Problem with tags and aliases

[Doug Carr]

Hi all,

   Apologies if this appears in the list more than once: email problems...

  I'm having a problem with tags when I try and access them through an 
alias.  If I create the tag against the alias with rtag and then try to 
access it through the alias, I get a 'no such tag' error.  If I access 
the tag using a module name, then it finds the tag.  If I then try the 
alias again, it now finds the tag. See below for the details.  I think 
it affects only one of my 8 CVS repositories, and I can't spot any 
obvious differences between the problem one and the others.

  Any ideas on a solution or where to start looking?

Thanks,
Doug.

================

elan-iedm is an alias defined in the elan_ied/CVSROOT/modules files as
  base_iedm_alias -a bin libs iedcore makeenv shared shared_utils sel 
sel351s CvsToIdcs abb pdrv appl cfg
  elan-iedm       &base_iedm_alias

CVSROOT is
  :pserver:address@hidden:/cvsrootdir/elan_ied

Apply tag in an empty directory:
  cvs -f rtag -R   -r HEAD WA_TAG_DAC elan-iedm

val-tags contents:
  WA_TAG_6 y
  WA_BRANCH_6 y
  WA_TAG_123 y
  WA_TAG_1234 y

Grepping the files in the repository for WA_TAG_DAC returns a bunch of 
matches

Use the tag with the alias
  cvs -fQ checkout -r WA_TAG_DAC elan-iedm
  results in
      cvs [server aborted]: no such tag WA_TAG_DAC
  and no directory created or populated

val-tags contents:
  WA_TAG_6 y
  WA_BRANCH_6 y
  WA_TAG_123 y
  WA_TAG_1234 y

Use the tag with a module instead of the alias
  cvs -fQ checkout -r WA_TAG_DAC libs
  results in the 'libs' directory created and populated

val-tags contents:
  WA_TAG_6 y
  WA_BRANCH_6 y
  WA_TAG_123 y
  WA_TAG_1234 y
  WA_TAG_DAC y

Remove the libs directory
  rm -rf libs

Use the tag with the alias
  cvs -fQ checkout -r WA_TAG_DAC elan-iedm
  results in the 'elan-iedm' directory created and populated

val-tags contents:
  WA_TAG_6 y
  WA_BRANCH_6 y
  WA_TAG_123 y
  WA_TAG_1234 y
  WA_TAG_DAC y

Cvs version is
  cvs --version

  Concurrent Versions System (CVS) 1.11.4 (client/server)

  Copyright (c) 1989-2002 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
Client info
  uname -a
  Linux clientmachine 2.4.18-8.2mdk #1 Tue Jun 25 03:05:52 MDT 2002 
i586 unknown
Server info
  uname -a
  Linux servermachine 2.4.18-6mdk #1 Fri Mar 15 02:59:08 CET 2002 i686 
unknown
Val-tags
  -rw-rw-rw-    1 myname  cvsgroup       65 Apr  9 10:43    val-tags