Chapter 11. Data management

Table of Contents

11.1. Sharing, copying, and archiving
11.1.1. Archive and compression tools
11.1.2. Copy and synchronization tools
11.1.3. Idioms for the archive
11.1.4. Idioms for the copy
11.1.5. Idioms for the selection of files
11.1.6. Backup and recovery
11.1.7. Backup utility suites
11.1.8. An example script for the system backup
11.1.9. A copy script for the data backup
11.1.10. Removable mass storage device
11.1.11. Sharing data via network
11.1.12. Archive media
11.2. The binary data
11.2.1. Make the disk image file
11.2.2. Writing directly to the disk
11.2.3. View and edit binary data
11.2.4. Mount the disk image file
11.2.5. Manipulating files without mounting disk
11.2.6. Make the ISO9660 image file
11.2.7. Writing directly to the CD/DVD-R/RW
11.2.8. Mount the ISO9660 image file
11.2.9. Split a large file into small files
11.2.10. Clear file contents
11.2.11. Dummy files
11.2.12. Erase entire harddisk
11.2.13. Undelete deleted but still open file
11.2.14. Searching all hardlinks
11.2.15. Invisible disk space consumption
11.3. Data security infrastructure
11.3.1. Key management for Gnupg
11.3.2. Using GnuPG with files
11.3.3. Using GnuPG with Mutt
11.3.4. Using GnuPG with Vim
11.3.5. The MD5 sum
11.4. Source code merge tools
11.4.1. Extract differences for source files
11.4.2. Merge updates for source files
11.4.3. 3 way merge updates
11.5. Version control systems
11.5.1. Native VCS commands
11.5.2. CVS
11.5.2.1. Installing a CVS server
11.5.2.2. Use local CVS server
11.5.2.3. Use remote CVS pserver
11.5.2.4. Anonymous CVS (download only)
11.5.2.5. Use remote CVS through ssh
11.5.2.6. Create a new CVS archive
11.5.2.7. Work with CVS
11.5.2.8. Export files from CVS
11.5.2.9. Administer CVS
11.5.2.10. File permissions in repository
11.5.2.11. Execution bit
11.5.3. Subversion
11.5.3.1. Installing a Subversion server
11.5.3.2. Setting up a repository
11.5.3.3. Configuring Apache2
11.5.3.4. Subversion usage examples
11.5.3.5. Create a new Subversion archive
11.5.3.6. Working with Subversion
11.5.4. Git
11.5.4.1. Before using Git
11.5.4.2. Git references
11.5.4.3. Git commands
11.5.4.4. Git for recording configuration history

11.1. Sharing, copying, and archiving

The security of the data and its controlled sharing have several aspects:

  • the creation of data archive,

  • the remote storage access,

  • the duplication,

  • the tracking of the modification history,

  • the facilitation of data sharing,

  • the prevention of unauthorized file access, and

  • the detection of unauthorized file modification.

These can be realized by using some combination of:

  • the archive and compression tools,

  • the copy and synchronization tools,

  • the network file system,

  • the removable storage media,

  • the secure shell,

  • the authentication system,

  • the version control system tools, and

  • hash and cryptographic encryption tools.

11.1.1. Archive and compression tools

Here is a summary of archive and compression tools available on the Debian system:

Table 11.1.  List of archive and compression tools.

package

popcon

size

command

comment

extension

tar

V:57, I:99

2320

tar(1)

the standard archiver (de facto standard)

.tar

cpio

V:24, I:99

696

cpio(1)

Unix System V style archiver, use with find command

.cpio

binutils

V:36, I:85

7912

ar(1)

archiver for the creation of static libraries

.ar

fastjar

V:11, I:27

220

fastjar(1)

archiver for Java (zip like)

.jar

pax

V:0.7, I:5

156

pax(1)

new POSIX standard archiver, compromise between tar and cpio

.pax

afio

V:0.4, I:1.9

240

afio(1)

extended cpio with per-file compression etc.

.afio

gzip

V:86, I:99

288

gzip(1), zcat(1), ...

GNU LZ77 compression utility (de facto standard)

.gz

bzip2

V:51, I:81

132

bzip2(1), bzcat(1), ...

Burrows-Wheeler block-sorting compression utility with higher compression ratio than gzip(1) (slower than gzip with similar syntax)

.bz2

lzma

V:4, I:34

172

lzma(1)

LZMA compression utility with higher compression ratio than gzip(1) (slower than gzip with similar syntax)

.lzma

p7zip

V:2, I:16

988

7zr(1), p7zip(1)

7-Zip file archiver with high compression ratio (LZMA compression)

.7z

p7zip-full

V:2, I:15

3180

7z(1), 7za(1)

7-Zip file archiver with high compression ratio (LZMA compression and others)

.7z

lzop

V:1.2, I:8

144

lzop(1)

LZO compression utility with higher compression and decompression speed than gzip(1) (lower compression ratio than gzip with similar syntax)

.lzo

zip

V:9, I:65

276

zip(1)

InfoZIP: DOS archive and compression tool

.zip

unzip

V:22, I:74

348

unzip(1)

InfoZIP: DOS unarchive and decompression tool

.zip


[Note] Note

The gzipped .tar archive sometimes uses the file extension .tgz.

[Note] Note

The cp, scp and tar may have some limitation for special files. The cpio and afio are most versatile.

[Note] Note

The cpio and afio commands are designed to be used with the find and other commands and suitable for creating backup scripts since the file selection part of the script can be tested independently.

[Note] Note

afio compresses each file in the archive. This makes afio to be much safer for the file corruption than the globally compressed tar or cpio archives and to be the best archive engine for the backup script.

[Note] Note

Internal structure of OpenOffice data files are .jar file.

11.1.2. Copy and synchronization tools

Here is a summary of simple copy and backup tools available on the Debian system:

Table 11.2.  List of copy and synchronization tools.

package

popcon

size

tool

function

coreutils

V:87, I:99

11448

GNU cp

Locally copy files and directories ("-a" for recursive).

openssh-client

V:54, I:98

2080

scp

Remotely copy files and directories (client). "-r" for recursive.

openssh-server

V:60, I:72

812

sshd

Remotely copy files and directories (remote server).

rsync

V:14, I:37

616

-

1-way remote synchronization and backup.

unison

V:0.9, I:3

1432

-

2-way remote synchronization and backup.

pdumpfs

V:0.08, I:0.19

148

-

Daily local backup using hardlinks, similar to Plan9's dumpfs.


[Tip] Tip

Execution of the bkup script mentioned in Section 11.1.9, “A copy script for the data backup” with the "-gl" option under cron(8) should provide very similar functionality as pdumpfs for the static data archive.

[Tip] Tip

Version control system (VCS) tools in Table 11.14, “ List of version control system tools. ” can function as the multi-way copy and synchronization tools.

11.1.3. Idioms for the archive

Here are several ways to archive and unarchive the entire contents of the directory /source.

With GNU tar:

$ tar cvzf archive.tar.gz /source
$ tar xvzf archive.tar.gz

With cpio:

$ find /source -xdev -print0 | cpio -ov --null > archive.cpio; gzip archive.cpio
$ zcat archive.cpio.gz | cpio -i

With afio:

$ find /source -xdev -print0 | afio -ovZ0 archive.afio
$ afio -ivZ archive.afio

11.1.4. Idioms for the copy

Here are several ways to copy the entire contents of the directory

  • from /source to /dest , and

  • from /source at local to /dest at user@host.dom.

