On update: end of file from server, no messages given

[Keane, Patrick]

Hello list,

I am trying to track down this issue that we are seeing recently with larger
files:

cvs update -P gabriel60ProjectPlan.xls (in directory
D:\src\Documents\gabriel\projectManagement\)
U ProjectPlan.xls
cvs [update aborted]: end of file from server (consult above messages if
any)

Is there a preferred method for debugging the server messages when an error
occurs?  I am assuming (perhaps incorrectly) that the server is crashing
halfway through file transfer (maybe SEGV).  What I need to understand is
the reason.  We seem to have sufficient amounts of physical memory, and an
abundance of virtual memory that remains unused during the transfer (watch
cat /proc/meminfo shows this).

Before I make some recommendations as to how we will resolve this, I need to
get a better understanding of what the cause might be.  How to best debug
the server is my first question.

Moving on, here is the environment we are working with leading to my second
question:

Server is Redhat Linux 7.3 with kernel v2.4.18-3 and CVS:
        Concurrent Versions System (CVS) 1.11.1p1 (client/server)
        (via Redhat package cvs-1.11.1p1-8.7)

Client is Windows 2000 or Windows XP with CVS:
        Concurrent Versions System (CVSNT) 2.0.2 (client/server)
        (via WinCVS version 1.3)

My second question is, is this a valid setup?  Several users have recently
upgraded their environments to WinCVS 1.3, which contains CVSNT version of
the client at 2.0.2 level.  I don't recall this error being reported with
users who are using WinCVS 1.2, which was packaged with:
        Concurrent Versions System (CVS) 1.11 (client)

However, this does not mean it didn't exist necessarily.  Only a handful of
users manipulate large documents in CVS.  We have never encountered this
issue doing source code manipulation in CVS.

Any advice that you could provide would be very helpful.

Thanks
Patrick Keane