CVS commit histories are file-by-file so I wanted to create a script that would check the changes, create a full changelog and email the results to me. NOTE: The regex on line 15 would need to be changed. This looks for the first UofM username, which starts with "um" all the time.

automate_cvs_changelogs.sh

#!/bin/sh
cd /path/to/local/cvs/repo/
output="$(cvs -qn update)"
echo $output
if [ -x "$output"]
then
        echo "No Updates."
else
        echo "New commit available!"
        echo "Updating..."
        cvs update -C -d
        echo "Creating ChangeLog..."
        cvs2cl;
        sleep 2
        person="$(grep -o -m 1 'um*\w*' ChangeLog)"
        echo $person
        echo "Sending email..."
        mail -s "New Commit by $person. Full ChangeLog Below" YOU@DOMAIN.COM < ChangeLog
        sleep 2
        echo "Removing ChangeLog..."
        rm -f ChangeLog
        echo "Mission Complete."
fi