TkRev / Discussion / Help: TkCVS crashes in CVS, but not Git

So, as the title says this is weird. I can use tkcvs in a Git repo just fine. But when I try to use it in a CVS repo:

$ tkcvs cvsxdiff
Error in startup script: bad option "close": must be cget or configure
    while executing
"$lc close invoke"
    (procedure "::cvs_branchlog::0::cvs_sort_it_all_out" line 29)
    invoked from within
"[namespace current]::cvs_sort_it_all_out"
    (procedure "::cvs_branchlog::0::reloadLog" line 80)
    invoked from within
"[namespace current]::reloadLog"
    (in namespace eval "::cvs_branchlog::0" script line 481)
    invoked from within
"namespace eval $my_idx {
      set my_idx [uplevel {concat $my_idx}]
      set filename [uplevel {concat $filename}]
      set how [uplevel {concat $h..."
    (procedure "::cvs_branchlog::new" line 6)
    invoked from within
"::cvs_branchlog::new "CVS,loc" "$file""
    (procedure "cvs_branches" line 14)
    invoked from within
"cvs_branches [list $lcfile]"
    invoked from within
"if {[string match {mod*} $cvscfg(startwindow)]} {
  wm withdraw .
  # If we're in a version-controlled directory, open that repository
  if {$insvn} {..."
    (file "/discover/swdev/mathomp4/local-SLES12/bin/tkcvs" line 417)

I'm not sure how to decode that... Any help?

Matt Thompson - 2020-05-22

Note that this is with 9.3.2

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Matt Thompson - 2020-05-22

And more info. If I just do tkcvs I get the list of files. But once I click the "tree" button, kaboom!

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DorothyR - 2020-05-22

I'll look at it. Thanks for posting the trace. I don't know what caused the branch browser to fail, but it's obvious that it didn't exit correctly.

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DorothyR - 2020-06-17

That was interesting. The source code has been on the tigris.org collabnet ever since I made the Subversion module. Tigris closed down, and it took me all this time to get a dump so I could bring it back to Sourceforge.

Anyway, I fixed the proximate cause of the crash, which was this, but there was before that some reason why your revision-log file couldn't be processed. If it isn't proprietary, you could find the ,v file in your CVSROOT which corresponds to the file you were trying to look at, and send it to me. so I can evaluate it.

--- cvs.tcl (revision 960)
+++ cvs.tcl (working copy)
@@ -2700,7 +2700,7 @@

if {[llength [array names revkind]] < 1} { cvsfail "Log empty. Check error status of cvs log command"

$lc close invoke

$lc.close invoke
return
}
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@dorothyr Zombie thread activate! (Sorry about that.)

Back in 2020, we sort of "moved full in to Git" and so my support requests (from users) for CVS stopped. However, recently, some old CVS code was revived and people asked about tkcvs. 2020 was a few OSs ago, so I installed tkrev anew (9.5) and decided to try again.

And so I tried again with the same file as above. Good news, doesn't crash. Bad news, doesn't work. I get a popup saying:

TkRev Warning!
Log empty. Check error status of cvs log command

Well, okay:

> cvs log cvsxdiff

RCS file: /cvsroot/esma/sandbox/dasilva/cvstools/cvsxdiff,v
Working file: cvsxdiff
head: 1.10
branch:
locks: strict
access list:
keyword substitution: kv
total revisions: 11;    selected revisions: 11
description:
----------------------------
revision 1.10
date: 2018/03/09 18:51:47;  author: jstassi;  state: Exp;  lines: +43 -37
1. Modified to write $tempfile to $TMPDIR, if user does not have write permission on the file's directory
2. Added -v (verbose) option, to see the commands that are being issued by the script
3. Minor format modifications
----------------------------
revision 1.9
date: 2017/10/06 14:02:29;  author: jstassi;  state: Exp;  lines: +2 -2
1. Add --text flag to xxdiff call
2. Along unrecognized flags to pass through
----------------------------
revision 1.8
date: 2008/04/01 15:11:21;  author: stassi;  state: Exp;  lines: +2 -0
Restored history info to prologue
----------------------------
revision 1.7
date: 2008/02/14 19:02:13;  author: stassi;  state: Exp;  lines: +19 -20
rearranged listing of functions
----------------------------
revision 1.6
date: 2008/02/14 18:50:47;  author: stassi;  state: Exp;  lines: +36 -8
Modified to look for xdiff utility if xxdiff is not found
----------------------------
revision 1.5
date: 2008/02/14 00:04:03;  author: stassi;  state: Exp;  lines: +168 -82
converted from Bourne shell script to perl
----------------------------
revision 1.4
date: 2008/02/13 15:06:23;  author: dkokron;  state: Exp;  lines: +2 -1
bug fix
----------------------------
revision 1.3
date: 2008/02/07 17:02:17;  author: stassi;  state: Exp;  lines: +7 -4
Added -A option for doing diff against the HEAD
----------------------------
revision 1.2
date: 2007/05/04 17:25:19;  author: stassi;  state: Exp;  lines: +22 -12
modified to use a temp file rather than piping directly to the xxdiff utility; this seems to clear up problems
----------------------------
revision 1.1
date: 2006/12/14 21:06:00;  author: dasilva;  state: Exp;
branches:  1.1.1;
Initial revision
----------------------------
revision 1.1.1.1
date: 2006/12/14 21:06:00;  author: dasilva;  state: Exp;  lines: +0 -0
my cvs utilities
=============================================================================
> echo $?
0

