See script#58. It is very useful. I use script#90 (cvscommand.vim). There is a little error of this tip, and I believe it is just a typo. line 7: execute "!cvs diff -a -r " . a:cvsversion . " " . a:filename . " > " . patch 'patch' should be corrected to 'patchname'. I've written a shellscript "cvsvimdiff", it is available here: Direct link to the script: It can be used as you use "cvs diff", but it spawns a vimdiff process to examine the differences. Same idea of this tip, but I find it more handy since you usually need to review diffs during a shell session, just after "cvs update".