diff -urNp -x '*.orig' cvs-1.12.13.org/src/login.c cvs-1.12.13/src/login.c
--- cvs-1.12.13.org/src/login.c	2005-05-13 23:47:28.000000000 +0200
+++ cvs-1.12.13/src/login.c	2023-02-02 09:01:00.365363622 +0100
@@ -309,9 +309,25 @@ internal error: can only call password_e
     fp = CVS_FOPEN (passfile, "r");
     if (fp == NULL)
     {
+         /* The password file doesn't exist yet - probably because it's
+         * the first time someone uses cvs login. Create it.
+         */
+        fp = CVS_FOPEN (passfile, "w");
+	if (fp == NULL)
+	{
+            /* Creating the password file didn't work. Bail out. */
+	    error(0, errno, "warning: failed to open %s for writing", passfile);
+	    goto process;
+	}
+        fclose (fp);
+        fp = CVS_FOPEN (passfile, "r");
+        if (fp == NULL)
+        {
+            /* Opening the password file didn't work. Bail out. */
 	error (0, errno, "warning: failed to open %s for reading", passfile);
 	goto process;
     }
+    }
 
     /* Check each line to see if we have this entry already. */
     line = 0L;