P4Web User Guide - Overview of P4Web

P4Web Release 2006.2 User Guide
[Getting Started] [How To...] [Browser Tips] [Glossary] [Road Map]

Overview of P4Web

P4Web is a Perforce client program that runs on any platform. It can be used either in Standard mode or Viewer mode:

Standard mode turns your Web browser into a complete Perforce user interface. You can use it to work with files and access depot information. To be used in Standard mode, P4Web must be running on a machine that can read and write files in your workspace. Typically, this is your Macintosh workstation, your Windows workstation, or the Unix machine you log in to. No one else can access your P4Web running in Standard mode -- it accepts connections from your browser only.
Viewer mode allows read-only access to depot files and information. P4Web makes an ideal document server, allowing users to browse current and previous versions of files stored in a Perforce depot. Anyone can point their browser to P4Web instance running in Viewer mode. Perforce protections can be used to control depot access by Viewer mode if necessary.

P4Web communicates with the Perforce server using the Perforce C++ API. It also communicates with your web browser, sending HTML and receiving URL requests and form input. To your web browser, P4Web looks like a web server. To a Perforce server, P4Web looks like any other Perforce client program.

Installing P4Web

P4Web is available for Macintosh, Windows, and Unix. For download information, please go to the Perforce Downloads page.

Installing P4Web on Unix and Mac OS X
Download the p4web executable for your Unix platform, and put it in a directory in your path. If you are installing it for everyone to use, put it in /usr/local/bin or equivalent. Make sure the p4web file has execute permission.
If you do not already have p4 (the Perforce command line client) on your system, download the executable from the Perforce Downloads page and install it.
Installing P4Web on Windows
Download the P4Web installer program, perforce.exe, and run it on your Windows workstation. When prompted, select User installation. This option installs the P4Web executable, p4web.exe and the Perforce command line client, p4.exe, if it is not already installed.
The default port for P4Web is 5501. You can override the default port during the installation. You can start multiple instances of P4Web using on different port numbers regardless of the port number chosen on installation. For details, see How to Start P4Web, below.
Installing P4Web as a service on Windows
If you have administrative permissions, you can install P4Web to run as a service on your Windows machine.
Download the P4Web installer program, perforce.exe, and run it on your Windows workstation. When prompted, select one of the following options:
- Administrator Typical: runs P4Web as a service in Viewer mode.
- Administrator Custom: enables you to run P4Web in either Viewer mode or Standard mode .
This option installs the P4Web executable, p4webs.exe.
The port number that P4Web uses when running as a service is specified by setting the environment variable P4WEBPORT. When using P4Web as a service, point your browser to: http://localhost:value_of_P4WEBPORT.
To change the user when running P4Web as a service, you must first stop the service, then set the user, then start the service again. At the DOS prompt. issue the following commands:
1. svcinst stop -n "Perforce Web"
2. p4 set -S "Perforce Web" P4USER=[username]
3. svcinst start -n "Perforce Web"

Starting P4Web

On Windows, you can start the P4Web you configured during installation by clicking Start>Programs>Perforce>P4Web. You can also start a P4Web with an alternate configuration using the p4web command, as described below. Run p4web in the Start>Run window or by issuing the p4web command at the DOS prompt.

If you are running P4Web as a service on Windows, P4Web is started immediately after you install it. To verify that it has started, go to the Windows Control Panel. Under Administrative Tools>Component Services, click on Services and find Perforce Web. If it is not started, click Start the service in the left-hand column.

On Mac OSX and Unix, start the P4Web program by issuing the p4web command, as described below.

The 'p4web' Command

To start an instance of P4Web, issue the p4web command . When P4Web starts, it displays the Perforce user, client, and server port it is using, and the URL to be used by browsers to connect to the instance. The p4web command syntax is:

p4web [-w port] [-b or -B] [-l] [global_options] [-h] [-V]

-w port: specifies the port on which P4Web accepts browser requests.
On Unix, the default port number is unique to each user and is displayed by the p4web command at startup. If the default P4Web port number for your username conflicts with a port address used by another process on your system, specify another port using the -w option. On Windows the default P4Web port is 5051.
-b: specifies Viewer mode. The default mode is Standard mode, in which P4Web can read and write files in a workspace on the local machine. If the -b flag is used, you are not prompted to enter a password to connect to P4Web. However, if your username requires a password when accessing Perforce, specify that password using the -P flag when you start P4Web.
-B: require authentication. You are prompted to enter a password upon starting P4Web.
-l: accept connections only from a browser running on the local machine. By default, P4Web accepts connections from an authorized browser on any machine. (See Passwords and Authorization for more information.)
[global_options] are as follows:
-u user (Perforce user name) Note: This option cannot be used with the -B flag (see above).
-P password (Perforce user password) Note: This option can only be used with the -b flag (see above).
-c client (Perforce client name)
-H host (Perforce client host)
-p host:port (Perforce server host and port number)
-C charset (Character set used for translation of unicode files)

For more information about these flags, see the Perforce Command Reference.
The -h flag displays the p4web command flags, but does not start the program.
The -V flag displays p4web version information, but does not start the program.

Connecting to P4Web

To connect to an instance of P4Web, enter the following URL in the addess bar of your browser:

http://localhost:nnnn/ (where nnnn is your P4Web's port address.)

The port address is set in the environment variable P4PORT, unless you are running P4Web as a service on Windows. If you are running P4Web as a service, the port address is set in the environment variable P4WEBPORT.

Note: If your browser and P4Web are runing on different machines,specify the name of the machine where P4Web is running instead of "localhost".

When prompted, enter your Perforce username and password (if any).

How to Stop P4Web

To stop a P4Web program running on:

Macintosh: choose QUIT from the FILE menu.
Windows: close the P4Web console window, or use Ctrl-C in the window where it is running.
Windows service: to end the current session, close the P4Web console window. To stop the P4Web service entirely, go to the Services console, find Perforce Web and click Stop the service.
Unix: kill your "p4web" process.

User Documentation

After you've pointed your browser to P4Web, use its Help links to access the P4Web user documentation. You can also access the same documentation on our web site: