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(cvs.info)Read-only access

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Read-only repository access
===========================

   It is possible to grant read-only repository access to people using
the password-authenticated server (Note: Password authenticated).
(The other access methods do not have explicit support for read-only
users because those methods all assume login access to the repository
machine anyway, and therefore the user can do whatever local file
permissions allow her to do.)

   A user who has read-only access can do only those CVS operations
which do not modify the repository, except for certain "administrative"
files (such as lock files and the history file).  It may be desirable
to use this feature in conjunction with user-aliasing (Note: Password
authentication server).

   Unlike with previous versions of CVS, read-only users should be able
merely to read the repository, and not to execute programs on the
server or otherwise gain unexpected levels of access.  Or to be more
accurate, the _known_ holes have been plugged.  Because this feature is
new and has not received a comprehensive security audit, you should use
whatever level of caution seems warranted given your attitude concerning
security.

   There are two ways to specify read-only access for a user: by
inclusion, and by exclusion.

   "Inclusion" means listing that user specifically in the
`$CVSROOT/CVSROOT/readers' file, which is simply a newline-separated
list of users.  Here is a sample `readers' file:

     melissa
     splotnik
     jrandom

   (Don't forget the newline after the last user.)

   "Exclusion" means explicitly listing everyone who has _write_
access--if the file

     $CVSROOT/CVSROOT/writers

exists, then only those users listed in it have write access, and
everyone else has read-only access (of course, even the read-only users
still need to be listed in the CVS `passwd' file).  The `writers' file
has the same format as the `readers' file.

   Note: if your CVS `passwd' file maps cvs users onto system users
(Note: Password authentication server), make sure you deny or grant
read-only access using the _cvs_ usernames, not the system usernames.
That is, the `readers' and `writers' files contain cvs usernames, which
may or may not be the same as system usernames.

   Here is a complete description of the server's behavior in deciding
whether to grant read-only or read-write access:

   If `readers' exists, and this user is listed in it, then she gets
read-only access.  Or if `writers' exists, and this user is NOT listed
in it, then she also gets read-only access (this is true even if
`readers' exists but she is not listed there).  Otherwise, she gets
full read-write access.

   Of course there is a conflict if the user is listed in both files.
This is resolved in the more conservative way, it being better to
protect the repository too much than too little: such a user gets
read-only access.