But this is actually how we do it

• CVS on a server
• Accessed using SSH as a transport

$ export CVSROOT=:ext:socrates.catalyst.net.nz:/cvs
$ cvs checkout CVSROOT
RSA key fingerprint is 0e:b6:21:4c:13:aa:11:30:1d:62:
  24:02:b7:81:03:95.
Warning: Permanently added 'socrates.catalyst.net.nz'
  (RSA) to the list of known hosts.
cvs server: Updating CVSROOT
U CVSROOT/README
...
U CVSROOT/verifymsg