MarcFournierTomLaneThomasLockhartDavidFetter1999-05-20The Source Code Repository
The PostgreSQL source code is stored and managed using the
CVS version control system. An official mirror using
Git is also available, for those who wish to use a
distributed version control system. This mirror is automatically
updated whenever the main repository changes, so it always contains the latest
versions of all branches.
Using git> is the most flexible way to work with the source, and it
allows you to work offline without having constant access to the project servers.
rsync> based cvs> also lets you work offline, but
lacks many of the other advantages of git>.
Our Wiki, and
,
has additional details on working with CVS and Git.
Getting The Source Via Git>
With git> you will make a copy of the entire code repository
to your local machine, so you will have access to all history and branches
offline. This is the fastest and most flexible way to develop or test
patches.
Git
You will need an installed version of git>, which you can get
from . Many systems also have a recent
version of git> installed by default, or available in their
package repository system.
To being using the git repository, make a clone of the official mirror:
git clone git://git.postgresql.org/git/postgresql.git
This will copy the full repository to your local machine, so it may take
a while to complete, especially if you have a slow internet connection.
The git mirror can also be reached via the http protocol in case for example
a firewall is blocking access to the git protocol. Just replace the URL
like:
git clone http://git.postgresql.org/git/postgresql.git
The http protocol is less efficient than the git protocol, so it will be
slightly slower to use.
Whenever you want to get the latest updates in the system, cd>
into the repository, and run:
git fetch
git> can do a lot more things than just fetch the source. For
more information, consult the man pages for the product, or the website at
>.
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
You will need a local copy of CVS
(Concurrent Version Control System), which you can get from
(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(often somewhat outdated).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.
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.
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.
This initial checkout is a little slower than simply downloading
a tar.gz file. The advantage of CVS>
doesn't show up until you want to update the file set later on.
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.
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 option to all cvs> commands, and the
and 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 .
CVS has deficiencies. For example,
generating diffs that add or remove files requires write access to the
CVS repository. To work around that deficiency, use
cvsutils, which is packaged in several
operating systems, and is available in source form at , or use git>
or another system designed to work offline.
Note that building PostgreSQL from a CVS
pull requires reasonably up-to-date versions of bison>
and flex>, which are not needed to build from a distribution
tarball because the files made with them are pre-built in a tarball.
You will need Perl as well.
Otherwise the tool requirements are the same as building from source.
Getting The Source Via rsync
An alternative to using anonymous CVS for retrieving the
PostgreSQL source tree is
rsync, an incremental file transfer tool.
A major advantage to using rsync instead of
plain cvs> is that it
can reliably replicate the entire CVS repository
on your local system, allowing fast local access to cvs>
operations such as and .
Other advantages include fast synchronization to the
PostgreSQL server due to an efficient
streaming transfer protocol which only sends the changes since the last
update.
You can download the CVS repository using this command:
rsync -avzH --delete anoncvs.postgresql.org::pgsql-cvs cvsroot/
For full instructions, see the "rsync" section in the
pgbuildfarm instructions.