Fighting with Drupal.org's CVS: nothing known about module files and sticky tags not valid

(Fix described more succinctly in my follow-up comment on my plea-for-help issue.)

Ebony-II:term_message ben$ cvs tag HEAD
? .DS_Store
? .svn
cvs tag: nothing known about term_message.info
cvs tag: nothing known about term_message.install
cvs tag: nothing known about term_message.module
cvs [tag aborted]: correct the above errors first!
Ebony-II:term_message ben$ cvs add *
cvs add: cannot add special file `CVS'; skipping
cvs add: `term_message.info' has already been entered
cvs add: `term_message.install' has already been entered
cvs add: `term_message.module' has already been entered
Ebony-II:term_message ben$ cvs update
? .DS_Store
? .svn
cvs update: Updating .
A term_message.info
A term_message.install
A term_message.module
Ebony-II:term_message ben$ cvs tag -b DRUPAL-5 .
? .DS_Store
? .svn
cvs tag: nothing known about term_message.info
cvs tag: nothing known about term_message.install
cvs tag: nothing known about term_message.module
cvs [tag aborted]: correct the above errors first!
Ebony-II:term_message ben$ cvs update
? .DS_Store
? .svn
cvs update: Updating .
A term_message.info
A term_message.install
A term_message.module
Ebony-II:term_message ben$ cvs commit -m "get back in there"
cvs commit: Examining .
? .svn
? .DS_Store
** ERROR: Your commit is using a 'Sticky tag' which corresponds to
** a branch which is not valid in this CVS repository. If this
** commit were to proceed, you would create an invalid branch:
** HEAD
**
** See http://drupal.org/node/198469 for more information.
cvs commit: Pre-commit check failed
cvs [commit aborted]: correct above errors first!
Ebony-II:term_message ben$ cvs tag -b DRUPAL-6--1
? .DS_Store
? .svn
cvs tag: nothing known about term_message.info
cvs tag: nothing known about term_message.install
cvs tag: nothing known about term_message.module
cvs [tag aborted]: correct the above errors first!

Ebony-II:term_message ben$ cvs remove term_message.info
cvs remove: file `term_message.info' still in working directory
cvs remove: 1 file exists; remove it first
Ebony-II:term_message ben$ rm term_message.info
Ebony-II:term_message ben$ cvs remove term_message.info
cvs remove: removed `term_message.info'
Ebony-II:term_message ben$ rm term_message.install
Ebony-II:term_message ben$ cvs remove term_message.install
cvs remove: removed `term_message.install'
Ebony-II:term_message ben$ rm term_message.module
Ebony-II:term_message ben$ cvs remove term_message.module
cvs remove: removed `term_message.module'
Ebony-II:term_message ben$ cvs commit -m "all gone"
cvs commit: Examining .
Ebony-II:term_message ben$ cvs tag -b DRUPAL-6--1
? .DS_Store
? .svn
cvs tag: Tagging .
Ebony-II:term_message ben$ cvs commit -m "empty Drupal 6 branch"
cvs commit: Examining .
Ebony-II:term_message ben$ cvs tag -b DRUPAL-5
? .DS_Store
? .svn
cvs tag: Tagging .
Ebony-II:term_message ben$ pwd
/RCS/agaric/agaric-modules/term_message
Ebony-II:term_message ben$ cvs add term_message.info
cvs add: scheduling file `term_message.info' for addition on branch `HEAD'
cvs add: use `cvs commit' to add this file permanently
Ebony-II:term_message ben$ cvs commit -m "info file for Drupal 5"
cvs commit: Examining .
? term_message.module
? term_message.install
? .svn
? .DS_Store
** ERROR: Your commit is using a 'Sticky tag' which corresponds to
** a branch which is not valid in this CVS repository. If this
** commit were to proceed, you would create an invalid branch:
** HEAD
**
** See http://drupal.org/node/198469 for more information.
cvs commit: Pre-commit check failed
cvs [commit aborted]: correct above errors first!

