Perldoc documentation: pod2html rcs.mgr
FreeBSD 4.x package: rcs.mgr-3.6.tgz (install with pkg_add rcs.mgr-3.6.tgz).
Solaris 8 (SPARC) package: rcsmgr-sol8-sparc-local.gz (decompress and install with pkgadd -d rcsmgr-sol8-sparc-local; installs into /usr/local).
rcs.mgr is a perl script that uses RCS to easily run a change management and installation system. I original wrote it after a discussion of various source code control systems as a basis for repositories for system configuration files. The main problem with CVS (fairly easily solved, but still) is that it likes to take control of an entire directory. The problem with RCS is that it extracts an in-progress file over a production file. The problem with any of them is that they don't install files well, nor perform actions that render the changes effective (e.g., restarting daemons).
rcs.mgr sets up the RCS repository directory under an out-of-the way place such that checkouts happen in a safe place. Files within the repository are named with the full path name of the real file with the '/' directory separator replaced with another character (':' by default). It also makes use of an installation database file that includes the UID, GID, mode, and MD5 checksum of the installed file, as well as any commands that must be run after installation for the changes to take effect. In this way, the file may be installed with the proper ownership, and edits to the file that are not made through rcs.mgr may be detected (using the MD5 checksum).