I wrote:
> So there's no way, apparently, to fix the state of these files through
> the "front door".
I take that back: the right sequence involving a "cvs update" got me
into a state where it thought the files were "locally modified", and
then I could commit and "cvs remove" and commit again. So hopefully
it's all cleaned up now --- at least the states of the files look
reasonable in cvsweb.
regards, tom lane