// block access to .svn dirs
// should be done server-wide if you can (another snippet)

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
  RewriteRule ^(.*/)?\.svn/ - [F,L]
  ErrorDocument 403 "Access Forbidden"
IfModule>

// protect ".svn" and "CVS" dirs (could add more)
// for server-wide protection; goes in httpd.conf
// there's a separate snippet for .htaccess-based code

<DirectoryMatch "^/.*/(\.svn|CVS)/">
  Order deny,allow
  Deny from all 
DirectoryMatch>

When check out the files, use

cvs export

instead of

cvs checkout

can avoid creating those CVS directories

If files already exist, then in bash, do

find . -name CVS -prune -exec rm -rf {} \;

I really can never remember if the project I'm in uses svn or cvs or if it's my own local svk mirror, etc. etc. Thus was born 'sup'!

Save and drop into a location that's in your PATH (I use ~/bin, YMMV)

#!/bin/bash
# sup -- a quick bash script to sync w/ various SCM tools
# @author   Jamie Wilkinson 

HERE=$(pwd)

## subversion
if [ -e ".svn" ]; then
        svn up
## cvs
elif [ -e "CVS" ]; then
        cvs up -dP
## darcs
elif [ -e "_darcs" ]; then
        darcs pull --all
## svk
elif [ -n "`grep $HERE ~/.svk/config`" ]; then
    svk up
## git
elif [ -e ".git" ]; then
    git pull
## perforce
#   todo
## arch
#   todo
## bzr
#   todo

fi

If the repository is on a remote server and you have SSH access, then just set CVS_RSH and CVSROOT.

For example, in bash:

export CVS_RSH="ssh"
export CVSROOT=":ext:me@someserver:/path/to/repository"

In combination with ssh-agent, this works nicely.