With GNU cp and openSSH scp:

# cp -a /source /dest
# scp -pr /source user@host.dom:/dest

With GNU tar:

# (cd /source && tar cf - . ) | (cd /dest && tar xvfp - )
# (cd /source && tar cf - . ) | ssh user@host.dom '(cd /dest && tar xvfp - )'

With cpio:

# cd /source; find . -print0 | cpio -pvdm --null --sparse /dest

With afio:

# cd /source; find . -print0 | afio -pv0a /dest

The scp command can even copy files between remote hosts:

# scp -pr user1@host1.dom:/source user2@host2.dom:/dest

11.1.5. Idioms for the selection of files

The find(1) command is used to select files for archive and copy commands (see Section 11.1.3, “Idioms for the archive” and Section 11.1.4, “Idioms for the copy”) or for the xargs(1) command (see Section 10.5.9, “Repeating a command looping over files”). This can be enhanced by using its command arguments.

Basic syntax of find(1) can be summarized as:

  • Its conditional arguments are evaluated from left to right.

  • This evaluation stops once its outcome is determined.

  • "Logical OR" (specified by "-o" between conditionals) has lower precedence than "logical AND" (specified by "-a" or nothing between conditionals).

  • "Logical NOT" (specified by "!" before a conditional) has higher precedence than "logical AND".

  • "-prune" always returns logical TRUE and, if it is a directory, searching of file is stopped beyond this point.

  • "-name" matches the base of the filename with shell glob (see Section 2.5.3, “Shell glob”) but it also matches its initial "." with metacharacters such as "*" and "?". (New POSIX feature)

  • "-regex" matches the full path with emacs style BRE (see Section 2.6.2, “Regular expressions”) as default.

  • "-size" matches the file based on the file size (value precedented with "+" for larger, precedented with "-" for smaller)

  • "-newer" matches the file newer than the one specified in its argument.

  • "-print0" always returns logical TRUE and print the full filename (null-terminated) on the standard output.

This find(1) command is often used with an idiomatic style. For example:

# find /path/to \
    -xdev -regextype posix-extended \
    -type f -regex ".*\.afio|.*~" -prune -o \
    -type d -regex ".*/\.git" -prune -o \
    -type f -size +99M -prune -o \
    -type f -newer /path/to/timestamp -print0

This means to do following actions:

  • search all files starting from "/path/to"

  • globally limit its search within its starting filesystem and uses ERE (see Section 2.6.2, “Regular expressions”) instead,

  • exclude files matching regex of ".*\.afio" or ".*~" from search by stop processing,

  • exclude directories matching regex of ".*/\.git" from search by stop processing,

  • exclude files larger than 99 Megabytes (units of 1048576 bytes) from search by stop processing, and

  • print filenames which satisfy above search conditions and newer than "/path/to/timestamp".

Please note the idiomatic use of "-prune -o" to exclude files in the above example.

[Note] Note

For non-Debian unix-like system, some options may not be supported for find(1). In such a case, please consider to adjust matching methods and replace "-print0" with "-print". You may need to adjust related commands too.

11.1.6. Backup and recovery

We all know that computers fail sometime or human errors cause system and data damages. Backup and recovery operations are the essential part of successful system administration. All possible failure modes will hit you some day.

There are 3 key factors which determine actual backup and recovery policy:

  1. Knowing what to backup and recover.
    • Data files directly created by you: data in /$HOME/

    • Data files created by applications used by you: data in /var/ (except /var/cache/, /var/run/, and /var/tmp/).

    • System configuration files: data in /etc/

    • Local softwares: data in /usr/local/ or /opt/

    • System installation information: a memo in plain text on key steps (partition, ...).

    • Proven set of data: experimenting with recovery operations in advance.

  2. Knowing how to backup and recover.
    • Secure storage of data: protection from overwrite and system failure.

    • Frequent backup: scheduled backup.

    • Redundant backup: data mirroring.

    • Fool proof process: easy single command backup.

  3. Assessing risks and costs involved.
    • Failure mode and their possibility.

    • Value of data when lost.

    • Required resources for backup: human, hardware, software, ...

As for secure storage of data, data should be at least on different disk partitions preferably on different disks and machines to withstand the filesystem corruption. Important data are best stored on a write-once media such as CD/DVD-R to prevent overwrite accidents. (See Section 11.2, “The binary data” for how to write to the storage media from the shell commandline. Gnome desktop GUI environment gives you easy access via menu: "Places->CD/DVD Creator".)

[Note] Note

You may wish to stop some application daemons such as MTA (see Section 7.2.5.1, “MTA”) while backing up data.

[Note] Note

You should pay extra care to the backup and restoration of identity related data files such as /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key, /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key, $HOME/.gnupg/*, $HOME/.ssh/*, /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow, /etc/fetchmailrc, popularity-contest.conf, /etc/ppp/pap-secrets, and /etc/exim4/passwd.client. Some of these data can not be regenerated by entering the same input string to the system.

[Note] Note

If you run a cron job as a user process, you need to restart it after the system restoration. See Section 10.5.14, “Schedule tasks regularly” for cron(8) and crontab(1).

11.1.7. Backup utility suites

Here is a select list of notable backup utility suites available on the Debian system:

Table 11.3.  List of backup suite utilities.

package

popcon

size

description

sbackup

V:0.11, I:0.3

488

Simple Backup Suite for Gnome desktop

keep

V:0.2, I:0.7

1196

backup system for KDE

rdiff-backup

V:1.2, I:3

764

remote incremental backup

backupninja

V:0.3, I:0.4

408

lightweight, extensible meta-backup system

mondo

V:0.14, I:0.9

1172

Mondo Rescue: disaster recovery backup suite

bacula-common

V:0.9, I:1.9

832

Bacula: network backup, recovery and verification - common support files

bacula-client

I:0.9

60

Bacula: network backup, recovery and verification - client meta-package

bacula-console

V:0.3, I:1.1

340

Bacula: network backup, recovery and verification - text console

bacula-server

I:0.5

60

Bacula: network backup, recovery and verification - server meta-package

amanda-common

V:0.4, I:1.0

3132

Amanda: Advanced Maryland Automatic Network Disk Archiver (Libs)

amanda-client

V:0.3, I:0.9

560

Amanda: Advanced Maryland Automatic Network Disk Archiver (Client)

amanda-server

V:0.14, I:0.4

1264

Amanda: Advanced Maryland Automatic Network Disk Archiver (Server)

cdrw-taper

V:0.00, I:0.08

172

taper replacement for Amanda to support backups to CD-RW or DVD+RW

backuppc

V:0.6, I:0.8

2082

BackupPC is a high-performance, enterprise-grade system for backing up PCs (disk based)

backup-manager

V:0.4, I:0.5

508

command-line backup tool

backup2l

V:0.2, I:0.3

140

low-maintenance backup/restore tool for mountable media (disk based)

faubackup

V:0.2, I:0.2

156

backup system using a filesystem for storage (disk based)


The sbackup and keep packages provide easy GUI access to regular backups of user data for desktop users. An equivalent function can be realized by a simple script (Section 11.1.8, “An example script for the system backup”) and cron(8).

Mondo Rescue facilitates restoration of complete system from backup CD/DVD etc. without going through normal system installation processes.

Bacula, Amanda, and BackupPC are full featured backup suite utilities which are focused on regular backups over network.

11.1.8. An example script for the system backup

For a personal Debian desktop system running unstable suite, I only need to protect personal and critical data. I reinstall system once a year anyway. Thus I see no reason to backup the whole system or to install a full featured backup utility.

I use a simple script to make a backup archive and burn it into CD/DVD using GUI. Here is an example script for this.

