# Install cvsutils with Homebrew, apt

CVS utilities for use in working directories. Version 0.2.6 via Homebrew; verified from local package data. Also installable with debian: sudo apt install cvsutils.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:cvsutils
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install cvsutils
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

### Linux

- Debian apt (92%):

```sh
sudo apt install cvsutils
```

  Evidence: Debian stable package indexes: cvsutils from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:cvsutils
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 0.2.6
- **Source summary:** CVS utilities for use in working directories
- **Homepage:** <https://www.red-bean.com/cvsutils/>
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- cvschroot (alias)
- cvsco (alias)
- cvsdiscard (alias)
- cvsdo (alias)
- cvspurge (alias)
- cvstrim (alias)
- cvsu (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 0.2.6
## Project history and usage

CVS Utilities is a small collection of mostly Perl scripts for managing CVS working directories, especially when a developer wants useful local status, cleanup, and patch workflows without contacting the CVS server.

### Project history

The official page credits Tom Tromey with the original code and Pavel Roskin with later changes. Its current public release line culminates in version 0.2.6, released on 2013-05-31.

The project grew around CVS's client-server model. CVS keeps full version history on the server while the client working directory contains the checked-out files and derived build products, so CVS Utilities focused on the local working-copy side: finding tracked and untracked files, purging generated files, changing CVS administrative metadata, and producing cleaner patches.

### Adoption history

CVS Utilities reflects the era when CVS was described by its own project page as the de facto version-control system for open source software, even while the page advised new projects to consider Subversion. Its adoption was tied to developers maintaining CVS trees over both slow and fast network connections, where local inspection and cleanup commands saved time.

### How it is used

The tools are used inside CVS working directories to inspect local file state, erase or move derived files, switch CVS root metadata, discard local changes, run CVS commands over discovered files, and create patches with less irrelevant backup-file, RCS-path, or ChangeLog noise than a raw cvs diff workflow.

### Why package nerds care

The package is interesting because it preserves the tooling culture around CVS rather than CVS itself. Its small command-line helpers document the practical friction of centralized version control before distributed systems became dominant.

### Timeline

- 1990s-2000s: CVS working-copy workflows become common in open-source development.
- 2013: CVS Utilities 0.2.6 is released on 2013-05-31.
- 2013: The official project page documents the scripts, closed mailing list, and maintainer credits.

### Related projects

- CVS Utilities is directly tied to CVS and its working-copy administrative files.
- The official page mentions Subversion as the recommended alternative for new projects at the time the page was written.

### Sources

- <https://www.red-bean.com/cvsutils/>


## Security Notes

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.

- **Geiger risk:** green / low
- narrow executable package without higher-risk signals

## Other Package-Manager Records

- Debian apt - cvsutils - 0.2.6-1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: cvsutils from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | CVS utilities for use in working directories | https://www.red-bean.com/cvsutils/
- Ubuntu apt - cvsutils - 0.2.6-1: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: cvsutils from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | CVS utilities for use in working directories | https://www.red-bean.com/cvsutils/


## Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/cvsutils.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/cvsutils.yml)


## Sources

- pkg.so package database
- Geiger risk classifier
- curated package history
- pkgdb category and tag curation
- external package-manager database matches
- cross-ecosystem install command graph