perl -MFile::Find -e "$|++; sub wanted{if((-d $_)&&($_ eq 'CVS')){prin
+t qq|$File::Find::dir\\$_\n|}} find(\&wanted,'.',follow=>1);"
./a\CVS
./b\CVS
./c\CVS
[download]

Then you change the wanted() subroutine to remove/replace the directories under your current directory (where the old CVS' are) with shell commands like rmdir, xcopy, cp -R, or whatever you have available.

What's the reason no-one on your staff knows any scripting?

It stores more than just that there. CVS uses these to store state about the local sandbox (e.g. where the repository is located). It almost sounds like you've clobbered the data that was supposed to be there and now want to put the correct data back -- otherwise I'm not sure how CVS would be confused about the tags. If you need to alter anything in the CVS directories you are probably doing something wrong. It's usually a much better idea to copy the source files (i.e. everything else but the CVS directories) around, check them in/out, tag them, etc.

Maybe you should look into a third party hoster such as cvs dude or python hosting, to get this up and running cheap and quick.

If cvs isn't meeting your needs, maybe you should try switching over to a more modern system such as subversion. (Both the above offer subversion hosting as well as cvs hosting.)

• In the terms CVS uses, your local files are a sandbox. The CVS tool makes ./CVS/ metadata directories in each actual directory in your sandbox. The metadata in these files is specific to the repository from which you collected this sandbox.
• Therefore, all CVS sandboxes are inextricably associated with a given repository. Don't muck with that, or you'll go crazy. Any tweak which doesn't work flawlessly can really mess up each repository you're trying to touch. And any tweak you're performing which is CVS-specific will just tie you into the aging CVS solution instead of alternatives like Subversion, Perforce, etc.
• Instead of hacking CVS metadata, work with TWO sandboxes. Sandbox A for Repository A. Sandbox B for Repository B. When you sync up your Sandbox A and find a bundle of changes, merge it over into your Sandbox B as a unit, test the Sandbox B for functionality, and if they pass, then commit Sandbox B.
• There are tools which help you deal with merging two sandboxes. For the Windows platform, I would recommend Beyond Compare by Beyond software. Very visual, very easy to compare two whole sandboxes and pick-and-choose what needs to get merged where. For the Unix platform, you should get familiar with diff -ruN and various post-processors like xdiff which can help you visualize and manage the differences.

Thanks for your input folks....we actually ended up doing a solution much like halley suggested and it seems to be working out well.

no. you can mv all CVS out and replace with another set. I am doing this way and it's good. (with eclipse will be easier)

The perl question is how we would go about doing such a thing in perl. None of us has a background with scripting languages, but we thought that this kind of problem was something that perl would be good at handling.

First, the caveats:
1) We're not likely to write your program for you, at least not without some more info and help from you.
2) If you don't know Perl, Perl may not be the right choice for you.

Now, something more useful.

For those of us who don't use CVS, give a brief description of what you're trying to do, without invoking CVS as an explanation.

Also, what operating system are you on? It may be that a simple shell or batch file will do what you want. For example:

rename CVS1 CVStemp
rename CVS2 CVS1
rename CVStemp CVS2
[download]

-QM
--
Quantum Mechanics: The dreams stuff is made of