#!/bin/sh -e
# Copyright (C) 2007-2008 Osamu Aoki <osamu@debian.org>, Public Domain
BUUID=1000; USER=osamu # UID and name of a user who accesses backup files
BUDIR="/var/backups"
XDIR0=".+/Mail|.+/Desktop"
XDIR1=".+/\.thumbnails|.+/\.?Trash|.+/\.?[cC]ache|.+/\.gvfs|.+/sessions"
XDIR2=".+/CVS|.+/\.git|.+/\.svn|.+/Downloads|.+/Archive|.+/Checkout|.+/tmp"
XSFX=".+\.iso|.+\.tgz|.+\.tar\.gz|.+\.tar\.bz2|.+\.afio|.+\.tmp|.+\.swp|.+~"
SIZE="+99M"
DATE=$(date --utc +"%Y%m%d-%H%M")
[ -d "$BUDIR" ] || mkdir -p "BUDIR"
umask 077
dpkg --get-selections \* > /var/lib/dpkg/dpkg-selections.list
debconf-get-selections > /var/cache/debconf/debconf-selections

{
find /etc /usr/local /opt /var/lib/dpkg/dpkg-selections.list \
     /var/cache/debconf/debconf-selections -xdev -print0
find /home/$USER /root -xdev -regextype posix-extended \
  -type d -regex "$XDIR0|$XDIR1" -prune -o -type f -regex "$XSFX" -prune -o \
  -type f -size  "$SIZE" -prune -o -print0
find /home/$USER/Mail/Inbox /home/$USER/Mail/Outbox -print0
find /home/$USER/Desktop  -xdev -regextype posix-extended \
  -type d -regex "$XDIR2" -prune -o -type f -regex "$XSFX" -prune -o \
  -type f -size  "$SIZE" -prune -o -print0
} | cpio -ov --null -O $BUDIR/BU$DATE.cpio
chown $BUUID $BUDIR/BU$DATE.cpio
touch $BUDIR/backup.stamp

This is meant to be a script example executed from root:

[Tip] Tip

You can recover debconf configuration data with "debconf-set-selections debconf-selections" and dpkg selection data with "dpkg --set-selection <dpkg-selections.list".

11.1.9. A copy script for the data backup

For the set of data under a directory tree, the copy with "cp -a" provides the normal backup.

For the set of large non-overwritten static data under a directory tree such as the data under the /var/cache/apt/packages/ directory, hardlinks with "cp -al" provide an alternative to the normal backup with efficient use of the disk space.

Here is a copy script, which I named as bkup, for the data backup. This script copies all (non-VCS) files under the current directory to the dated directory on the parent directory or on a remote host.

#!/bin/sh -e
# Copyright (C) 2007-2008 Osamu Aoki <osamu@debian.org>, Public Domain
function fdot(){ find . -type d \( -iname ".?*" -o -iname "CVS" \) -prune -o -print0;}
function fall(){ find . -print0;}
function mkdircd(){ mkdir -p "$1";chmod 700 "$1";cd "$1">/dev/null;}
FIND="fdot";OPT="-a";MODE="CPIOP";HOST="localhost";EXTP="$(hostname -f)"
BKUP="$(basename $(pwd)).bkup";TIME="$(date  +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)";BU="$BKUP/$TIME"
while getopts gcCsStrlLaAxe:h:T f; do case $f in
g)  MODE="GNUCP";; # cp (GNU)
c)  MODE="CPIOP";; # cpio -p
C)  MODE="CPIOI";; # cpio -i
s)  MODE="CPIOSSH";; # cpio/ssh
S)  MODE="AFIOSSH";; # afio/ssh
t)  MODE="TARSSH";; # tar/ssh
r)  MODE="RSYNCSSH";; # rsync/ssh
l)  OPT="-alv";; # hardlink (GNU cp)
L)  OPT="-av";;  # copy (GNU cp)
a)  FIND="fall";; # find all
A)  FIND="fdot";; # find non CVS/ .???/
x)  set -x;; # trace
e)  EXTP="${OPTARG}";; # hostname -f
h)  HOST="${OPTARG}";; # user@remotehost.example.com
T)  MODE="TEST";; # test find mode
\?) echo "use -x for trace."
esac; done
shift $(expr $OPTIND - 1)
if [ $# -gt 0 ]; then
  for x in $@; do cp $OPT $x $x.$TIME; done
elif [ $MODE = GNUCP ]; then
  mkdir -p "../$BU";chmod 700 "../$BU";cp $OPT . "../$BU/"
elif [ $MODE = CPIOP ]; then
  mkdir -p "../$BU";chmod 700 "../$BU"
  $FIND|cpio --null --sparse -pvd ../$BU
elif [ $MODE = CPIOI ]; then
  $FIND|cpio -ov --null | ( mkdircd "../$BU"&&cpio -i )
elif [ $MODE = CPIOSSH ]; then
  $FIND|cpio -ov --null|ssh -C $HOST "( mkdircd \"$EXTP/$BU\"&&cpio -i )"
elif [ $MODE = AFIOSSH ]; then
  $FIND|afio -ov -0 -|ssh -C $HOST "( mkdircd \"$EXTP/$BU\"&&afio -i - )"
elif [ $MODE = TARSSH ]; then
  (tar cvf - . )|ssh -C $HOST "( mkdircd \"$EXTP/$BU\"&& tar xvfp - )"
elif [ $MODE = RSYNCSSH ]; then
  rsync -rlpt ./ "${HOST}:${EXTP}-${BKUP}-${TIME}"
else
  echo "Any other idea to backup?"
  $FIND |xargs -0 -n 1 echo
fi

This is meant to be command examples. Please read script and test it by yourself.

[Tip] Tip

I keep this bkup in my /usr/local/bin/ directory. I issue bkup command without any option in the working directory whenever I need a temporary snapshot backup.

[Tip] Tip

For making snapshot history of a source file tree or a configuration file tree, it is easier and space efficient to use git(7) (see Section 11.5.4.4, “Git for recording configuration history”).

11.1.10. Removable mass storage device

Removable mass storage devices may be any one of

  • harddisk,

  • any format of flash memory devices, or

  • digital camera,

which are connected via USB, IEEE 1394 / Firewire, PC Card, etc.

These removable mass storage devices can be automatically mounted as a user under modern desktop environment, such as Gnome using gnome-mount(1).

  • Mount point under Gnome is chosen as /media/<disk_label> which can be customized

    • by the mlabel(1) command for FAT filesystem,

    • by the genisoimage(1) command with "-V" option for ISO9660 filesystem, and

    • by the tune2fs(1) command with "-L" option for ext2/ext3 filesystem.

  • The choice of encoding may need to be provided as mount option (see Section 9.3.6, “Filename encoding”).

  • The ownership of the mounted filesystem may need to be adjusted for use by the normal user.

[Tip] Tip

When providing wrong mount option causes problem, erase its corresponding setting under /system/storage/ via gconf-editor(1).

[Note] Note

Automounting under modern desktop environment happens only when those removable media devices are not listed in /etc/fstab.

Table 11.4.  List of packages which permit normal users to mount removable devices without a matching /etc/fstab entry.

package

popcon

size

description

gnome-mount

V:14, I:24

844

wrapper for (un)mounting and ejecting storage devices (used by Gnome)

pmount

V:19, I:50

856

mount removable devices as normal user (used by KDE)

cryptmount

V:0.11, I:0.5

292

Management and user-mode mounting of encrypted file systems

usbmount

I:1.9

116

automatically mount and unmount USB mass storage devices


When sharing data with other system via removable mass storage device, you should format it with common filesystem supported by both systems. Here is a list of filesystem choices.

Table 11.5.  List of filesystem choices for removable storage devices with typical usage scenarios.

filesystem

typical usage scenario

FAT12

Cross platform sharing of data on the floppy disk. (<=32MiB)

FAT16

Cross platform sharing of data on the small harddisk like device. (<=2GiB)

FAT32

Cross platform sharing of data on the large harddisk like device. (<=8TiB, supported by newer than MS Windows95 OSR2)

NTFS

Cross platform sharing of data on the large harddisk like device. (supported natively on MS Windows NT and later version, and supported by NTFS-3G via FUSE on Linux)

ISO9660

Cross platform sharing of static data on CD-R and DVD+/-R

UDF

Incremental data writing on CD-R and DVD+/-R (new)

MINIX filesystem

Space efficient unix file data storage on the floppy disk.

ext2 filesystem

Sharing of data on the harddisk like device with older Linux systems.

ext3 filesystem

Sharing of data on the harddisk like device with current Linux systems. (Journaling file system)


[Tip] Tip

See Section 10.4.1, “Removable disk encryption with dm-crypt/LUKS” for cross platform sharing of data using device level encryption.

