a check out will take quite some time even using a relatively fast link. A checked out tree may run up to about 270Mb. The following CVS commands use compression, but the download size will still be quite large.

   cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.uclinux.org:/var/cvs checkout -P uClinux-dist

This will create a new directory called "uClinux-dist" in the current directory. This directory is the top level directory of the uClinux-dist and contains all the target, application and library source code. Before you can go any further you will also need to checkout a kernel. If you already have a kernel from CVS then instructions are included below for that as well. Firstly:

   cd uClinux-dist

If you do not have a current CVS kernel to use then checkout either or both of the 2.0 or 2.4 kernels with the following commands:

   cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.uclinux.org:/var/cvs checkout -d linux-2.0.x -P uClinux-2.0.x
   cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.uclinux.org:/var/cvs checkout -d linux-2.4.x -P uClinux-2.4.x

This checks out a copy of the uClinux kernels and names the directories either linux-2.0.x or linux-2.4.x as the uClinux-dist expects. If you already have a uClinux kernel from CVS then you can rename the directory or link it to the current directory. For example, if you had a copy in ~/uClinux-2.4.x, run the following command to sym-link the directory into the tree.

   ln -s ~/uClinux-2.4.x linux-2.4.x

For instructions on compiling and using the uClinux-dist consult the README file in the toplevel uClinux-dist directory and the other documentation in the Documentation directory.

Now that you have a copy of the sources from CVS there are a couple of things that you may wish to do. Firstly, when an announcement of an update is posted on uCdot or the uClinux-dev mailing list you will want to update your files. You can do this by running the following command from the uClinux-dist directory:

   cvs -z3 update -Pd

If you want to generate a patch to share your changes with other people then the following command run from the uClinux-dist directory will generate a patch compatible diff for use by others. It will not include added files so you will have to include those yourself.

   cvs -z3 diff -u


If you want to check which files will be changed before you actually do
an update you can run the following command to list the actions but not
make any changes:


   cvs -n -z3 update -Pd



To check the actual changes you can always generate a diff against the
current CVS version with:


   cvs -z3 diff -rHEAD -u



A lot more information on how to use CVS can be found at the
Home of CVS.  Now that you are using CVS you may want to subscribe to the uClinux-cvs mailing list for notifications of changes (details on uClinux.org).  Don't forget that if
CVS is not for you,  the latest version of the uClinux-dist will always be
available for download from
http://www.uclinux.org/pub/uClinux/dist/.



If you have changes, suggestions or corrections to make to this document
feel free to send them to me.




Cheers,

Davidm