I want to get my company using fossil, but can't figure it out from the web site and can't find a forum or email to seek help, so I'm adding this!
The tutorial in the wiki is no help.
The 'quick start' is all out of order: a newbie needs a process to follow to see things happening.
The first thing any user will want to do is put a file into a new repository, get it to another PC, change it, and see the changes on the first PC...
Here's what I'm trying (using Windows at the moment):

  1)  Get fossil.exe on each of two PCs, in the Windows folder and open a comman
d prompt.

  2)  on one PC which I'll call Server, create a file Test.txt with the following two lines:
<blockquote><pre>
Line 1
Line 2


  3)  still on server, type:
<blockquote><pre>
fossil new Test.fossil
fossil open Test.fossil
fossil add Test.txt
fossil commit -m "First version"
fossil close Test.fossil
fossil ui Test.fossil


  4)   Set up the new project name, description and logo in the browser

  5)   Set the (Windows) firewall (control panel) to listen to TCP port 80

  6)  on the other PC, which I'll call Client, type:
<blockquote><pre>
fossil clone Test.fossil


The party ends here. I get told:

<blockquote><pre>
__________________________________________________________
                Bytes      Cards  Artifacts     Deltas
Send:              49          1          0          0
ERROR. server says:  405 Method not allowed
Send:             619         24          0          0
ERROR. server says:  405 Method not allowed
Total network traffic: 603 bytes sent, 2000 bytes received
Rebuilding repository meta-data...
0 (0%)...
project-id: (null)
server-id:
admin-user: Ross (password is "0f00ea")
__________________________________________________________


Apparently Artifacts should be artefacts (i->e)

What does "ERROR. server says:  405 Method not allowed" mean?
How do I get a copy of Test.txt out of the repository to edit?

You must have spent hundreds of hours on the code, but it's wasted if it takes an enthusiastic newbie I.T. manager a day to get this far! I'd love to use fossil and support it, but it needs a forum for help (I can't find one) or at least a walk-through in the style I started above (perhaps a flow chart to include potential errors like forgetting to open ports). If it needs me to write the docs, I'll do it, but first I need to make it work!

The repo cloning needs to be done this way:
  *  Launch the server instance using either <tt>fossil ui</tt> or <tt>fossil server</tt> using the first repo.
  *  On the user's own PC (where the clone will be kept), run <tt>fossil clone or IP address&gt;:&lt;port #&gt; clone_repo.fossil</tt> to process the cloning.

The documentation's a little sparse than what I would have liked, yes, but I've found the text within the "help" command sufficient for what I needed. Most of the wikis go deeper into some of the concepts involved with Fossil and DVCS in general. Is there anything in particular that you're looking for?

Specifically, I'd like a forum to ask questions on, but for now, to know what this means:

ERROR. server says: 405 Method not allowed

and how to get a copy of a file from the server to the client (I've got as far as your bullet points, but something is wrong... 405

My previous attempt at writing a post lost every other newline, so I'll reformat it and make it legible here:

__________________________________________________________

I want to get my company using fossil, but can't figure it out from the web site and can't find a forum or email to seek help, so I'm adding this! The tutorial in the wiki is no help. The 'quick start' is all out of order: a newbie needs a process to follow to see things happening.

The first thing any user will want to do is put a file into a new repository, get it to another PC, change it, and see the changes on the first PC...

Here's what I'm trying (using Windows at the moment):

1) Get fossil.exe on each of two PCs, in the Windows folder and open a command prompt.

2) on one PC which I'll call Server, create a file Test.txt with the following two lines:

Line 1

Line 2

3) still on server, type:

fossil new Test.fossil

fossil open Test.fossil

fossil add Test.txt

fossil commit -m "First version"

fossil close Test.fossil

fossil ui Test.fossil

4) Set up the new project name, description and logo in the browser

5) Set the (Windows) firewall (control panel) to listen to TCP port 80

6) on the other PC, which I'll call Client, type:

fossil clone Test.fossil

The party ends here. I get told:

__________________________________________________________

Bytes Cards Artifacts Deltas Send: 49 1 0 0

ERROR. server says: 405 Method not allowed

Send: 619 24 0 0

ERROR. server says: 405 Method not allowed

Total network traffic: 603 bytes sent, 2000 bytes

received Rebuilding repository meta-data...