The FAT filesystem is supported by almost all modern operating systems and is quite useful for the data exchange purpose via removable harddisk like media (.

When formatting removable harddisk like devices for cross platform sharing of data with the FAT filesystem, the following should be safe choices:

  • Partitioning them with fdisk, cfdisk or parted command (see Section 10.3.1, “Partition configuration”) into a single primary partition and to mark it as:

    • type-"6" for FAT16 for media smaller than 2GB or

    • type-"c" for FAT32 (LBA) for larger media.

  • Formatting the primary partition with the mkfs.vfat command

    • with just its device name, e.g. "/dev/sda1" for FAT16, or

    • with the explicit option and its device name, e.g. "-F 32 /dev/sda1" for FAT32.

When using the FAT or ISO9660 filesystems for sharing data, the following should be the safe considerations:

  • Archiving files into an archive file first using the tar(1), cpio(1), or afio(1) command to retain the long filename, the symbolic link, the original Unix file permission and the owner information.

  • Splitting the archive file size into less than 2 GiB chunks with the "split(1)" command to protect it from the file size limitation.

  • Encrypting the archive file to secure its contents from the unauthorized access.

[Note] Note

For FAT filesystems by its design, the maximum file size is (2^32 - 1) bytes = (4GiB - 1 byte). For some applications on the older 32 bit OSs, the maximum file size was even smaller (2^31 - 1) bytes = (42GiB - 1 byte). Debian does not suffer the latter problem.

[Note] Note

Microsoft itself does not recommend to use FAT for drives or partitions of over 200 MB. Microsoft highlights its short comings such as inefficient disk space usage in their "Overview of FAT, HPFS, and NTFS File Systems". Of course for the Linux, we should normally use the ext3 filesystem.

[Tip] Tip

For more on filesystems and accessing filesystems, please read "Filesystems HOWTO".

11.1.11. Sharing data via network

When sharing data with other system via network, you should use common service. Here are some hints.

Table 11.6.  List of the network service to chose with the typical usage scenario.

network service

typical usage scenario

SMB/CIFS network mounted filesystem with Samba

Sharing files via "Microsoft Windows Network". See smb.conf(5) and The Official Samba 3.2.x HOWTO and Reference Guide or the samba-doc package.

NFS network mounted filesystem with the Linux kernel

Sharing files via "Unix/Linux Network". See exports(5) and Linux NFS-HOWTO.

HTTP service

Sharing file between the web server/client.

HTTPS service

Sharing file between the web server/client with encrypted Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or Transport Layer Security (TLS).

FTP service

Sharing file between the FTP server/client.


Although these filesystems mounted over network or file transfer methods over network are quite convenient for sharing data, these may be insecure. Their network connection must be secured by:

  • encrypting it with SSL/TLS,

  • tunneling it via SSH,

  • tunneling it via VPN or,

  • limiting it behind the secure firewall.

See also Section 7.5, “Other network application servers” and Section 7.6, “Other network application clients”.

11.1.12. Archive media

When choosing computer data storage media for important data archive, you should be careful about their limitations. For small personal data back up, I use CD-R and DVD-R by the brand name company and store in a cool, dry, clean environment. (Tape archive media seem to be popular for professional use.)

[Note] Note

A fire-resistant safe are usually meant for paper documents. Most of the computer data storage media have less temperature tolerance than paper. I usually rely on multiple secure encrypted copies stored in multiple secure locations.

Optimistic storage life of archive media seen on the net (mostly from vendor info):

  • 100+ years : acid free paper with ink

  • 100 years : optical storage (CD/DVD, CD/DVD-R)

  • 30 years : magnetic storage (tape, floppy)

  • 20 years : phase change optical storage (CD-RW)

These do not count on the mechanical failures due to handling etc.

Optimistic write cycle of archive media seen on the net (mostly from vendor info):

  • 250,000+ cycles : Harddisk drive

  • 10,000+ cycles : Flash memory

  • 1,000 cycles : CD/DVD-RW

  • 1 cycles : CD/DVD-R, paper

[Caution] Caution

Figures of storage life and write cycle here should not be used for decisions on any critical data storage. Please consult the specific product information provided by the manufacture.

[Tip] Tip

Since CD/DVD-R and paper have only 1 write cycle, they inherently prevent accidental data loss by overwriting. This is advantage!

[Tip] Tip

If you need fast and frequent backup of large amount of data, a harddisk on a remote host linked by a fast network connection, may be the only realistic option.

11.2. The binary data

Here, we discuss direct manipulation of the binary data on storage media. See Section 10.3, “Data storage tips”, too.

11.2.1. Make the disk image file

The disk image file, disk.img, of an unmounted device, e.g., the second SCSI drive /dev/sdb, can be made using cp(1) or dd(1):

# cp /dev/sda disk.img
# dd if=/dev/sda of=disk.img

The disk image of the traditional PC's master boot record (MBR) (see Section 10.3.1, “Partition configuration”) which reside on the first sector on the primary IDE disk partial disk can be made by using dd(1):

# dd if=/dev/hda of=mbr.img bs=512 count=1
# dd if=/dev/hda of=mbr-nopart.img bs=446 count=1
# dd if=/dev/hda of=mbr-part.img skip=446 bs=1 count=66
  • mbr.img : the MBR with the partition table.

  • mbr-nopart.img : the MBR without the partition table.

  • part.img : the partition table of the MBR only..

If you have a SCSI device (including the new serial ATA drive) as the boot disk, substitute "/dev/hda" with "/dev/sda".

If you are making an image of a disk partition of the original disk, substitute "/dev/hda" with "/dev/hda1" etc.

11.2.2. Writing directly to the disk

The disk image file, disk.img can be written to an unmounted device, e.g., the second SCSI drive /dev/sdb with matching size, by dd(1):

# dd if=disk.img of=/dev/sda

Similarly, the disk partition image file, disk.img can be written to an unmounted partition, e.g., the first partition of the second SCSI drive /dev/sdb1 with matching size, by dd(1):

# dd if=disk.img of=/dev/sda1

11.2.3. View and edit binary data

The most basic viewing method of binary data is to use "od -t x1" command.

Table 11.7.  List of packages which view and edit binary data.

package

popcon

size

description

coreutils

V:87, I:99

11448

This basic package has od(1) command to dump files in octal and other formats.

bsdmainutils

V:47, I:99

644

This utility package has hd(1) command to dump files in ASCII, decimal, hexadecimal, and octal formats.

hexedit

V:0.3, I:2

108

View and edit files in hexadecimal or in ASCII

bless

V:0.04, I:0.2

1200

Full featured hexadecimal editor (Gnome)

khexedit

V:1.8, I:14

1404

Full featured hexadecimal editor (KDE).

ncurses-hexedit

V:0.10, I:0.6

196

Edit files/disks in HEX, ASCII and EBCDIC

lde

V:0.05, I:0.5

992

Linux Disk Editor

beav

V:0.05, I:0.3

164

Binary editor and viewer for HEX, ASCII, EBCDIC, OCTAL, DECIMAL, and BINARY formats.

hexcat

V:0.05, I:0.2

56

Hexadecimal dumping utility

hex

V:0.01, I:0.10

84

Hexadecimal dumping tool for Japanese


[Tip] Tip

HEX is used as an acronym for hexadecimal format.

11.2.4. Mount the disk image file

If disk.img contains an image of the disk contents and the original disk had a disk configuration which gives xxxx = (bytes/sector) * (sectors/cylinder), then the following will mount it to /mnt:

# mount -o loop,offset=xxxx disk.img /mnt

Note that most hard disks have 512 bytes/sector. This offset is to skip MBR of the hard disk. You can skip offset in the above example, if disk.img contains

  • only an image of a disk partition of the original hard disk, or

  • only an image of the original floppy disk.