Ebony-II:term_message ben$ cvs status -v
? .DS_Store
? .svn
? term_message.install
? term_message.module
cvs status: Examining .
===================================================================
File: term_message.info Status: Locally Added

Working revision: New file!
Repository revision: No revision control file
Sticky Tag: HEAD - MISSING from RCS file!
Sticky Date: (none)
Sticky Options: (none)

Ebony-II:term_message ben$ cvs update -r DRUPAL-5
? .DS_Store
? .svn
? term_message.install
? term_message.module
cvs update: Updating .
A term_message.info

Ebony-II:term_message ben$ cvs commit -m "please"
cvs commit: Examining .
? term_message.module
? term_message.install
? .svn
? .DS_Store
** ERROR: Your commit is using a 'Sticky tag' which corresponds to
** a branch which is not valid in this CVS repository. If this
** commit were to proceed, you would create an invalid branch:
** HEAD
** term_message.info: HEAD
** See http://drupal.org/node/198469 for more information.
cvs commit: Pre-commit check failed
cvs [commit aborted]: correct above errors first!
Ebony-II:term_message ben$

Ebony-II:term_message ben$ cvs tag -d HEAD
? .DS_Store
? .svn
? term_message.install
? term_message.module
cvs tag: nothing known about term_message.info
cvs [tag aborted]: correct the above errors first!
Ebony-II:term_message ben$ rm term_message.info
Ebony-II:term_message ben$ cvs remove term_message.info
cvs remove: removed `term_message.info'
Ebony-II:term_message ben$ cvs commit -m "grr"
cvs commit: Examining .
Ebony-II:term_message ben$ cvs tag -d HEAD
? .DS_Store
? .svn
? term_message.install
? term_message.module
cvs tag: Untagging .

Ebony-II:term_message ben$ cvs commit -m "no more head tag"
cvs commit: Examining .
Ebony-II:term_message ben$ cvs add term_message.install
cvs add: scheduling file `term_message.install' for addition on branch `DRUPAL-5'
cvs add: use `cvs commit' to add this file permanently
Ebony-II:term_message ben$ cvs commit -m "install file"
cvs commit: Examining .
? term_message.module
? .svn
? .DS_Store
/cvs/drupal-contrib/contributions/modules/term_message/Attic/term_message.install,v <-- term_message.install
new revision: 1.1.2.1; previous revision: 1.1
cvs commit: Using deprecated info format strings. Convert your scripts to use
the new argument format and remove '1's from your info file format strings.
Ebony-II:term_message ben$ cvs add term_message.info
cvs add: scheduling file `term_message.info' for addition on branch `DRUPAL-5'
cvs add: use `cvs commit' to add this file permanently
Ebony-II:term_message ben$ cvs add term_message.module
cvs add: scheduling file `term_message.module' for addition on branch `DRUPAL-5'
cvs add: use `cvs commit' to add this file permanently
Ebony-II:term_message ben$ cvs commit -m "all files successfully added for the first time"
cvs commit: Examining .
? .svn
? .DS_Store
/cvs/drupal-contrib/contributions/modules/term_message/Attic/term_message.info,v <-- term_message.info
new revision: 1.1.2.1; previous revision: 1.1
/cvs/drupal-contrib/contributions/modules/term_message/Attic/term_message.module,v <-- term_message.module
new revision: 1.1.2.1; previous revision: 1.1
cvs commit: Using deprecated info format strings. Convert your scripts to use
the new argument format and remove '1's from your info file format strings.
Ebony-II:term_message ben$ cvs status
? .DS_Store
? .svn
cvs status: Examining .
===================================================================
File: term_message.info Status: Up-to-date

Working revision: 1.1.2.1
Repository revision: 1.1.2.1 /cvs/drupal-contrib/contributions/modules/term_message/Attic/term_message.info,v
Commit Identifier: 334147da44e94567
Sticky Tag: DRUPAL-5 (branch: 1.1.2)
Sticky Date: (none)
Sticky Options: (none)

===================================================================
File: term_message.install Status: Up-to-date

Working revision: 1.1.2.1
Repository revision: 1.1.2.1 /cvs/drupal-contrib/contributions/modules/term_message/Attic/term_message.install,v
Commit Identifier: 322847da44864567
Sticky Tag: DRUPAL-5 (branch: 1.1.2)
Sticky Date: (none)
Sticky Options: (none)

===================================================================
File: term_message.module Status: Up-to-date

Working revision: 1.1.2.1
Repository revision: 1.1.2.1 /cvs/drupal-contrib/contributions/modules/term_message/Attic/term_message.module,v
Commit Identifier: 334147da44e94567
Sticky Tag: DRUPAL-5 (branch: 1.1.2)
Sticky Date: (none)
Sticky Options: (none)

Resolution