Try using grep to exclude the string instead.

CVSROOT/loginfo

@@ -25,4 +25,4 @@
 # or
 #DEFAULT (echo ""; id; echo %{sVv}; date; cat) >> $CVSROOT/CVSROOT/commitlog
 ALL (echo %p %{sVv}; cat) | smbutil -o -i -tAll "-sCVS commit %p/%s" -f$USER i /sbbs/data/subs/syncprog;sync
-ALL jsexec -c /sbbs/ctrl ircmsg -s bbs.synchro.net -c \#synchronet -n cvs_$USER -x "^In directory cvs"
\ No newline at end of file
+ALL grep -v "^In directory cvs" | jsexec -c /sbbs/ctrl ircmsg -s bbs.synchro.net -c \#synchronet -n cvs_$USER
\ No newline at end of file