> >> is there any way to tell rcs *not* to interpret (and replace) any
> >> version keywords it finds in documents it's working with?
> >
> >-ko or -kb.
> >if the document is already controlled by rcs, "rcs -kb ..." does the
> >job. see man-page for detail.
> 
> it *is* controlled by rcs (that's the problem) but not *my* rcs.  the
> keywords are from other contexts that i'd prefer to leave intact.

"rcs -kb" or "rcs -ko" should work with your case, I believe.

"ci" doesn't touch the keywords, "co" touches the keywords.
So, If you do "co -ko ..." (or "co -kb"), the file you got is exactly
same as the file you checked-in. If you do "rcs -ko ...", then default
behaviour of "co" is changed to "co -ko".
hope this helps.
--
soda