I have a Suse 10.1 root server. There I install cvs, I tried the standard yast installation (seems to install a suse-patched cvs 1.12.12) and I tried a self-compiled 1.12.13. Both results in the same problem.

I'm logged in as root (with other users it is the same) and I try to create a new repository with the command
     cvs -d /root/cvs init
The result is
     cvs [init aborted]: cannot get working directory: File exists
The same result I get if I try any other command and with different user accounts. I also tried the
     cvs -t -f -d /root/cvs init
options. Then I get
       -> main: Session ID is L7NaPCpnLvgrC7rs
     cvs [init aborted]: cannot get working directory: File exists

I tried to patch the source: changed L934 (main.c), replaced xgetcwd() with getcwd(NULL,0). Then my cvs is working

Todd Denniston and Larry Jones asked me to put some information in this bug report, I add my cpuinfo with the proc file and some distro infos, the configure ouput and the make check for modified and unmodified source status.

Hope that helps. Waiting for answering your questions.

Regards
Frank