If you've never used CVS before, you should read up on it first, for
example in 
http://www.csc.calpoly.edu/~dbutler/tutorials/winter96/cvs/


USING CVS FOR EDITING PAPERS

CVS was designed for source code, not latex files, but we have found
it can still be useful when more than one person is editing a
paper. One thing it doesn't deal with the way one might wish is white
space. If you take a file without line breaks and add them, and then
try to resolve conflicts with a co-author's version without line
breaks it will be a hopeless mess. In general, it works well if the
different authors each work only on distinct sections of the paper at
any one time. Also, if you aren't using an editor that adds line
breaks, your paragraphs will each be all one line as far as diff is
concerned, which makes it much less useful. Before checking in major
changes, add line breaks. (In emacs, you do this by selecting sections
and using M-x fill-region.)

If you've got your CVSROOT variable set, here are the basic
instructions for putting a paper draft under CVS. Make sure it's in a
directory with a good, descriptive name. Then make a backup directory
and move all the generated files there (.bbl, .dvi, .pdf, .eps,
etc). You should basically just be left with the .tex, .bib, .cls and
possibly files used to generate figures (e.g. AutoCAD or xfig files,
not the .eps files generated from them). Then make backup copies of
these files in the backup directory too.

Now, from within the directory, import the directory & its files into
cvs, *under* the existing cvs directory papers. E.g.:

	 > cd mypaper_directory
	 > ls
	 paper.tex paper.bib paper.cls 
	 > cvs import papers/mypaper_directory cadml r1

CVS will bring up an editor window for you to add a comment, then
report something like this: 
	 N papers/mypaper_directory/paper.tex
	 N papers/mypaper_directory/paper.bib
	 N papers/mypaper_directory/paper.cls

	 No conflicts created by this import

Now check out a copy in the shared papers directory in testdir, and
either put all the .eps files or links to them in there. Made sure
they are group cadml and group readable. If you keep the original .eps
files in your own directory, make sure both the files and the entire
path to them are group readable/executable by group cadml.

	 > cd /home/cadml/testdir
	 > cvs checkout papers/mypaper_directory
	 > cd papers/mypaper_directory
	 > chmod g+s .
	 > mv ~/myfolder/mypaper_directory.bak/figure.eps .
	 > chgrp cadml *
	 > chgrp cadml CVS/*

Then run latex and bibtex to make sure everything is there and
working. Anyone else working on the paper will be checking out the
directory and making symbolic links to the .eps files you just put in
this shared directory. Whenever anyone checks in changes, they should
do a cvs update in this shared directory and run latex again to make
sure that it will all still work for other people (to make sure you
aren't relying on any local files you forgot to check in or provide
links to in the shared directory).

At this point, you should go back to your own directory where you
checked things in from, delete the directory and its contents, and
check them out from CVS instead. Then, from your backup directory, you
can move back any files you want to keep that you didn't want to put
under cvs. Add symbolic links to any files you moved to the shared
testdir directory.

	 > cd ~/myfolder/mypaper_directory
	 > cd ..
	 > mv mypaper_directory mypaper_directory.bak
	 > cd 
	 > mkdir papers
	 > cvs checkout papers/mypaper_directory
	 > cd papers/mypaper_directory
	 > mv ~/myfolder/mypaper_directory.bak/myPersonalNotes.txt .
	 > ln -s /home/cadml/testdir/papers/mypaper_directory/*.eps .

Now when you run latex in here, everything should work. But now you
will be editing a .tex file that's under CVS and sharing edits with
the other authors when you check them in. Make sure you edit this copy
of the file, not the copy in the shared directory. All you should be
doing in the shared directory is adding figures or symbolic links to
figures as needed, running cvs update and running latex to make sure
everything still works.