git cvsimport Error: “root … must be an absolute pathname”

Question

I\'m trying to clone a CVS repository using git:

lawsa~/java/projects/iu$ git cvsimport -C ../iugit ebs/fs/kfs
Expected Valid-requests from server, but got: E Ro         


        

Answer 1

I finally had some success with the git cvs command. It seems that you can import your directory without specifying :extssh in your cvs root. Simply go to a new directory and enter:

git cvsimport -v -d user@server:/path/to/dir -r cvs -k my_module

This solved the "must be an absolute pathname" error.

Answer 2

I'm very happy to have figured it out:

lawsa~/java/projects$ git cvsimport -d "$CVSROOT" -C iugit -r cvs -k ebs/fs/kfs
Expected Valid-requests from server, but got: E Root     
:extssh:lawsa@cvs.uits.iu.edu:/srcctrl/CVS must be an absolute pathname
lawsa~/java/projects$ echo $CVSROOT
:extssh:lawsa@cvs.uits.iu.edu:/srcctrl/CVS
lawsa~/java/projects$ CVSROOT=:ssh:lawsa@cvs.uits.iu.edu:/srcctrl/CVS
lawsa~/java/projects$ git cvsimport -d "$CVSROOT" -C iugit -r cvs -k ebs/fs/kfs
Expected Valid-requests from server, but got: E Root 
:ssh:lawsa@cvs.uits.iu.edu:/srcctrl/CVS must be an absolute pathname
lawsa~/java/projects$ CVSROOT=:ext:lawsa@cvs.uits.iu.edu:/srcctrl/CVS                                     
lawsa~/java/projects$ git cvsimport -d "$CVSROOT" -C iugit -v -r cvs -k ebs/fs/kfs                                                                                                                                   
Password: 
Could not chdir to home directory /home/lawsa: No such file or directory
fatal: Needed a single revision
Branch 'master' does not exist.
Either use the correct '-o branch' option,
or import to a new repository.
lawsa~/java/projects$ rm iugit -r
lawsa~/java/projects$ git cvsimport -d "$CVSROOT" -C iugit -v -r cvs -k ebs/fs/kfs
Password: 
Could not chdir to home directory /home/lawsa: No such file or directory
Initialized empty Git repository in /home/lawsa/java/projects/iugit/.git/
Running cvsps...
Password: 
Could not chdir to home directory /home/lawsa: No such file or directory
cvs_direct initialized to CVSROOT /srcctrl/CVS
cvs rlog: Logging ebs/fs/kfs
cvs rlog: Logging ebs/fs/kfs/.settings
cvs rlog: Logging ebs/fs/kfs/batch
cvs rlog: Logging ebs/fs/kfs/batch/.securedir

Perhaps git cvsimport doesn't accept extssh as an authentication mechanism ?