CVS sucks for branches. Switch to something else, medium-term.
I went to CodeCon this year (
www.codecon.org) where there was a panel on
source code control systems. Scroll down to the bottom:
http://codecon.info/2003/program.html
Consider using Perforce from
http://www.perforce.com/ . Free projects
are eligible for free licenses. It is so easy to use in comparison to
CVS and much more reliable. There is even an emacs mode ...
Fabrice