Why do I get a "malformed file...option expected" error when trying to do SVN checkout in Eclipse?

You may get this error if the Subversion 'servers' configuration file is incorrectly configured.

In the example shown here, the user saw a Message Box titled "Unable to Validate" and containing an error looking similar to the following:

Error validating location: 
             "org.tigris.subversion.javahl.ClientException:Malformed 
             file svn: c:\Documents and Settings\<USERNAME>\Application Data\Subversion\servers:68 
             Option expected" Keep location anyway?

The line number shown in this example (68) may be different, depending on the type of error and the line where the error was found in the servers file.

The error shows the location of the servers file and attempts to show the user the line on which the error occurred. Errors can be caused by an incorrect configuration, such as extra whitespaces where they're not expected, or by one or more incorrect values in the servers file. In the example shown, the user had configured an incorrect proxy name and Eclipse was unable to locate the proxy hostname.

It should also be noted that configuring proxy settings for Subversion through the Eclipse UI will not actually update the servers file.