Marbin, I'm not sure I understand what the question is here.
How about some links to CVS resources to get you started?
First off click the word CVS in your post to see the glossary entry.
The glossary entry links to moodle's cvsweb which allows you to browse code online:
http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/moodle/moodle/
To 'monitor the changes' by having a local copy of the latest files use the CVS instructions at the moodle
download page:
http://moodle.org/mod/resource/view.php?id=8
You can learn more cvs tricks by using the unix manual or the manual called the "Cederqvist".
CVS main home page -
http://www.cvshome.org/
"Cederqvist" -
https://www.cvshome.org/docs/manual/
If you're using a unix variant try typing 'man cvs' on the command prompt.
Some quickies:
To see if you file is different than the one on the
server
cvs status file.php (or for the entire directory: cvs status *)
In the output you'll see information about the file. Here is sample output:
===================================================================
File: configure.php Status: Up-to-date
Working revision: 1.1
Repository revision: 1.1 /cvsroot/moodle/contrib/blog/admin/configure.php,v
Sticky Tag: (none)
Sticky Date: (none)
Sticky Options: (none)
Notice that the status is "Up-to-date", meaning that you local file is the same as the file on the server.
Here is an example of a file that is out of sync because you have made local changes
===================================================================
File: lib.php Status: Locally Modified
Working revision: 1.1
Repository revision: 1.1 /cvsroot/moodle/contrib/blog/blog/lib.php,v
Sticky Tag: (none)
Sticky Date: (none)
Sticky Options: (none)
To see a list of differences between your local file and the file on the server
cvs diff file.php
The output will show you lines that are different or it will be blank when there are no differences.
