2.11 Temporary directories for the server

While running, the CVS server creates temporary directories. They are named

cvs-servpid

where pid is the process identification number of the server. They are located in the directory specified by the TMPDIR environment variable ( D. All environment variables which affect CVS), the `-T' global option ( A.4 Global options), or failing that `/tmp'.

In most cases the server will remove the temporary directory when it is done, whether it finishes normally or abnormally. However, there are a few cases in which the server does not or cannot remove the temporary directory, for example:

• If the server aborts due to an internal server error, it may preserve the directory to aid in debugging

• If the server is killed in a way that it has no way of cleaning up (most notably, `kill -KILL' on unix).

• If the system shuts down without an orderly shutdown, which tells the server to clean up.

In cases such as this, you will need to manually remove the `cvs-servpid' directories. As long as there is no server running with process identification number pid, it is safe to do so.