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<title>The Fossil Web Interface</title> |
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One of the innovative features of Fossil is its built-in web interface. |
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This web interface provides everything you need to run a software |
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development project: |
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* [./bugtheory.wiki | Ticketing and bug tracking] |
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* [./wikitheory.wiki | Wiki] |
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* [./embeddeddoc.wiki | On-line documentation] |
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* [./event.wiki | Technical notes] |
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* [./forum.wiki | Forum] |
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* [./chat.md | Chatroom] |
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* Timelines |
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* Full text search over all of the above |
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* Status information |
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* Graphs of revision and branching history |
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* File and version lists and differences |
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* Download historical versions as ZIP archives |
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* Historical change data |
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* Add and remove tags on check-ins |
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* Move check-ins between branches |
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* Revise check-in comments |
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* Manage user credentials and access permissions |
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* And so forth... (some [./webpage-ex.md|examples]) |
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You get all of this, and more, for free when you use Fossil. |
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There are no extra programs to install or setup. |
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Everything you need is already pre-configured and built into the |
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self-contained, stand-alone Fossil executable. |
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As an example of how useful this web interface can be, |
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the entire [./index.wiki | Fossil website], |
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including the document you are now reading, |
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is rendered using the Fossil web interface, with no enhancements, |
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and little customization. |
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<div class="indent"> |
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<b>Key point:</b> <i>The Fossil website is just a running instance |
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of Fossil! |
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</div> |
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Note also that because Fossil is a distributed system, you can run |
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the web interface on your local machine while off network (for example, |
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while on an airplane) including |
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making changes to wiki pages and/or trouble ticket, then synchronize with your |
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co-workers after you reconnect. When you clone a Fossil repository, you |
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don't just get the project source code, you get the entire project |
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management website. |
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<h2>Very Simple Startup</h2> |
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To start using the built-in Fossil web interface on an existing Fossil |
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repository, simply type this: |
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<pre>fossil ui existing-repository.fossil</pre> |
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Substitute the name of your repository, of course. |
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The "ui" command will start a web server running (it figures out an |
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available TCP port to use on its own) and then automatically launches |
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your web browser to point at that server. If you run the "ui" command |
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from within an open check-out, you can omit the repository name: |
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<pre>fossil ui</pre> |
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The latter case is a very useful short-cut when you are working on a |
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Fossil project and you want to quickly do some work with the web interface. |
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Notice that Fossil automatically finds an unused TCP port to run the |
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server on and automatically points your web browser to the correct |
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URL. So there is never any fumbling around trying to find an open |
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port or to type arcane strings into your browser URL entry box. |
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The interface just pops right up, ready to run. |
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The Fossil web interface is also very easy to setup and run on a |
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network server, as either a CGI program or from inetd, or as an |
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SCGI server. Details on how |
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to do that are described further below. |
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<h2>Things To Do Using The Web Interface</h2> |
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You can view <b>timelines</b> of changes to the project. The default |
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"Timeline" link on the menu bar takes you to a page that shows the 20 |
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most recent check-ins, wiki page edits, ticket/bug-report changes, |
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and/or blog entries. |
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This gives a very useful snapshot of what has been happening lately on the |
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project. You can click to go further back in time, if needed. Or |
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follow hyperlinks to see details, including diffs and annotated diffs, |
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of individual check-ins, wiki page edits, ticket changes, and |
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blog edits. |
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You can view and edit <b>tickets and bug reports</b> by following the |
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"Tickets" link on the menu bar. |
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Fossil is backed by an SQL database, so users with appropriate permissions |
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can write new ticket report formats based on SQL query statements. |
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Fossil is careful to prevent ticket report formats from doing any mischief |
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on the database (it only allows SELECT statements to run) and it restricts |
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access to sensitive data such as user passwords. So it is actually safe |
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to let anonymous users on the internet write their own ticket formats if |
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you like. In addition to viewing and/or creating report formats, you can |
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also create new tickets or look at summaries or complete histories of |
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existing tickets. Any changes you make will automatically merge with |
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changes from your co-workers the next time your repository is synchronized. |
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You can view and edit <b>wiki</b> by following the "Wiki" link on the |
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menu bar. Fossil has its own easy-to-remember |
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[/wiki_rules | markup rules], or if you prefer, it also |
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supports [/md_rules | Markdown]. And, as with tickets, all of |
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your edits will automatically merge with those of your co-workers when |
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your repository synchronizes. |
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You can view summary reports of <b>branches</b> in the |
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check-in graph by visiting the "Branches" link on the |
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menu bar. From those pages you can follow hyperlinks to get additional |
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details. These screens allow you to easily keep track of what is going |
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on with separate sub-teams within your project team. |
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The "Files" link on the menu allows you to browse through the <b>file |
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hierarchy</b> of the project and to view complete changes histories on |
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individual files, with hyperlinks to the check-ins that made those |
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changes, and with diffs and annotated diffs between versions. |
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The web interface supports [./embeddeddoc.wiki | embedded documentation] |
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files (usually in wiki format) that are checked into the project as |
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part of the source tree. Such files can be viewed as if they were |
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ordinary web pages. This document that you are now reading is an |
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example of embedded documentation. |
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<h2>Customizing The Web Interface Appearance</h2> |
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Users with appropriate permissions can customize the look and feel of |
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the web interface using the "Admin" link on the main menu of the web |
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interface. Templates |
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for the header and footer of each page can be edited, as can the CSS |
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for the entire page. You can even change around the main menu. |
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Timeline display preferences can be edited. The page that is brought |
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up as the "Home" page can be changed. It is often useful to set the |
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"Home" page to be a wiki page or an embedded document. The built-in |
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pages <b>/home</b> and <b>/index</b> can be used as the "Home" page. |
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They have identical effect, which is to instruct Fossil to find and |
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display a wiki page with the same name as the project, or if that |
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does not exist, <b>/README.md</b> or <b>/index.wiki</b>. |
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An embedded document link such as <b>doc/trunk/README.md</b> can be |
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used for the "Home" page. If you specify one of the built-in keywords |
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<b>/home</b> or <b>/index</b>, the page will not be treated as an |
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embedded document. |
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<h2>Installing On A Network Server</h2> |
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When you create a new Fossil project and after you have configured it |
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like you want it using the web interface, you can make the project |
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available to a distributed team by simply copying the single |
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repository file up to a web server that supports CGI or SCGI. To |
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run Fossil as CGI, just put the |
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<b>sample-project.fossil</b> file in a directory where CGI scripts |
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have both read and write permission on the file and the directory that |
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contains the file, then add a CGI script that looks something like this: |
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<verbatim>#!/usr/local/bin/fossil |
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repository: /home/www/sample-project.fossil</verbatim> |
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Adjust the script above so that the paths are correct for your system, |
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of course, and also make sure the Fossil binary is installed on the server. |
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But that is <u>all</u> you have to do. You now have everything you need to host |
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a distributed software development project in less than five minutes using a |
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two-line CGI script. |
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Instructions for setting up an SCGI server are |
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[./scgi.wiki | available separately]. |
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You don't have a CGI- or SCGI-capable web server running on your |
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server machine? |
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Not a problem. The Fossil interface can also be launched via inetd or |
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xinetd. An inetd configuration line sufficient to launch the Fossil |
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web interface looks like this: |
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<verbatim>80 stream tcp nowait.1000 root /usr/local/bin/fossil \ |
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/usr/local/bin/fossil http /home/www/sample-project.fossil</verbatim> |
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As always, you'll want to adjust the pathnames to whatever is appropriate |
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for your system. The xinetd setup uses a different syntax but follows |
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the same idea. |