As an Eclipse user, who still works with CVS for some projects, when I check-out a repository through Eclipse, I have the choice between

• extssh method: Enter the password only once,
• ext method: Enter the password at every operation, several times.

‘extssh’ is the obvious choice. And life is good, until you need to use the command line CVS client.

The latest version of CVS 1.12.13 from ftp.gnu.org does not support extssh method.

If you run a CVS command from the command-line on a project created by Eclipse, it gives the following error message:

$cvs log
cvs log: Unknown method (`extssh’) in CVSROOT.
cvs log: in directory .:
cvs log: ignoring CVS/Root because it does not contain a valid root.
cvs log: No CVSROOT specified! Please use the `-d’ option
cvs [log aborted]: or set the CVSROOT environment variable.

Unfortunately even after having reported this issue several years ago, the official cvs program does not support this method.

Luckily Eclipse offers an improved interoperability. You can specify ‘ext’ method while checking out the repository. Then via
Eclipse > Preferences > Team > CVS > Ext Connection Method

Select ‘Use another connection method type to connect’ and specify ‘Connection Type’ as ‘extssh’

If you had already created a project using extssh, don’t worry. You can always go the CVS Perspective > Select your repository > right click > Properties > change the connection type back to ext.

It will take a while for Eclipse to update the meta files on the disk. Once its done, you should be able to execute cvs commands from both Eclipse and the command line client.

This post is moved to Industrial Logic’s Blogic.

I’m a big Eclipse fan. Since 2002 I’ve been promoting Eclipse inside my company and at local conferences. In 2003, I gave a Technical Overview of Eclipse platform @ Linux Bangalore Conference (now known as FOSS.IN). My claim was Eclipse is not just an IDE, its a platform to build IDEs and other interesting applications. People laughed at me saying I was fantasizing. They claimed that Eclipse was nothing more than an IDE. Anyway, time has proved that Eclipse is really a platform that has contributed a great deal to the software world.

While I continue to be a proud Eclipse supported, over the last few days Eclipse has started disappointing me. Last whole week, Eclipse kept crashing on my machine if I upgraded some Eclipse platform plugins using their update-site. Today I stumbled upon a new issue. On my Mac, when I try to launch Eclipse.app, it complains “The Eclipse executable launcher was unable to locate its companion shared library”.

It turns out that in my Eclipse.app/Contents/MacOS/eclipse.ini file launcher.library points to a old plugin folder that does not exist. I had to manually go and update that folder to the correct folder name (version differences).

I had to change :
–launcher.library
../../../plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.carbon.macosx_1.0.100.v20080509-1800

to

–launcher.library
../../../plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.carbon.macosx_1.0.101.R34x_v20080731

Hope these issues are resolved as soon as possible, so that end-user experience is not compromised and my faith in Eclipse does not die.