— Command: cvs watch on [-lR] [files]...

Specify that developers should run cvs edit before editing files. cvs will create working copies of files read-only, to remind developers to run the cvs edit command before working on them.

If files includes the name of a directory, cvs arranges to watch all files added to the corresponding repository directory, and sets a default for files added in the future; this allows the user to set notification policies on a per-directory basis. The contents of the directory are processed recursively, unless the -l option is given. The -R option can be used to force recursion if the -l option is set in ~/.cvsrc (see ~/.cvsrc).

If files is omitted, it defaults to the current directory.

— Command: cvs watch off [-lR] [files]...

Do not create files read-only on checkout; thus, developers will not be reminded to use cvs edit and cvs unedit.

The files and options are processed as for cvs watch on.