> "anoncvs" runs some NetBSD 1.5 version. So there is *no* buffer cache
> problem on it. UBC and enough memory is what could help it really.
> Right now the performance is disk bound.

Just how much memory does anoncvs have?  It looks like /usr/src is somewhere
in the neighborhood of 600MB(*); assuming anoncvs doesn't have addressing
limitations, it should be entirely practical(**) to put in enough memory to
keep /usr/src on a RAM disk.  (Hmm, a CVS repository would probably take
somewhat more memory.)

(*) 600MB?  I *hope* I just have some loose object files lying around...

(**) Assuming you can convince users to pony up a total of something like $200,
which ought to be a snap.

Even if it can't hold enough memory for a /usr/src RAM disk, passing the hat
for enough memory to speed it up is probably not an absurd idea (again,
assuming that it can actually hold substantially more than it has).