PostgreSQL 8.2.11 Documentation
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# F.1. Getting The Source Via Anonymous CVS

If you would like to keep up with the current sources on a regular basis, you can fetch them from our CVS server and then use CVS to retrieve updates from time to time.

Anonymous CVS

1. You will need a local copy of CVS (Concurrent Version Control System), which you can get from http://www.nongnu.org/cvs/ (the official site with the latest version) or any GNU software archive site (often somewhat outdated). Many systems have a recent version of cvs installed by default.

2. Do an initial login to the CVS server:

       cvs -d :pserver:anoncvs@anoncvs.postgresql.org:/projects/cvsroot login

   You will be prompted for a password; you can enter anything except an empty string.

   You should only need to do this once, since the password will be saved in `.cvspass` in your home directory.

3. Fetch the PostgreSQL sources:

       cvs -z3 -d :pserver:anoncvs@anoncvs.postgresql.org:/projects/cvsroot co -P pgsql

   This installs the PostgreSQL sources into a subdirectory `pgsql` of the directory you are currently in.

   > Note: If you have a fast link to the Internet, you may not need `-z3`, which instructs CVS to use `gzip` compression for transferred data. But on a modem-speed link, it's a very substantial win.

   This initial checkout is a little slower than simply downloading a `tar.gz` file; expect it to take 40 minutes or so if you have a 28.8K modem. The advantage of CVS doesn't show up until you want to update the file set later on.

4. Whenever you want to update to the latest CVS sources, `cd` into the `pgsql` subdirectory, and issue

       cvs -z3 update -d -P

   This will fetch only the changes since the last time you updated. You can update in just a couple of minutes, typically, even over a modem-speed line.

5. You can save yourself some typing by making a file `.cvsrc` in your home directory that contains

       cvs -z3
       update -d -P

   This supplies the `-z3` option to all `cvs` commands, and the `-d` and `-P` options to `cvs update`. Then you just have to say

       cvs update

   to update your files.

CVS can do a lot of other things, such as fetching prior revisions of the PostgreSQL sources rather than the latest development version. For more info consult the manual that comes with CVS, or see the online documentation at http://www.nongnu.org/cvs/.

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