diff --git a/IkiWiki/Plugin/cvs.pm b/IkiWiki/Plugin/cvs.pm
index 2c2445f39..939e89270 100644
--- a/IkiWiki/Plugin/cvs.pm
+++ b/IkiWiki/Plugin/cvs.pm
@@ -5,7 +5,10 @@ use warnings;
 use strict;
 use IkiWiki;
 
+use File::chdir;
+
 sub import {
+	hook(type => "wrapperargcheck", id => "cvs", call => \&wrapperargcheck);
 	hook(type => "checkconfig", id => "cvs", call => \&checkconfig);
 	hook(type => "getsetup", id => "cvs", call => \&getsetup);
 	hook(type => "rcs", id => "rcs_update", call => \&rcs_update);
@@ -20,6 +23,17 @@ sub import {
 	hook(type => "rcs", id => "rcs_getctime", call => \&rcs_getctime);
 }
 
+sub wrapperargcheck () {
+	my $check_args=<<"EOF";
+	int j;
+	for (j = 1; j < argc; j++)
+		if (strstr(argv[j], "New directory") != NULL)
+			return 0;
+	return 1;
+EOF
+	return $check_args;
+}
+
 sub checkconfig () {
 	if (! defined $config{cvspath}) {
 		$config{cvspath}="ikiwiki";
@@ -92,7 +106,7 @@ sub cvs_info ($$) {
 	my $field=shift;
 	my $file=shift;
 
-	chdir $config{srcdir} || error("Cannot chdir to $config{srcdir}: $!");
+	local $CWD = $config{srcdir};
 
 	my $info=`cvs status $file`;
 	my ($ret)=$info=~/^\s*$field:\s*(\S+)/m;
@@ -103,7 +117,7 @@ sub cvs_runcvs(@) {
 	my @cmd = @_;
 	unshift @cmd, 'cvs', '-Q';
 
-	chdir $config{srcdir} || error("Cannot chdir to $config{srcdir}: $!");
+	local $CWD = $config{srcdir};
 
 	open(my $savedout, ">&STDOUT");
 	open(STDOUT, ">", "/dev/null");
@@ -251,7 +265,7 @@ sub rcs_rename ($$) {
 
 	return unless cvs_is_controlling;
 
-	chdir $config{srcdir} || error("Cannot chdir to $config{srcdir}: $!");
+	local $CWD = $config{srcdir};
 
 	if (system("mv", "$src", "$dest") != 0) {
 		warn("filesystem rename failed\n");
@@ -270,7 +284,7 @@ sub rcs_recentchanges($) {
 	eval q{use Date::Parse};
 	error($@) if $@;
 
-	chdir $config{srcdir} || error("Cannot chdir to $config{srcdir}: $!");
+	local $CWD = $config{srcdir};
 
 	# There's no cvsps option to get the last N changesets.
 	# Write full output to a temp file and read backwards.
@@ -394,7 +408,7 @@ sub rcs_recentchanges($) {
 sub rcs_diff ($) {
 	my $rev=IkiWiki::possibly_foolish_untaint(int(shift));
 
-	chdir $config{srcdir} || error("Cannot chdir to $config{srcdir}: $!");
+	local $CWD = $config{srcdir};
 
 	# diff output is unavoidably preceded by the cvsps PatchSet entry
 	my @cvsps = `env TZ=UTC cvsps -q --cvs-direct -z 30 -g -s $rev`;
diff --git a/IkiWiki/Wrapper.pm b/IkiWiki/Wrapper.pm
index cc2223d7a..0baf112ff 100644
--- a/IkiWiki/Wrapper.pm
+++ b/IkiWiki/Wrapper.pm
@@ -44,17 +44,8 @@ EOF
 		$test_receive=IkiWiki::Receive::gen_wrapper();
 	}
 
