How to use cvs? [was Re: Avoiding /etc/passwd and /etc/group scans]

[Pierre A. Humblet]

At 02:19 PM 10/22/2002 -0400, Christopher Faylor wrote:
>
>I'll provide you with ssh access to sources.redhat.com if you want to
>accumulate your patches on a branch and maybe even offer your own
>"snapshots".

OK, I now have access and did checkout cygwin. So far so good.
Can someone who has done this before tell me "what's next"?

Do I need to create a branch?
Can I just edit files and commit them? What will I break if I goof?
Do I just edit ChangeLog as any other file, or is there an automatic
update process?
Assuming I create a "snapshot", how can I make it accessible?

Please give me specific instructions. I have used cvs but always
in very simple settings.

Thanks.

Pierre