11.2.5. Manipulating files without mounting disk

There are tools to write files without mounting disk.

Table 11.8.  List of packages to manipulate files without mounting.

package

popcon

size

description

mtools

V:7, I:84

476

Utilities for MSDOS files without mounting them.

hfsutils

V:0.2, I:1.9

236

Utilities for HFS and HFS+ files without mounting them.


11.2.6. Make the ISO9660 image file

The ISO9660 image file, cd.iso, from the source directory tree at source_directory can be made using genisoimage(1) command:

#  genisoimage -r -J -T -V volume_id -o cd.iso source_directory

Similary, the bootable ISO9660 image file, cdboot.iso, can be made from debian-installer like directory tree at source_directory:

#  genisoimage -r -o cdboot.iso -V volume_id \
   -b isolinux/isolinux.bin -c isolinux/boot.cat \
   -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table source_directory

Here Isolinux boot loader (see Section 4.3, “Stage 2: the boot loader”) is used for booting.

To make the disk image directly from the CD-ROM device using cp(1) or dd(1) has a few problems. The first run of the dd(1) command may cause an error message and may yield a shorter disk image with a lost tail-end. The second run of the dd(1) command may yield a larger disk image with garbage data attached at the end on some systems if the data size is not specified. Only the second run of the dd(1) command with the correct data size specified, and without ejecting the CD after an error message, seems to avoid these problems. If for example the image size displayed by df(1) is 46301184 blocks, use the following command twice to get the right image (this is my empirical information):

# dd if=/dev/cdrom of=cd.iso bs=2048 count=$((46301184/2))

11.2.7. Writing directly to the CD/DVD-R/RW

[Tip] Tip

DVD is only a large CD to wodim(1).

You can find a usable device by:

# wodim --devices

Then the blank CD-R is inserted to the device, and the ISO9660 image file, cd.iso is written to this device, e.g., /dev/hda, by wodim(1):

# wodim -v -eject dev=/dev/hda cd.iso

If CD-RW is used instead of CD-R, do this instead:

# wodim -v -eject blank=fast dev=/dev/hda cd.iso
[Tip] Tip

If your desktop system mounts CD automatically, unmount it before issuing the wodim(1) command by "sudo unmount /dev/hda".

11.2.8. Mount the ISO9660 image file

If cd.iso contains an ISO9660 image, then the following will manually mount it to /cdrom:

# mount -t iso9660 -o ro,loop cd.iso /cdrom
[Tip] Tip

Modern desktop system mounts removable media automatically (see Section 11.1.10, “Removable mass storage device”).

11.2.9. Split a large file into small files

When a data is too big to backup, you can back up a large file into, e.g. 2000MiB chunks and merge those files into a large file.

$ split -b 2000m large_file
$ cat x* >large_file
[Caution] Caution

Please make sure you do not have any file starting with "x" to avoid the file name crash.

11.2.10. Clear file contents

In order to clear the contents of a file such as a log file, do not use rm to delete the file and then create a new empty file, because the file may still be accessed in the interval between commands. The following is the safe way to clear the contents of the file.

$ :>file_to_be_cleared

11.2.11. Dummy files

The following commands will create dummy or empty files:

$ dd if=/dev/zero    of=5kb.file bs=1k count=5
$ dd if=/dev/urandom of=7mb.file bs=1M count=7
$ touch zero.file
$ : > alwayszero.file
  • 5kb.file is 5KB of zeros.

  • 7mb.file is 7MB of random data.

  • zero.file is 0 byte file (if file exists, the file contents are kept while updating mtime.)

  • alwayszero.file is always 0 byte file (if file exists, the file contents are not kept while updating mtime.)

11.2.12. Erase entire harddisk

There are several ways to completely erase data from an entire harddisk-like device, e.g., USB memory stick at /dev/sda.

[Caution] Caution

Check your USB memory stick location with the "mount" command first before executing commands here. The device pointed by /dev/sda may be SCSI harddisk or serial-ATA harddisk where your entire system resides.

  • Erase all by resetting data to 0:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda
  • Erase all by overwriting random data:

# dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sda
  • Erase all by overwriting random data very efficiently (fast):

# shred -v -n 1 /dev/sda

Since the dd command is available from the shell of many bootable Linux CDs such as Debian installer CD, you can erase your installed system completely by running an erase command from such media on the system hard disk, e.g., /dev/hda, /dev/sda, etc.

11.2.13. Undelete deleted but still open file

Even if you have accidentally deleted a file, as long as that file is still being used by some application (read or write mode), it is possible to recover such a file.

  • On one terminal:

$ echo foo > bar
$ less bar
  • Then on another terminal:

$ ps aux | grep ' less[ ]'
osamu    4775  0.0  0.0  92200   884 pts/8    S+   00:18   0:00 less bar
$ rm bar
$ ls -l /proc/4775/fd | grep bar
lr-x------ 1 osamu osamu 64 2008-05-09 00:19 4 -> /home/osamu/bar (deleted)
$ cat /proc/4775/fd/4 >bar
$ ls -l
-rw-r--r-- 1 osamu osamu 4 2008-05-09 00:25 bar
$ cat bar
foo
  • Alternatively, when you have the lsof command installed, on another terminal:

$ ls -li bar
2228329 -rw-r--r-- 1 osamu osamu 4 2008-05-11 11:02 bar
$ lsof |grep bar|grep less
less 4775 osamu 4r REG 8,3 4 2228329 /home/osamu/bar
$ rm bar
$ lsof |grep bar|grep less
less 4775 osamu 4r REG 8,3 4 2228329 /home/osamu/bar (deleted)
$ cat /proc/4775/fd/4 >bar
$ ls -li bar
2228302 -rw-r--r-- 1 osamu osamu 4 2008-05-11 11:05 bar
$ cat bar
foo

11.2.14. Searching all hardlinks

Files with hardlinks can be identified by "ls -li", e.g.:

$ ls -li
total 0
2738405 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 2008-09-15 20:21 bar
2738404 -rw-r--r-- 2 root root 0 2008-09-15 20:21 baz
2738404 -rw-r--r-- 2 root root 0 2008-09-15 20:21 foo

Both "baz" and "foo" have link count of "2" (>1) showing them to have hardlinks. Their inode numbers are common "2738404". This means they are the same hardlinked file. If you do not happen to find all hardlinked files by chance, you can search it by the inode, e.g., "2738404":

# find /path/to/mount/point -xdev -inum 2738404 

11.2.15. Invisible disk space consumption

All deleted but open files consumes disk space although they are not visible from normal du(1). They can be listed with their size by:

# lsof -s -X / |grep deleted

11.3. Data security infrastructure

The data security infrastructure is provided by the combination of data encryption tool, message digest tool, and signature tool.

Table 11.9.  List of data security infrastructure tools.

package

popcon

size

function

gnupg

V:30, I:99

4972

GNU privacy guard - OpenPGP encryption and signing tool. gpg(1)

gnupg-doc

I:1.7

3976

GNU Privacy Guard documentation

gpgv

V:60, I:98

332

GNU privacy guard - signature verification tool

cryptsetup

V:2, I:4

840

Utilities for dm-crypto block device encryption supporting LUKS

ecryptfs-utils

V:0.03, I:0.17

396

Utilities for ecryptfs stacked filesystem encryption

coreutils

V:87, I:99

11448

The md5sum command computes and checks MD5 message digest

coreutils

V:87, I:99

11448

The sha1sum command computes and checks SHA1 message digest

openssl

V:28, I:89

2348

The "openssl dgst" command computes message digest (OpenSSL). dgst(1ssl)


See Section 10.4, “Data encryption tips” on dm-crypto and ecryptfs which implement automatic data encryption infrastructure via Linux kernel modules.

