I tried to implement the suggestions found on this web page: http://www.loria.fr/~molli/cvs/cvs-FAQ/cvsfaq27.html find /usr/local/src/repository/cvs/ -type d \( -name CVSROOT -o -name LOG \) -p rune -o -type f \( \! -regex '.*,v' -o -name '[#,]*' -o -path 'Attic/*.o,v' -o -path 'Attic/core,v' -o -path 'Attic/[^.]*,v' -and -perm +0111 \) -print find /usr/local/src/repository/cvs/LOG -type f \! -regex '.*log' -print They don't actually do anything except warn you of anomalies. Good for a crontab.