presupposing that i have a kernwl with portal stuff in it, if i do
this:

   # pwd
   /root
   # cat > cvs.conf << EOF
   netbsd/		rfilter	netbsd/	/root/cvs.sh %s
   EOF
   # cat > cvs.sh << EOF
   #!/bin/sh
   set -- `echo $1 | sed 's/\(.*\),\([\.0-9]*\)/\1 \2/'`
   file=$1
   if [ ! -z "$2" ]; then rev="-r $2"; fi
   export CVSROOT=":pserver:anoncvs@anoncvs.netbsd.org:/cvsroot"
   cvs co -p $rev $file
   EOF
   # mount -t portal /root/cvs.conf /p

why does this work as expected:

   # cat /p/netbsd/basesrc/etc/rc.d/LOGIN | diff - /etc/rc.d/LOGIN

while this does not?

   # diff /p/netbsd/basesrc/etc/rc.d/LOGIN /etc/rc.d/LOGIN

-- 
|-----< "CODE WARRIOR" >-----|
codewarrior@daemon.org             * "ah!  i see you have the internet
twofsonet@graffiti.com (Andrew Brown)                that goes *ping*!"
andrew@crossbar.com       * "information is power -- share the wealth."