11.3.1. Key management for Gnupg

Here are GNU Privacy Guard commands for the basic key management:

Table 11.10.  List of GNU Privacy Guard commands for the key management

command

effects

gpg --gen-key

generate a new key

gpg --gen-revoke my_user_ID

generate revoke key for my_user_ID

gpg --edit-key user_ID

"help" for help, interactive

gpg -o file --exports

export all keys to file

gpg --imports file

import all keys from file

gpg --send-keys user_ID

send key of user_ID to keyserver

gpg --recv-keys user_ID

recv. key of user_ID from keyserver

gpg --list-keys user_ID

list keys of user_ID

gpg --list-sigs user_ID

list sig. of user_ID

gpg --check-sigs user_ID

check sig. of user_ID

gpg --fingerprint user_ID

check fingerprint of "user_ID"

gpg --refresh-keys

update local keyring


Here is the meaning of trust code:

Table 11.11.  List of the meaning of trust code.

code

trust

-

No owner trust assigned / not yet calculated.

e

Trust calculation has failed.

q

Not enough information for calculation.

n

Never trust this key.

m

Marginally trusted.

f

Fully trusted.

u

Ultimately trusted.


The following will upload my key "A8061F32" to the popular keyserver hkp://subkeys.pgp.net:

$ gpg --keyserver hkp://subkeys.pgp.net --send-keys A8061F32

A good default keyserver set up in $HOME/.gnupg/gpg.conf (or old location $HOME/.gnupg/options) contains:

keyserver hkp://subkeys.pgp.net

The following will obtain unknown keys from the keyserver:

$ gpg --list-sigs | \
  sed -n '/^sig.*\[User ID not found\]/s/^sig..........\(\w\w*\)\W.*/\1/p' |\
  sort | uniq | xargs gpg --recv-keys

There was a bug in OpenPGP Public Key Server (pre version 0.9.6) which corrupted key with more than 2 sub-keys. The newer gnupg (>1.2.1-2) can handle these corrupted subkeys. See gpg(1) manpage under --repair-pks-subkey-bug option.

11.3.2. Using GnuPG with files

File handling:

Table 11.12.  List of gnu privacy guard commands on files

command

effects

gpg -a -s file

sign file into ascii armored file.asc

gpg --armor --sign file

, ,

gpg --clearsign file

clear-sign message

gpg --clearsign --not-dash-escaped patchfile

clear-sign patchfile

gpg --verify file

verify clear-signed file

gpg -o file.sig -b file

create detached signature

gpg -o file.sig --detach-sig file

, ,

gpg --verify file.sig file

verify file with file.sig

gpg -o crypt_file.gpg -r name -e file

public-key encryption intended for name from file to binary crypt_file.gpg

gpg -o crypt_file.gpg --recipient name --encrypt file

, ,

gpg -o crypt_file.asc -a -r name -e file

public-key encryption intended for name from file to ASCII armored crypt_file.asc

gpg -o crypt_file.gpg -c file

symmetric encryption from file to crypt_file.gpg

gpg -o crypt_file.gpg --symmetric file

, ,

gpg -o crypt_file.asc -a -c file

symmetric encryption intended for name from file to ASCII armored crypt_file.asc

gpg -o file -d crypt_file.gpg -r name

decryption

gpg -o file --decrypt crypt_file.gpg

, ,


11.3.3. Using GnuPG with Mutt

Add the following to ~/.muttrc to keep a slow GnuPG from automatically starting, while allowing it to be used by typing "S" at the index menu.

macro index S ":toggle pgp_verify_sig\n"
set pgp_verify_sig=no

11.3.4. Using GnuPG with Vim

The gnupg plugin let you run GnuPG transparently for files with extension .gpg, .asc, and .ppg.

# aptitude install vim-scripts vim-addon-manager
$ vim-addons install gnupg

11.3.5. The MD5 sum

The md5sum program provides utility to make a digest file using the method in rfc1321 and verifying each file with it.

$ md5sum foo bar >baz.md5
$ cat baz.md5
d3b07384d113edec49eaa6238ad5ff00  foo
c157a79031e1c40f85931829bc5fc552  bar
$ md5sum -c baz.md5
foo: OK
bar: OK
[Note] Note

The computation for the MD5 sum is less CPU intensive than the one for the cryptographic signature by the Gnupg. Usually, only the top level digest file is cryptographically signed to ensure data integrity.

11.4. Source code merge tools

There are many merge tools for the source code. Following commands caught my eyes.:

Table 11.13.  List of source code merge tools.

command

package

popcon

size

description

diff(1)

diff

V:86, I:99

764

This compares files line by line.

diff3(1)

diff

V:86, I:99

764

This compares and merges three files line by line.

vimdiff(1)

vim

V:12, I:29

1736

This compares 2 files side by side in vim.

patch(1)

patch

V:9, I:94

204

This applies a diff file to an original.

dpatch(1)

dpatch

V:2, I:15

344

This manage series of patches for Debian package.

diffstat(1)

diffstat

V:1.8, I:12

84

This produces a histogram of changes by the diff.

combinediff(1)

patchutils

V:2, I:12

288

This creates a cumulative patch from two incremental patches.

dehtmldiff(1)

patchutils

V:2, I:12

288

This extracts a diff from an HTML page.

filterdiff(1)

patchutils

V:2, I:12

288

This extracts or excludes diffs from a diff file.

fixcvsdiff(1)

patchutils

V:2, I:12

288

This fixes diff files created by CVS that "patch" mis-interprets.

flipdiff(1)

patchutils

V:2, I:12

288

This exchanges the order of two patches.

grepdiff(1)

patchutils

V:2, I:12

288

This shows which files are modified by a patch matching a regex.

interdiff(1)

patchutils

V:2, I:12

288

This shows differences between two unified diff files.

lsdiff(1)

patchutils

V:2, I:12

288

This shows which files are modified by a patch.

recountdiff(1)

patchutils

V:2, I:12

288

This recomputes counts and offsets in unified context diffs.

rediff(1)

patchutils

V:2, I:12

288

This fixes offsets and counts of a hand-edited diff.

splitdiff(1)

patchutils

V:2, I:12

288

This separates out incremental patches.

unwrapdiff(1)

patchutils

V:2, I:12

288

This demangles patches that have been word-wrapped.

wiggle(1)

wiggle

V:0.03, I:0.12

204

This applies rejected patches.

quilt(1)

quilt

V:0.9, I:6

824

This manage series of patches.

meld(1)

meld

V:0.5, I:2

2140

This is a GTK graphical file comparator and merge tool.

xxdiff(1)

xxdiff

V:0.2, I:1.1

1360

This is a plain X graphical file comparator and merge tool.

dirdiff(1)

dirdiff

V:0.09, I:0.5

212

This displays and merges changes between directory trees.

docdiff(1)

docdiff

V:0.03, I:0.19

688

This compares two files word by word / char by char.

imediff2(1)

imediff2

V:0.03, I:0.12

76

This is an interactive full screen 2-way merge tool.

makepatch(1)

makepatch

V:0.03, I:0.2

148

This generates extended patch files.

applypatch(1)

makepatch

V:0.03, I:0.2

148

This applies extended patch files.

wdiff(1)

wdiff

V:1.5, I:11

124

This displays word differences between text files.


11.4.1. Extract differences for source files

Following one of these procedures will extract differences between two source files and create unified diff files file.patch0 or file.patch1 depending on the file location:

$ diff -u file.old file.new > file.patch0
$ diff -u old/file new/file > file.patch1

11.4.2. Merge updates for source files

The diff file (alternatively called patch file) is used to send a program update. The receiving party will apply this update to another file by:

$ patch -p0 file < file.patch0
$ patch -p1 file < file.patch1

11.4.3. 3 way merge updates

If you have three versions of source code, you can merge them more effectively using diff3:

$ diff3 -m file.mine file.old file.yours > file

11.5. Version control systems

Here is a summary of the version control systems (VCS) on the Debian system:

[Note] Note

If you are new to VCS systems, you should start learning with Git, which is growing fast in popularity.