I mean... no error.

I'm going to go ask someone who (I think) still has access to the CVS repo to see if he can pull out the ,v file.

DorothyR - 2025-05-22

Zombies! Somehow I'm still here though :-) It would be great to see the ,v file.

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Matt Thompson - 2025-05-22

@dorothyr Okay. I'll work with the person with access to try and get it.

Note: I did try the usual "let's see if ChatGPT" can help and I'm not sure our robot friend knows TCL that well. :)

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Matt Thompson - 2025-05-22

@dorothyr Please find attached the cvsxdiff,v file. Hopefullly it helps you figure out my oddity.

cvsxdiff,v

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DorothyR - 2025-05-23

Well, the file behaves for me, going back to tkcvs_8.0.4 which is as far back as my laptop will go.

Have you tried watching what happens in the trace window when you try to diagram the log? Turn on tracing, and just the Commands and Stderr levels might be enough to say what's going on. In this case, I accidentally got the error by re-generating my test repository and forgetting to hand-add the cvsxdiff file.

TkRev Branches cvsxdiff_001.png

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DorothyR - 2025-05-23

Here's the trace window

Selection_002.png

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Matt Thompson - 2025-05-23

Hmm. How do you enter trace mode? I don't see a command line option.

Also: one thing I forgot. We access our CVS server via ssh (CVS_RSH=ssh) and we have to use a custom port (via .ssh/config). Could that cause issues?

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- DorothyR - 2025-05-23
  
  Yes, access method can definitely cause problems. The trace should show that, hopefully.
  
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- DorothyR - 2025-05-23
  
  In the top menubar, Options -> Tracing On/Off. In recent versions, you then
  check the debug levels you want in the trace window's top bar.
  
  On Fri, May 23, 2025 at 10:40 AM Matt Thompson theonematt@users.sourceforge.net wrote:
  
  Hmm. How do you enter trace mode? I don't see a command line option.
  
  Also: one thing I forgot. We access our CVS server via ssh (CVS_RSH=ssh)
  and we have to use a custom port (via .ssh/config). Could that cause issues?
  
  TkCVS crashes in CVS, but not Git
  
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Matt Thompson - 2025-05-23

Okay. Find attached a trace output. I think I did it right? But let me know if not.

I opened tkrev and pressed the "Branch" button for cvsxdiff. The warning popup came after:

[::cvs_branchlog::2::cvs_sort_it_all_out] ENTER

tkrev_log.txt
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DorothyR - 2025-05-23

I think you did it right. Was stderr (E) logging on? But anyway cvs gave you the log. I wonder if there was an error status somewhere for some other reason.

Is this the only file you have a problem with?
Have you tried checking out a fresh copy of the module and starting over?

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Matt Thompson - 2025-05-27

@dorothyr Yeah, I had all the boxes checked in the window. And I just tried a fresh checkout with a different file and I get the same issue (see attached screenshot).

Screenshot 2025-05-27 at 9.33.59 AM.png

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TkCVS crashes in CVS, but not Git

Platform-agnostic GUI supporting CVS, Subversion, Git, and RCS

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TkCVS crashes in CVS, but not Git

TkCVS crashes in CVS, but not Git

Platform-agnostic GUI supporting CVS, Subversion, Git, and RCS

Forums

Help

TkCVS crashes in CVS, but not Git document.SUBSCRIPTION_OPTIONS = { "thing": "topic", "subscribed": false, "url": "subscribe", "icon": { "css": "fa fa-envelope-o" } };

TkCVS crashes in CVS, but not Git