Source control with FreeVCS

Introduction

A Delphi-written closed source program for Windows that is now sort of open-source ("Although this is Freeware, it's not Public Domain. All rights remains to the authors.") Its name is currently being changed to JediVCS (june 2003.) Until the transition is made to the latter project, FreeVCS can be found here. The repository lives in a SQL database; Options currently supported are either two- or three-tier solutions : DBISAM 2.x, FlashFiler, Interbase 5.x, Interbase 6 (Firebird), Oracle 7.x/8.x, MSSQL 7/2000, Informix & MySQL. Note that a server side BDE installation is required when using SQL-Links-based SQL Servers (eg. Oracle, IB5, Informix.)

Three clients are available:

Setup

The connection between the FreeVCS server and clients requires TCP/IP.

Server

Stand-alone

  1. Download the server setup file, eg. "DBISAM server 1.09", and unzip in an empty folder, eg. "C:\Program Files\FreeVCSSrv\". Make sure you do copy servercrypt.dll, even if you don't want to use encrypted connections between the server and the clients
  2. Create a data directory, eg. C:\FreeVCS, and unzip dbiarch.zip into this data directory
  3. Copy and launch fvcsappserver.exe
  4. Tell FreeVCS where to save its database

NT Service

  1. Create an empty folder to contain the FreeVCS service, eg. "C:\Program Files\FreeVCSSrv\"
  2. Download the service package (eg. "DBISAM NT service 1.09"), and copy its content into the folder you just created. Make sure you do NOT copy servercrypt.dll, as this file goes in WINNT\SYSTEM32 (steps follow...)
  3. Create a data directory, eg. C:\FreeVCS, and unzip dbiarch.zip into this data directory
  4. Download the Control Panel applet (eg. "Control panel applet 1.05"), and copy its content into winnt\system32\
  5. Open Control Panel, run "FreeVCS NT service", and click on the DBMS tab
  6. If using DBISAM, just aim at the directory where you unzipped dbiarch.zip, eg. C:\FreeVCS. Do NOT click on OK yet.
  7. Select the Service tab, and click on the Install button: Tell the installer where you copied FVCSNTService.exe (eg. "C:\Program Files\FreeVCSSrv\")
  8. If the service was succesfully installed, start the service by clicking on the "Start" button. By default, the service is launched automatically at boot time
  9. Click on OK to close the Control Panel applet.

Note:

To create an empty SQL database for the standard FreeVCS administrator, run the SQL script ‘stdvalues.sql’.

Client

  1. Download and run the client installer, eg. fvcs_exe221.exe. If you indeed to install a client where the FreeVCS server/service is already installed, you can install the client in the same folder; Personally, I prefer to use two folders
  2. Launch the client application
  3. Type the server's IP address (or hostname) and (optionaly) the port number on which the server is listening (default = 2106)
  4. Log on as sysdba/admin
  5. Change the password in Project manager: Archive > Administration > Userlist

Usage

Creating a project and adding files

  1. Launch FreeVCS' Project Manager
  2. Project | New...
  3. Enter a name for this project, and confirm that you want FreeVCS to check that it matches the naming convention of the OS (you can check "Don't show this message again")
  4. Type a description
  5. "Would you like to assign the project to a group?"
  6. Once the project has been created, add files to it : Either "Module | Add" or "Module | Add by folder"
  7. Type a comment, and hit Check-in

Removing a project

  1. Project | Project Hierarchy
  2. Right-click on the project you want to delete, and select "Remove Project"

Q&A

"Not absolutely necessary, but highly recommended (apart from version control) is to put each project in a separate directory"?

How to I remove a project?

I didn't create a group to hold this new project, and I can't remove it through Project | Project Hierarchy | Remove Project

I'm using a W2K workstation as a stand-alone setup

If you intend to install the server/service and client parts on the same server, you might want to use the host's actual IP address instead of 127.0.0.1: " In W2K, make sure that the servers IP address in the login dialog is set to the real one (in the local network). Localhost or 127.0.0.1 as the server's target IP is worse and may lead to strange connection problems!"

How to back up data?

You should back up the archive folder and the "Config/" subdirectory where FreeVCS is installed.

Resources