Table 11.14.  List of version control system tools.

package

popcon

size

tool

VCS type

comment

cssc

V:0.00, I:0.04

2168

CSSC

local

Clone of the Unix SCCS (deprecated)

rcs

V:1.8, I:10

780

RCS

local

"Unix SCCS done right"

cvs

V:4, I:27

3660

CVS

remote

The previous standard remote VCS

subversion

V:9, I:29

4168

Subversion

remote

"CVS done right", the new de facto standard remote VCS

git-core

V:4, I:8

7164

Git

distributed

fast DVCS in C (used by the Linux kernel and others)

mercurial

V:0.9, I:3

376

Mercurial

distributed

DVCS in python and some C.

bzr

V:0.4, I:2

14964

Bazaar

distributed

DVCS influenced by tla written in python (used by Ubuntu)

darcs

V:0.3, I:1.7

7996

Darcs

distributed

DVCS with smart algebra of patches (slow).

tla

V:0.19, I:1.3

1104

GNU arch

distributed

DVCS mainly by Tom Lord. (Historic)

monotone

V:0.07, I:0.4

6016

Monotone

distributed

DVCS in C++


VCS is sometimes known as revision control system (RCS), or software configuration management (SCM).

Distributed VCS such as Git is the tool of choice these days. CVS and Subversion may still be useful to join some existing open source program activities.

Debian provides free VCS services via Debian Alioth service. It supports practically all VCSs. Its documentation can be found at http://wiki.debian.org/Alioth .

[Caution] Caution

The git package is "GNU Interactive Tools" which is not the DVCS.

11.5.1. Native VCS commands

Here is an oversimplified comparison of native VCS commands to provide the big picture. The typical command sequence may require options and arguments.

Table 11.15.  Comparison of native VCS commands.

CVS

Subversion

Git

function

cvs init

svn create

git init

create the (local) repository

cvs login

-

-

login to the remote repository

cvs co

svn co

git clone

check out the remote repository as the working tree

cvs up

svn up

git pull

update the working tree by merging the remote repository

cvs add

svn add

git add .

add file(s) in the working tree to the VCS

cvs rm

svn rm

git rm

remove file(s) in working tree from the VCS

cvs ci

svn ci

-

commit changes to the remote repository

-

-

git commit -a

commit changes to the local repository

-

-

git push

update the remote repository by the local repository

cvs status

svn status

git status

display the working tree status from the VCS

cvs diff

svn diff

git diff

diff <reference_repository> <working_tree>

-

-

git repack -a -d; git prune

repack the local repository into single pack.


[Caution] Caution

Invoking a git subcommand as "git-xyzzy" from the command line has been deprecated since early 2006.

[Tip] Tip

Git can work directly with different VCS repositories such as ones provided by CVS and Subversion, and provides the local repository for local changes with the git-cvs and git-svn packages. See git for CVS users, Git for GNOME developers and Section 11.5.4, “Git”.

[Note] Note

Git has commands which have no equivalents in CVS and Subversion. "Fetch", "Rebase", "Cherrypick", ...

11.5.2. CVS

Check

  • "sensible-browser file:///usr/share/doc/cvs/html-cvsclient",

  • "sensible-browser file:///usr/share/doc/cvs/html-info",

  • "sensible-browser file:///usr/share/doc/cvsbook",

  • "info cvs", and

  • "man cvs"

for detailed information.

11.5.2.1. Installing a CVS server

The following setup will allow commits to the CVS repository only by a member of the "src" group, and administration of CVS only by a member of the "staff" group, thus reducing the chance of shooting oneself.

# cd /var/lib; umask 002; mkdir cvs
# export CVSROOT=/var/lib/cvs
# cd $CVSROOT
# chown root:src .
# chmod 2775 .
# cvs -d $CVSROOT init
# cd CVSROOT
# chown -R root:staff .
# chmod 2775 .
# touch val-tags
# chmod 664 history val-tags
# chown root:src history val-tags

You may restrict creation of new project by changing the owner of $CVSROOT directory to "root:staff and its permission to "3775".

11.5.2.2. Use local CVS server

The following will set up shell environments for the local access to the CVS repository:

$ export CVSROOT=/var/lib/cvs

11.5.2.3. Use remote CVS pserver

The following will set up shell environments for the read-only remote access to the CVS repository without SSH (use RSH protocol capability in cvs):

$ export CVSROOT=:pserver:account@cvs.foobar.com:/var/lib/cvs
$ cvs login

This is prone to eavesdropping attack.

11.5.2.4. Anonymous CVS (download only)

The following will set up shell environments for the read-only remote access to the CVS repository:

$ export CVSROOT=:pserver:anonymous@cvs.sf.net:/cvsroot/qref
$ cvs login
$ cvs -z3 co qref

11.5.2.5. Use remote CVS through ssh

The following will set up shell environments for the read-only remote access to the CVS repository with SSH:

$ export CVSROOT=:ext:account@cvs.foobar.com:/var/lib/cvs

or for SourceForge:

$ export CVSROOT=:ext:account@cvs.sf.net:/cvsroot/qref

You can also use public key authentication for SSH which eliminates the password prompt.

11.5.2.6. Create a new CVS archive

For,

Table 11.16.  Assumption for the CVS archive.

ITEM

VALUE

MEANING

source tree

~/project-x

All source codes

Project name

project-x

Name for this project

Vendor Tag

Main-branch

Tag for the entire branch

Release Tag

Release-initial

Tag for a specific release


Then,

$ cd ~/project-x
  • create a source tree ...

$ cvs import -m "Start project-x" project-x Main-branch Release-initial
$ cd ..; rm -R ~/project-x

11.5.2.7. Work with CVS

To work with project-x using the local CVS repository:

$ mkdir -p /path/to; cd /path/to
$ cvs co project-x
  • get sources from CVS to local

$ cd project-x
  • make changes to the content ...

$ cvs diff -u
  • similar to "diff -u repository/ local/"

$ cvs up -C modified_file
  • undo changes to a file

$ cvs ci -m "Describe change"
  • save local sources to CVS

$ vi newfile_added
$ cvs add newfile_added
$ cvs ci -m "Added newfile_added"
$ cvs up
  • merge latest version from CVS.

  • To create all newly created subdirectories from CVS, use "cvs up -d -P" instead.

  • Watch out for lines starting with "C filename" which indicates conflicting changes.

  • unmodified code is moved to .#filename.version .

  • search for "<<<<<<<" and ">>>>>>>" in the files for conflicting changes.

  • edit file to fix conflicts.

$ cvs tag Release-1
  • add release tag

  • edit further ...

$ cvs tag -d Release-1
  • remove release tag

$ cvs ci -m "more comments"
$ cvs tag Release-1

* re-add release tag {{ $ cd /path/to $ cvs co -r Release-initial -d old project-x }}}

  • get original version to "/path/to/old" directory

$ cd old
$ cvs tag -b Release-initial-bugfixes
  • create branch (-b) tag "Release-initial-bugfixes"

  • now you can work on the old version (Tag is sticky)

$ cvs update -d -P
  • don't create empty directories

  • source tree now has sticky tag "Release-initial-bugfixes"

  • work on this branch ... while someone else making changes too

$ cvs up -d -P
  • sync with files modified by others on this branch

$ cvs ci -m "check into this branch"
$ cvs update -kk -A -d -P
  • remove sticky tag and forget contents

  • update from main trunk without keyword expansion

$ cvs update -kk -d -P -j Release-initial-bugfixes
  • merge from Release-initial-bugfixes branch into the main

  • trunk without keyword expansion. Fix conflicts with editor.

$ cvs ci -m "merge Release-initial-bugfixes"
$ cd
$ tar -cvzf old-project-x.tar.gz old
  • make archive. use "-j" if you want .tar.bz2 .

