I tried the same command and all the packages refused to be downloaded. Ug. It appears that there is a bug in cvs when (somtimes?) using the "-d" command with "checkout".

The development tree is actually not a branch, but simply the most current version of the trunk (aka HEAD in cvs-speak). cd to a temp directory and issue:

1. "cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@openacs.org:/cvsroot login"

2. hit return for the password

3. "cvs -z3 -d :pserver:anonymous@openacs.org:/cvsroot checkout openacs-4"

And you will get the HEAD version. Then move/rename the "openacs-4" directory.