What is going on with CVSNT?

Question

At our site, we currently use CVSNT running on Solaris as our source repository server. We use the ACL feature in CVSNT and depend upon TortoiseCVS being able to run the cvs ls command, so we can't run a regular CVS server.

I've recently noticed that March Hare has retired the community version of CVSNT, and now charges $426 as a distribution fee for all downloads. (The commercial version is only $85 per person).

TortioseCVS comes with CVSNT, and I notice that this version of CVSNT has an annoying habit of displaying a dialog box asking you to upgrade to the supported version and will occasionally append a commercial for upgrading in the CVS commit comments.

At the same time, there seems to be a new open source package called EVS that March Hare seems to be pushing as an alternative to the formally open source CVS.

Exactly what is going on? Is EVS a replacement for CVSNT that TortoiseCVS can use? If we upgrade our CVS repository to use EVS, will users notice?

Can I continue to use CVSNT without paying the $426 distribution fee?

We'll probably be moving over to Subversion as soon as we get a few other issues under control, but I know plenty of shops that still use CVS, and I wonder if there are any licensing issues using Tortoise with CVSNT or continuing using CVSNT for handling the source repository.

Inae

You should contact March Hare...they should know... – Endemic

Ignore the issues for now and focus on migrating to Subversion instead. You'll be glad you did. – Peters

There's an interesting thing: if TortoiseCVS distribute CVSNT binary, they have to give you the source code also. See softwarefreedom.org/resources/2008/compliance-guide.html, paragraph 4.1.2 – Poco

I just tried the CVS server they give (cvs -d :pserver:cvs:@cvs.cvsnt.org:/cvsnt co -r CVSNT_2_0_x cvsnt) and it's presently giving authorization errors. I've sent feedback to see if they come up with some reasonable way to obtain the source for 2.5.05. – Hypoplasia

To follow up my last comment: March-Hare says that's not their server, not their problem. – Hypoplasia

Answer 1

You can still use CVSNT, only you won't get any new release directly from March Hare. Any previously released community edition is still usable without any license issues, because it was released under the GPL. If someone redistributes newer CVSNT code (as GPL permits so), you could get it and compile it yourself.

You can avoid the ad message in the logs following instructions here and using -M instead of -m (you may need to patch any cvsnt client/frontend you may be using). If you compile from sources, you can remove it altogether.

There is anyway an open question if March-Hare is violating the GPL itself. They release binary distribution (their trial...) without source code, and without any way to get it. GPL asks binary distribution to make source code available, and there's no exception for "trial edition".

Their new "high performance" closed source proprietary server looks to be tied to the GPL CVS code in a way that probably violates the GPL (they themselves say one can't work without the other), and it could be a reason why they made source code so difficult to obtain.

Their now below the radar of any FSF supporter I guess, no one cares about CVS much today, and thereby I guess they feel free to milk the cow until it dies.

EVS is an attempt to write a new server using a database backend and supporting different clients (CVS, SVN, etc.), but as now it looks to have stalled, March-Hare no longer promotes it much, and anyway I would be very careful to buy anything from a company that has so little respect for someone else license.

Marcellusmarcelo

Thanks for the directions. I use normal CVS on my Mac, but on Windows, many of our developers use TortoiseCVS which comes with CVSNT and every once in a while you get that stupid dialog box asking you to "support" the CVSNT project by promising to work on the code, test it, or buy the license from March Hare". – Inae

That dialog will appear once a day, and AFAIK but recompiling from source, if you can get them, there's nothing you can do but switch to another VCS. – Poco

For me, the registry change in the link that Mad Hatter referenced above worked perfectly: Setting HKLM/Software/cvsnt/PServer, "HaveBoughtSuite"="yes" – Pustule

Just as an FYI, there are source packages at cvsnt.sourcearchive.com that go up to 2.5.03. I don't know their provenance, but they aren't far off from the version that TortiseCVS distributes (2.5.05). – Hypoplasia

Answer 2

I had the exact same problem once I changed to Windows 8 and just fixed it!

By firing up ProcMon I realized that the cvs.exe process was trying to access/read the following RegKeys: HKCU\Software\Cvsnt\cvsadvert\LastAdvert (REG_SZ) HCKU\Software\Cvsnt\cvsadvert\AdvertInterval (REG_DWORD)

I solved the issue by placing the following values on each:

   LastAdvert - Current Epoch time: (e.g. 1373290229)
   AdvertInterval - Greatest number possible (0xffffffff)

The annoying window stopped appearing :)

You may use the following Reg file (just copy paste into a .reg file and execute it) to fix it also:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Cvsnt\cvsadvert]

"LastAdvert"="1373290229"

"AdvertInterval"=dword:ffffffff

Omaromara

Answer 3

I managed to obtain the sources for 2.5.05 and even fixed a couple of issues but could not test it.

See: Fixing CVSNT 2.5.05

Partisan