# CVS version control system

15 Hacker News commenters recommended CVS version control system and 20 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 9 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People recommend CVS for its long reliability across platforms and its role in shaping version control. Critics agree its branching support was poor and its data model was weak.

## Why people recommend it

- Still works reliably across platforms (3 comments): "CVS worked twenty years ago and it still works today for all the platforms OpenBSD supports" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50154222)) "CVS just keeps working fine" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47717523)) "I still use it for NetSBD source" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48283960))
- Preferred over later systems by some (2 comments): "CVS was amazing compared to them" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46305720)) "by many aspects, I preferred cvs" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47768515))

## What people warn about

- Poor branching support (2 comments): "CVS had terrible support for branches." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46366360)) "the branching facilities were awful" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49276896))
- Weak data model, risky repo edits (2 comments): "svn/cvs just had a braindead data model." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46975577)) "When someone made a mistake and you had to go in and edit the repo files in binary format it was genuinely terrifying." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47764601))
- Far less usable than Git (2 comments): "None of them even close to Git usability-wise." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47931825)) "they were extremely different to Git in the way they worked and lost for many reasons" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47864269))
- Dated and hard to use (3 comments): "CVS and RCS and friends were infants; barely more than copying directories or zip files around." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47025547)) "CVS was still horrible and in a lot, though." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46972115)) "cvs was a crime against humanity" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46972448))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Git](https://hackerapproved.com/p/git.md): 814 recommend
- [Jujutsu (jj)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/jujutsu.md): 335 recommend
- [Mercurial](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mercurial.md): 121 recommend
- [jj (Jujutsu)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/jj.md): 115 recommend
- [Fossil](https://hackerapproved.com/p/fossil.md): 106 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "CVS version control system", https://hackerapproved.com/p/cvs/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).