0 (0%)...

project-id: (null) server-id: admin-user: Ross (password is "0f00ea")

__________________________________________________________

Apparently Artifacts should be artefacts (i->e)


What does "ERROR. server says: 405 Method not allowed" mean?

How do I get a copy of Test.txt out of the repository to edit?


You must have spent hundreds of hours on the code, but it's wasted if it takes an enthusiastic newbie I.T. manager a day to get this far! I'd love to use fossil and support it, but it needs a forum for help (I can't find one) or at least a walk-through in the style I started above (perhaps a flow chart to include potential errors like forgetting to open ports). If it needs me to write the docs, I'll do it, but first I need to make it work!

Thanks for the reformat - it does read better that way.

I think the 405 error is related to the way you're trying to clone the repo with <pre>fossil clone Test.fossil</pre>

If you need to clone another repo file, you will need to use <pre>fossil clone --repository &lt;repo filename&gt;</pre> rather than the HTTP method. The HTTP method makes fossil act as if it's cloning the repo from a server, not from a repo file - hence the 405 error.

Once you're done cloning, you should run <pre>fossil open &lt;repo filename&gt;</pre> to make the source tree contents available for editing.

But I _am_ trying to clone from the server (see my number 6 says:


6) on the other PC, which I'll call Client, type:

fossil clone Test.fossil


I'm trying to work on the same repo from two computers, so I'm making a test text file, adding it to test.fossil, then trying to edit that file from a different computer. I thought that's what this is for, and that this is the simplest thing to start with...

I also want to find out how to do other simple things, like edit the home page (web page) but can't find any way to do so.

Hence my request for documentation - a list of what error numbers mean, a walkthrough of each process users would expect to go through etc.


It's just occurred to me that Error 405 might be an HTTP server reply.

It would be helpful if the error message said that: I thought it was a fossil error number, but if it's HTTP I can simply look up what to do on the Internet...

See how much a little documentation could help! Several days of no progress, thinking I couldn't find the error, when really I could! = frustrating.

I can finally document the first steps for a newbie (to Version Control as well as fossil)!

On the server:

Make a simple text file (Test.txt):
<pre>
Line 1
Line 2
</pre>

Create a new repository and put the text file in it, noting the User and Password that 'new' gives, and the port that 'server' gives:
<pre>
fossil new Test.fossil
fossil open Test.fossil
fossil add Test.txt
fossil commit -m "First version"
fossil close Test.fossil
fossil server Test.fossil
</pre>

Now on another network-connected PC (the Client) type:
<pre>
fossil clone Test.fossil
</pre>
where User and Password are what <kbd>fossil new</kbd> told you (case-sensitive) and Server is the URL or IP address of the Server you set up.
<ul>
<li>If the server has another application listening to port 8080, you may get <kbd>ERROR. server says:  405 Method not allowed</kbd> an HTTP error 405.</li>
<li>If you forget the User and Password, and are using port 80, you will get <kbd>ERROR. server says:  401 Unauthorized</kbd> an HTTP error 401.</li>
<li>If you forget the User and Password you will get <kbd>Error: not authorized to
<li>If you get the Password wrong (it is case-sensitive) you get <kbd>Error: login
</ul>

To access Test.txt, open the repository and check out the file:
<pre>
fossil open Test.fossil
</pre>
This saves three files to the current directory plus the Test.txt file:
<pre>
   211 manifest
    41 manifest.uuid
50,176 Test.fossil
    18 Test.txt
 7,168 _FOSSIL_
</pre>

The contents of the checked out repository can be listed with <kbd>fossil ls</kbd>

now for the reverse journey, edit the text file, Test.txt, adding <kbd>Line 3</kbd> in the middle:
<pre>
Line 1
Line 3
Line 2
</pre>

After saving the file, use <kbd>fossil commit -m "Added Line 3"</kdb> to update the local repository, and <kbd>fossil push</kbd> to update the Server repository.

Now you can go to a third PC and go through the same client process to alter Text.txt again.