$ cvs release -d old
  • remove local source (optional)

Table 11.17.  Notable options for CVS commands (use as first argument(s) to cvs).

option

meaning

-n

dry run, no effect

-t

display messages showing steps of cvs activity


11.5.2.8. Export files from CVS

To get the latest version from CVS, use "tomorrow":

$ cvs ex -D tomorrow module_name

11.5.2.9. Administer CVS

Add alias to a project (local server):

$ export CVSROOT=/var/lib/cvs
$ cvs co CVSROOT/modules
$ cd CVSROOT
$ echo "px -a project-x" >>modules
$ cvs ci -m "Now px is an alias for project-x"
$ cvs release -d .
$ cvs co -d project px
  • check out project-x (alias:px) from CVS to directory project

$ cd project
  • make changes to the content ...

In order to perform above procedure, you should have the appropriate file permission.

11.5.2.10. File permissions in repository

CVS will not overwrite the current repository file but replaces it with another one. Thus, write permission to the repository directory is critical. For every new repository creation, run the following to ensure this condition if needed.

# cd /var/lib/cvs
# chown -R root:src repository
# chmod -R ug+rwX   repository
# chmod    2775     repository

11.5.2.11. Execution bit

A file's execution bit is retained when checked out. Whenever you see execution permission problems in checked-out files, change permissions of the file in the CVS repository with the following command.

# chmod ugo-x filename

11.5.3. Subversion

Subversion is a "next-generation" version control system, intended to replace CVS, so it has most of CVS's features. Generally, Subversion's interface to a particular feature is similar to CVS's, except where there's a compelling reason to do otherwise.

11.5.3.1. Installing a Subversion server

You need to install the subversion, libapache2-svn and subversion-tools packages to set up a server.

11.5.3.2. Setting up a repository

Currently, the subversion package does not set up a repository, so one must be set up manually. One possible location for a repository is in /var/local/repos.

Create the directory:

# mkdir -p /var/local/repos

Create the repository database:

# svnadmin create /var/local/repos

Make the repository writable by the WWW server:

# chown -R www-data:www-data /var/local/repos

11.5.3.3. Configuring Apache2

To allow access to the repository via user authentication, add (or uncomment) the following in /etc/apache2/mods-available/dav_svn.conf:

<Location /repos>
  DAV svn
  SVNPath /var/local/repos
  AuthType Basic
  AuthName "Subversion repository"
  AuthUserFile /etc/subversion/passwd
<LimitExcept GET PROPFIND OPTIONS REPORT>
    Require valid-user
</LimitExcept>
</Location>

Then, create a user authentication file with the command:

htpasswd2 -c /etc/subversion/passwd some-username

Restart Apache2, and your new Subversion repository will be accessible with the URL http://hostname/repos.

11.5.3.4. Subversion usage examples

The following sections teach you how to use different commands in Subversion.

11.5.3.5. Create a new Subversion archive

To create a new Subversion archive, type the following:

$ cd ~/your-project         # go to your source directory
$ svn import http://localhost/repos your-project project-name -m "initial project import"

This creates a directory named project-name in your Subversion repository which contains your project files. Look at http://localhost/repos/ to see if it's there.

11.5.3.6. Working with Subversion

Working with project-y using Subversion:

$ mkdir -p /path/to ;cd  /path/to
$ svn co http://localhost/repos/project-y
  • Check out sources

$ cd project-y
  • do some work ...

$ svn diff
  • similar to "diff -u repository/ local/"

$ svn revert modified_file
  • undo changes to a file

$ svn ci -m "Describe changes"
  • check in your changes to the repository

$ vi newfile_added
$ svn add newfile_added
$ svn add new_dir
  • recursively add all files in new_dir

$ svn add -N new_dir2
  • non recursively add the directory

$ svn ci -m "Added newfile_added, new_dir, new_dir2"
$ svn up
  • merge in latest version from repository

$ svn log
  • shows all changes committed

$ svn copy http://localhost/repos/project-y \
      http://localhost/repos/project-y-branch \
      -m "creating my branch of project-y"
  • branching project-y

$ svn copy http://localhost/repos/project-y \
      http://localhost/repos/projct-y-release1.0 \
      -m "project-y 1.0 release"
  • added release tag.

  • note that branching and tagging are the same. The only difference is that branches get committed whereas tags do not.

  • make changes to branch ...

$ svn merge http://localhost/repos/project-y \
   http://localhost/repos/project-y-branch
  • merge branched copy back to main copy

$ svn co -r 4 http://localhost/repos/project-y
  • get revision 4

11.5.4. Git

Git can do everything for both local and remote source code management. This means that you can record the source code changes without needing network connectivity to the remote repository.

11.5.4.1. Before using Git

You may wish to set several global configuration in ~/.gitconfig such as your name and email address used by Git:

$ git config --global user.name "Name Surname"
$ git config --global user.email yourname@example.com

If you are too used to CVS or Subversion commands, you may wish to set several command aliases;

$ git config --global alias.ci "commit -a"
$ git config --global alias.co checkout

You can check your global configuration by:

$ git config --global --list

11.5.4.2. Git references

There are good references for Git.

The git-gui and gitk commands make using Git very easy.

[Warning] Warning

Do not use the tag string with spaces in it even if some tools such as gitk allow you to use it. It will choke some other git commands.

11.5.4.3. Git commands

Even if your upstream uses different VCS, it is good idea to use git(1) for local activity since you can manage your local copy of source tree without the network connection to the upstream. Here are commands used with git(1).

Table 11.18.  List of git packages and commands.

command

package

popcon

size

description

N/A

git-doc

I:2

5428

This provide the documentation for Git.

git(7)

git-core

V:4, I:8

7164

The main command for Git.

gitk(1)

gitk

V:0.5, I:2

612

The GUI Git repository browser with history.

git-gui(1)

git-gui

V:0.2, I:1.6

1128

The GUI for Git. (No history)

git-svnimport(1)

git-svn

V:0.3, I:2

416

This import the data out of Subversion into Git.

git-svn(1)

git-svn

V:0.3, I:2

416

This provides bidirectional operation between the Subversion and Git.

git-cvsimport(1)

git-cvs

V:0.15, I:1.0

436

This import the data out of CVS into Git.

git-cvsexportcommit(1)

git-cvs

V:0.15, I:1.0

436

This exports a commit to a CVS checkout from Git.

git-cvsserver(1)

git-cvs

V:0.15, I:1.0

436

A CVS server emulator for Git.

git-send-email(1)

git-email

V:0.10, I:1.0

292

This sends a collection of patches as email from the Git.

stg(1)

stgit

V:0.08, I:0.6

844

This is quilt on top of git. (Python)

git-buildpackage(1)

git-buildpackage

V:0.10, I:0.6

420

This automates the Debian packaging with the Git.

guilt(7)

guilt

V:0.01, I:0.09

320

This is quilt on top of git. (SH/AWK/SED/...)


11.5.4.4. Git for recording configuration history

You can manually record chronological history of configuration using Git tools. Here is a simple example for your practice to record /etc/apt/ contents.:

$ cd /etc/apt/
$ sudo git init
$ sudo chmod 700 .git
$ sudo git add .
$ sudo git commit -a
  • commit configuration with description.

  • make modification to the configuration files

$ cd /etc/apt/
$ sudo git commit -a
  • commit configuration with description.

  • ... continue your life ...

$ cd /etc/apt/
$ sudo gitk --all
  • you have full configuration history with you.

[Note] Note

The sudo(8) command is needed to work with permissions of configuration data. For user configuration data, you may skip the sudo(8) command.

[Note] Note

The "chmod 700 .git" command in the above example is needed to protect archive data from unauthorized read access.

[Tip] Tip

For more complete setup for recording configuration history, please look for the etckeeper package: Section 10.2.8, “Recording changes in configuration files”.