--- /usr/bin/git-cvsexportcommit.orig	2008-10-02 01:16:23.000000000 +0100
+++ /home/nick/bin/git-cvsexportcommit	2008-10-02 01:17:13.000000000 +0100
@@ -7,6 +7,18 @@
 use Data::Dumper;
 use File::Basename qw(basename dirname);
 
+# read in the first line of a file
+sub first_line {
+    my ($file) = @_;
+    my $line = '';
+   
+    return unless open my $fh, "<$file";
+    chomp ($line = <$fh>);
+    close $fh;
+    return $line;
+}
+
+
 our ($opt_h, $opt_P, $opt_p, $opt_v, $opt_c, $opt_f, $opt_a, $opt_m, $opt_d, $opt_u, $opt_w);
 
 getopts('uhPpvcfam:d:w:');
@@ -193,21 +205,63 @@
     push @canstatusfiles, $f;
 }
 
+
+# Get the root path the CVS working directory thinks its respository is at.
+# (We're in the working dir). Note we assume the repository agrees on this
+# throughout, which isn't necessarily true, but if not it's just bonkers.
+my $root_path = first_line("CVS/Root") || '';
+
+# likewise the module
+my $module_path = first_line("CVS/Repository") || '';
+        
+# try and strip off all but the path from the root - we assume the path has no colons
+$root_path =~ s/^.*://;
+$root_path =~ s{/*$}{/$module_path}; # concatenate the paths
+
+
+# lightly tested - seems ok with unknown files, and CVS repos using non-symbolic modules
+    
+# get the files' statuses
 my %cvsstat;
 if (@canstatusfiles) {
     if ($opt_u) {
       my @updated = xargs_safe_pipe_capture([@cvs, 'update'], @canstatusfiles);
       print @updated;
     }
+
     my @cvsoutput;
     @cvsoutput = xargs_safe_pipe_capture([@cvs, 'status'], @canstatusfiles);
-    my $matchcount = 0;
-    foreach my $l (@cvsoutput) {
-        chomp $l;
-        if ( $l =~ /^File:/ and  $l =~ /Status: (.*)$/ ) {
-            $cvsstat{$canstatusfiles[$matchcount]} = $1;
-            $matchcount++;
+ 
+    chomp @cvsoutput;
+    my ($status, $path, $repo_path);
+    my %expected_paths = map { $_ => 1 } @canstatusfiles;
+
+    # Use $_ implcitly here to simplify the regex expressions.
+    # Note that foreach saves and restores $_ for us
+    foreach (@cvsoutput) {
+        # Grab the information when we see it
+        $status = $1, next if /^File:.*Status:\s*(.*)/i;
+        $path = $1,   next if /^cvs server: nothing known about (.*)/i;
+
+        next unless m{Repository revision:[\s\d.]*(.*)}i;
+        $repo_path = $1;
+
+        # At this point we can try and reconstruct the file path
+        if (!$path && $repo_path !~ /No entry for/i) { 
+            $repo_path =~ s{Attic/?}{}i;
+            $repo_path =~ s{,v\s*$}{}i;
+            $repo_path =~ s{^$root_path/}{};
+            
+            $path = $repo_path;
         }
+
+        warn "Failed to get a path from the CVS status entry containing:\n$_"
+            unless $path;
+        warn "Found a path in the CVS output we didn't ask for: '$path'" 
+            unless exists $expected_paths{$path};
+                
+        $cvsstat{$path} = $status;
+        $path = $repo_path = $status = undef; 
     }
 }
 
@@ -331,7 +385,8 @@
 	@output = (<$child>);
 	close $child or die join(' ',@_).": $! $?";
     } else {
-	exec(@_) or die "$! $?"; # exec() can fail the executable can't be found
+        open STDERR, ">&STDOUT" or warn "child can't dup STDERR";;
+        exec(@_) or die "$! $?"; # exec() can fail the executable can't be found
     }
     return wantarray ? @output : join('',@output);
 }