Using the Mercurial version control system

Using the Mercurial version control system
Learn how to use the Mercurial version control system on hosting.com servers.

About Mercurial
Mercurial is a Python-based version control system installed on all hosting.com shared servers. Like other version control systems, Mercurial allows you to track multiple revisions of files and directories.

Creating a repository

1. Log in to your hosting.com account using SSH.

2. Create a repository by typing:

hg init repository

Replace repository with the name of the directory where you want to create the repository. If the directory does not exist, hg init will create it.

Publishing a repository
You can make your Mercurial repositories accessible on the web. To do this:

1. Log in using SSH.

2. Navigate to the cgi-bin directory:

cd ~/public_html/cgi-bin

3. Create a file that users will access to reach the repository. Paste the following text into the file:

#!/usr/bin/env python
#
# An example hgweb CGI script, edit as necessary
# See also http://mercurial.selenic.com/wiki/PublishingRepositories
# Path to repo or hgweb config to serve
config = "/home/username/repository"
# Uncomment and adjust if Mercurial is not installed system-wide:
# import sys; sys.path.insert(0, "/path/to/python/lib")
# Uncomment to send python tracebacks to the browser if an error occurs:
# import cgitb; cgitb.enable()
from mercurial import demandimport; demandimport.enable()
from mercurial.hgweb import hgweb, wsgicgi
application = hgweb(config)
wsgicgi.launch(application)

Replace username with your hosting.com account username and repository with the path to your repository.

4. Save the file and make it executable:

chmod 755 filename

Replace filename with the name of the file you created.

The repository is now available on the web at:

http://www.example.com/cgi-bin/filename

Replace example.com with your domain name and filename with the file you created. To clone the repository, use:

hg clone http://www.example.com/cgi-bin/filename

More information

• Official Mercurial website: http://mercurial.selenic.com

• Complete online tutorial: http://hginit.com

• Free online book about Mercurial: http://hgbook.red-bean.com/read