-	my $check_cvs_add_dir="";
-	if ($config{rcs} eq 'cvs') {
-		$check_cvs_add_dir=<<"EOF";
-	{
-		int j;
-		for (j = 1; j < argc; j++)
-			if (strstr(argv[j], "New directory") != NULL)
-				exit(0);
-	}
-EOF
-	}
+	my $check_args="	return 0;";
+	run_hooks(wrapperargcheck => sub { $check_args = shift->(); });
 
 	my $check_commit_hook="";
 	my $pre_exec="";
@@ -128,10 +119,16 @@ addenv(char *var, char *val) {
 	newenviron[i++]=s;
 }
 
+int checkargs(int argc, char **argv) {
+$check_args
+}
+
 int main (int argc, char **argv) {
 	char *s;
 
-$check_cvs_add_dir
+	if (!checkargs(argc, argv))
+		exit(0);
+
 $check_commit_hook
 $test_receive
 $envsave
diff --git a/t/cvs.t b/t/cvs.t
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..9df62334d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/cvs.t
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+#!/usr/bin/perl
+use warnings;
+use strict;
+my $dir;
+BEGIN {
+	$dir="/tmp/ikiwiki-test-cvs.$$";
+	my $cvs=`which cvs`;
+	chomp $cvs;
+	if (! -x $cvs || ! mkdir($dir)) {
+		eval q{
+			use Test::More skip_all => "cvs not available or could not make test dir"
+		}
+	}
+}
+use Test::More tests => 12;
+
+BEGIN { use_ok("IkiWiki"); }
+
+%config=IkiWiki::defaultconfig();
+$config{rcs} = "cvs";
+$config{srcdir} = "$dir/src";
+$config{cvsrepo} = "$dir/repo";
+$config{cvspath} = "ikiwiki";
+IkiWiki::loadplugins();
+IkiWiki::checkconfig();
+
+my $cvsrepo = "$dir/repo";
+
+system "cvs -d $cvsrepo init >/dev/null";
+system "mkdir $dir/ikiwiki >/dev/null";
+system "cd $dir/ikiwiki && cvs -d $cvsrepo import -m import ikiwiki VENDOR RELEASE >/dev/null";
+system "rm -rf $dir/ikiwiki >/dev/null";
+system "cvs -d $cvsrepo co -d $config{srcdir} ikiwiki >/dev/null";
+
+# Web commit
+my $test1 = readfile("t/test1.mdwn");
+writefile('test1.mdwn', $config{srcdir}, $test1);
+IkiWiki::rcs_add("test1.mdwn");
+IkiWiki::rcs_commit("test1.mdwn", "Added the first page", "moo");
+
+my @changes;
+@changes = IkiWiki::rcs_recentchanges(3);
+
+is($#changes, 0);
+is($changes[0]{message}[0]{"line"}, "Added the first page");
+is($changes[0]{pages}[0]{"page"}, "test1");
+
+# Manual commit
+my $message = "Added the second page";
+
+my $test2 = readfile("t/test2.mdwn");
+writefile('test2.mdwn', $config{srcdir}, $test2);
+system "cd $config{srcdir} && cvs add test2.mdwn >/dev/null 2>&1";
+system "cd $config{srcdir} && cvs commit -m \"$message\" test2.mdwn >/dev/null";
+
+@changes = IkiWiki::rcs_recentchanges(3);
+is($#changes, 1);
+is($changes[0]{message}[0]{"line"}, $message);
+is($changes[0]{pages}[0]{"page"}, "test2");
+is($changes[1]{pages}[0]{"page"}, "test1");
+
+# extra slashes in the path shouldn't break things
+$config{cvspath} = "/ikiwiki//";
+IkiWiki::checkconfig();
+@changes = IkiWiki::rcs_recentchanges(3);
+is($#changes, 1);
+is($changes[0]{message}[0]{"line"}, $message);
+is($changes[0]{pages}[0]{"page"}, "test2");
+is($changes[1]{pages}[0]{"page"}, "test1");
+
+system "rm -rf $dir";