CVS tools

• cvsadd / cvsrm
  This script marks files in a local checkout for addition (or deletion), when the CVS server is not reachable. This is done by local manipulation of the CVS/Entries file, which doesn't require access to the CVS repository. The operation and status messages of cvsadd / cvsrm are identical to those of the "standard" cvs add and cvs rm commands, with the exception that they work offline and do not contact the repository. cvsrm can be a hardlink or symlink to cvsadd.
• chcvsroot
  This script recursively changes the CVS Root of a local checkout. This is useful when the address of the repository or of the CVS server has changed, and you want to keep your current checkout with all its current modifications. As a special bonus, the script makes an automatic backup of the addresses of the old repository, which makes a root change operation even undoable.
• cvsbackup
  Makes a complete tar-bzipped backup of the CVS repository belonging to the local CVS checkout. This works even when the repository is on a remote server. This is useful if you want your own backup of the CVS server's files, or if you want to clone the repository on your local machine (very useful in conjunction with chcvsroot, see above).
  Backup files are named '$directory_$date.tbz2'.
• cvsls
  A simple script that lists the contents and registered versions of the current CVS checkout. It does so by inspecting the local CVS/Entries file, which means that it works without contact to the repository. A simple, but useful tool for offline work.
• automerge
  A very powerful script which can be used to maintain multibranch CVS projects, where changes in one branch need to be merged into another branch frequently. To facilitate this, automerge can be set up to track exactly which changes have to be merged and how. This script rids you of a lot of complicated branch fiddling, reducing most complications to the initial "setting up" part.
  If you want to use this script, I recommend reading the comments in the code, it is well reasonably well documented and contains helpful information. Also try 'automerge --help'.
  This script was used during the development of e.g. the functional programming language Acute and its interpreter, of which there were initially a few different variants, each with its own CVS branch. Whenever something was changed or added to the "vanilla" version of the language, automerge made the changes propagate to the other branches, essentially minimising the maintenance work which would otherwise have had to be done manually. Automerge has some advanced features, e.g. a skip-function for omitting selected merges.