Help understanding cvs logs using cvs2cl.pl

[Shivani Rao]

My intention is to track ASPECTJ's software development as documented
by the cvs log. I wish to be able to check out the earliest revision
(1.1) and then follow changes along with the "tags" and "bugs" as
specified in the comments.

I found a great tool cvs2cl.pl that helped me get the change logs from
the cvs log command. However I found the following inconsistencies and
I was wondering if anybody could help me out. cvs2cl and cvs log gives
information in chronologically reversed order. So when I carry out the
following command

cvs2cl --chrono -T

I expected changes in order (2002 to 2011) with tag information
whenever the versions were tagged. But What I got was strange... All
tags  were given in 2002... which I thought was strange.  When I use

cvs2cl --T

I get tag information in reverse order (2011 and 2002) and the tags
appear in a more decent order.

For example,
< 2011-11-22 14:31  tag preJava7Merge
< 2011-10-03 19:54  tag V1_6_12
< 2011-10-03 19:54  tag V1_6_12RC1
< 2011-08-18 14:36  tag V1_6_12M2
< 2011-06-07 15:20  tag V1_6_12M1
< 2011-03-15 11:46  tag V1_6_11
...

a) How do tags really work? I have read tons of tutorials, but still
not clear. Does a symbolic name for a file stay after it is tagged?
b) If I want to track software evolution from one "tag" till "another"
can I use the order found out as stated above? Is the latest tag given
to a file, the truest way to find the latest revision (tag) it belongs
to?
c) Why is it that I se aspectj e the tags at a different date when cvs2cl uses
the chrono option?

Thanks for your help and inputs
-- 
Research Scholar,
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Purdue University
West Lafayette IN
web.ics.purdue.edu/~sgrao