Fs2 open on Linux/Acquiring the Code

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The fs2_open on Linux Guide Acquiring the Code

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Note: This step is only for those who want the bleeding-edge source code to compile on their own. You can skip this if you intend to use a provided binary executable.

Before you begin, make sure you have write permissions on your current working directory. $HOME/$USER is a pretty safe bet. I recommend that you create a permanent /$HOME/$USER/src directory from which you run the CVS command, this way CVS will only update the files changed the next time you download the source and it's always nice to have things organized. Make sure you have CVS installed on your system. See the Installing CVS chapter on installing CVS.

Now get the source. Run from a terminal:

$ cvs -d:pserver:anonymous:[email protected]:/home/fs2source/cvsroot login

This tells the CVS tool to first use a password file for authentication (pserver), that you are user "anonymous" with the password "anonymous" who wants to access warpcore.org's CVS repository "/home/fs2source/cvsroot" and login.

Next, get the code from the server we just connected to, either from the development branch:

$ cvs -z3 -d:pserver:[email protected]:/home/fs2source/cvsroot co fs2_open

..or from the "stable branch":

$ cvs -z3 -d:pserver:[email protected]:/home/fs2source/cvsroot co -r fs2_open_3_6_9 fs2_open

Note: For just playing the game it is usually best to get the code from the "stable branch", as it will generally be more.. stable.

Both of the last two commands tell the CVS server that we want to checkout (co) the CVS module "fs2_open", either from the default branch (the development branch - HEAD) or from the branch determined by the "-r" option. In the latter checkout we specified the branch "fs2_open_3_6_9" (implying the release 3.6.9 of FS2 Open), but this naming is only due to "historical reasons" - release specific branches don't exist at the time being, we will get the most recent stable code available by using that checkout.