CVS over SSH on Mac OS X

[I’m putting this up here so I don’t have to google for the info every time I set up a fresh machine from scratch.]

In order to use CVS over SSH with BBEdit, CVL, or XCode on Mac OS X, it has to be enabled. To accomplish this, create a directory called “.MacOSX” in your home directory. The period is important. In this directory, create a file called “environment.plist” with the following contents:

<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC “-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN” “http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd”> CVS_RSH ssh

Please note that if you copy and paste the preceding text, the smart quotes will break things. Make sure you convert them to simple quotes.

You also need to set up quick SSH logins, as described here. Synopsis:

1) ssh-keygen -t rsa [Accept the defaults]2) ssh server “mkdir .ssh; chmod 0700 .ssh”3) scp .ssh/id_rsa.pub server:.ssh/authorized_keys2

Note that if you’ve already set up authorized keys from another machine on the server, only run step 1, then follow these steps:

1) scp .ssh/id_rsa.pub server:ak22) ssh server3) cat ak2 » .ssh/authorized_keys24) rm ak2

This will copy your minty-fresh authorized keys to the server, then append them to the currently existing authorized keys.

Now exit from the server, and you should be able to SSH to it without being prompted for a password.

Incidentally, Linux Server Hacks, from which the tip for setting up quick SSH logins is taken, is one of the best books on Unix magic I’ve ever seen. Buy it.

Posted Thursday, 11 December, 2003 by Nic Lindh

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