Problems using CVS transparently

[Sonam Chauhan]

Hi there - I need to make CVS work transparently with a proprietary 
development environment lacking source control. I've hit the problems below.
Can you help?

==-----==
PROBLEM #1: CVS usage must be transparent. This means no 'CVS' meta-directories 
are allowed in the development(working-set) file hierarchy since the proprietary 
development environment modifies this hierarchy directly. How can I do this?

SOLUTION #1: The way I solved this problem (I think) was by creating a parallel 
source controlled directory hard linked to the development hierarchy. The 
command used was:
  cp -al <original-directory> <source-controlled-directory>
I'm sure someone here has had a similar need to mine - did you solve it this 
way? Were there any complications using links like this?

==-----==
PROBLEM #2: How to add large numbers of files and directories to an existing cvs 
module.

SOLUTION #2: The file and directories that need to go under source control can 
be easily listed using some 'find' patterns.  For e.g:
  find dir1/source/  dir2/source/ dir3/source/...
However there can an arbitrary number of sub-directories under dirXX/source/... 
(these are created by the proprietary envt). I need to 'cvs add' sub-directories 
first and then the files under them. Is there a simple way to do this? I've also 
hit what seems to be a bug in CVS while trying the script the addition of some 
directories. cvs tells me they've already been added. For e.g. it says:
   cvs [add aborted]: there is a version in dir22/source already exists
The 'dir22/source' directory also has a CVS sub-directory. But doing a cvs 
checkout does not create the dir22/source directory. Am I doing something wrong?

==-----==
PROBLEM #3: How can I detect and commit changes to the development codebase when 
making a release? As described in problem #2, new directories may be added or 
deleted arbitrarily by the development environment.

Regards,
Sonam
--
Electronic Commerce
Corporate Express Australia Ltd.
Phone: +61-2-9335-0725, Fax: +61-2-9335-0753