CVS 1.12.9 breaks emacs pcl-cvs mode - known bug?

[Andrew Thomas]

Hello all,

The latest version of CVS, version 1.12.n (n>5), changed the format of
its output on commit messages.  This unfortunately breaks pcl-cvs mode
in emacs, which uses the commit messages to determine which files have
been committed.  It is of course possible to alter pcl-cvs to parse
the new messages, but the new messages produced by CVS no longer
contain sufficient information for a front-end to be able to determine
what has happened.  CVS needs to be altered slightly to produce
sufficient information so that front-end programs can function.  I'll
clarify below, but my question is: Is this a known bug, and is there
any plan to fix it?

Cheers,
        Andrew Thomas

----------- The problem in more detail ---------------
        
First, the way it used to work:
===============================

andrew:~$ cvs -v

Concurrent Versions System (CVS) 1.12.5 (client/server)

Copyright (c) 1989-2003 Brian Berliner, david d `zoo' zuhn,
                        Jeff Polk, and other authors

CVS may be copied only under the terms of the GNU General Public License,
a copy of which can be found with the CVS distribution kit.

Specify the --help option for further information about CVS

        
This is the structure of a the CVS repository:
==============================================
andrew:~$ ls -R temp
temp:
CVSROOT  projects

temp/CVSROOT:
Emptydir        commitinfo,v  cvswrappers,v  modules    rcsinfo    val-tags
checkoutlist    config        history        modules,v  rcsinfo,v  verifymsg
checkoutlist,v  config,v      loginfo        notify     taginfo 
verifymsg,v
commitinfo      cvswrappers   loginfo,v      notify,v   taginfo,v

temp/CVSROOT/Emptydir:

temp/projects:
project1  project2

temp/projects/project1:
module1

temp/projects/project1/module1:
main.c,v

temp/projects/project2:
module2

temp/projects/project2/module2:
main.c,v

I change main.c in two separate projects, and then perform a commit:
====================================================================
andrew:~/temp3$ cvs commit -m"test"
cvs commit: Examining projects
cvs commit: Examining projects/project1
cvs commit: Examining projects/project1/module1
cvs commit: Examining projects/project2
cvs commit: Examining projects/project2/module2
Checking in projects/project1/module1/main.c;
/home/andrew/temp/projects/project1/module1/main.c,v  <--  main.c
new revision: 1.2; previous revision: 1.1
done
Checking in projects/project2/module2/main.c;
/home/andrew/temp/projects/project2/module2/main.c,v  <--  main.c
new revision: 1.2; previous revision: 1.1
done
andrew:~/temp3$

** Notice that CVS produces four lines of output for each file,
   indicating the relative local path of the file on the first line,
   and then the repository file name and the basename of the local
   file on the second line.  pcl-cvs needs the relative local path on
   the first line (the "Checking in..." line) in order to determine
   which file was actually committed.

Now, the newer broken way:
==========================

andrew:~/temp3$ cvs -v

Concurrent Versions System (CVS) 1.12.9 (client/server)

Copyright (c) 1989-2004 Brian Berliner, david d `zoo' zuhn,
                        Jeff Polk, and other authors

CVS may be copied only under the terms of the GNU General Public License,
a copy of which can be found with the CVS distribution kit.

Specify the --help option for further information about CVS

Again, change both main.c files and commit:
===========================================

andrew:~/temp3$ cvs commit -m"test"
cvs commit: Examining projects
cvs commit: Examining projects/project1
cvs commit: Examining projects/project1/module1
cvs commit: Examining projects/project2
cvs commit: Examining projects/project2/module2
/home/andrew/temp/projects/project1/module1/main.c,v  <--  main.c
new revision: 1.3; previous revision: 1.2
/home/andrew/temp/projects/project2/module2/main.c,v  <--  main.c
new revision: 1.3; previous revision: 1.2
andrew:~/temp3$

** Notice that CVS no longer produces the first and fourth lines of
   output.  The first line was the only one carrying the relative
   local path to the file being committed.  It is no longer possible
   for pcl-cvs to determine which file was committed.  It is not
   possible in general to "guess" the local file path from the
   repository file name since each directory has its own CVSROOT so
   that the repository organization is not necessarily anything like
   the local directory organization.  It is also not possible to use
   the "Examining <directory>" lines in the output since they all
   precede the first file commit message, so we still do not know
   which files belong to which directories.


Other programs acting as a front-end to CVS will also likely break
with this new reduced (insufficient) information.  WinCVS comes to
mind, though I have not tested it.

This whole problem could be trivially resolved in CVS by simply
altering the line:

/home/andrew/temp/projects/project1/module1/main.c,v  <--  main.c

to read

/home/andrew/temp/projects/project1/module1/main.c,v  <-- 
projects/project1/module1/main.c

That is, to report the relative local path of the file being committed,
instead of just reporting the basename of the file.  This could be
made optional, if necessary for compatibility with other front-ends.

The change to pcl-cvs to handle this change would be simple.