Tasks in Subversion

Questions about performing specific tasks in Subversion.

• How do I configure Apache to search multiple OUs when authenticating Subversion users?
  To do this you will need to configure multiple separate LDAP urls for each OU and utilize AuthnProviderAlias to check both urls.
• How can I find the number of files in a repository without checking it out?
  To list the files in a repository use the command: svn ls -R file:///svnroot/REPONAME| wc -l (Requires local access to server)
• How do I show HTTP data conversation to Apache?
  There is a parameter in your client's configuration file to enable Neon's debugging output to appear.
• How can I do an in-place import (i.e. add a tree to Subversion such that the original data becomes a working copy)?
  You can do this by checking out a directory from the repository directly into an existing directory.
• How can I define command-line options for the editor?
  The Subversion command-line client will invoke the editor that is defined in the environment variable SVN_EDITOR.
• How can I handle spaces in the editor path?
  Due to the fact that the SVN_EDITOR string is passed as-is to the system's command shell, spaces in the editor name, or in the path name to the editor, will not work unless the editor name is in quotes.
• Can I maintain a modified version or vendor branch of third-party software using Subversion?
  Yes, you can maintain a vendor branch using Subversion. Subversion can be used to track local changes to third-party code, even across upgrades from the third party - that is, you can maintain your own divergent branch (vendor branch), while still incorporating new releases from the source.
• How do I enable Neon debugging in my Subversion client?
  This is easliy done in a Linux environment by editing the existing servers text file. On Windows it is not easily done and not recommended.
• How do I detect adds, deletes, copies and renames in a working copy after they've already happened?
  The basic design of the working copy has two rules: (1) edit files as you please, and (2) use a Subversion client to make any tree-changes (add, delete, move, copy). If these rules are followed, the client can sucessfully manage the working copy. If renames or other rearrangements happen outside of Subversion, then the UI has been violated and the working copy might be broken. The client cannot guess what happened.
• How can I make svn diff show me just the names of the changed files, not their contents?
  Version 1.4 of the svn diff command will have a "--summarize" option, but previous svn diff doesn't have an option to do this.
• Can I set properties on everything in the repository, then apply the properties to every new file coming into the repository?
  Subversion will not change a file's contents by default; you have to deliberately set the svn:eol-style or svn:keywords property on a file for that to happen. This makes Subversion a lot safer than the default CVS behavior, but with that safety comes some inconvenience, as you cannot apply these properties to incoming files.
• How do I merge code from two completely separate repositories?
  See the blog below for information on merging from foreign repositories.
• I have a project file that every developer must change, but I don't want those local mods to ever be committed. How can I make svn commit ignore the file?
  To do this, don't put that file under version control. Instead, put a template of the file under version control, something like "file.tmpl".
• How do I change the log message for a revision after it's been committed?
  Log messages are kept in the repository as properties attached to each revision. By default, the log message property (svn:log) cannot be edited once it is committed. That is because changes to revision properties (of which svn:log is one) cause the property's previous value to be permanently discarded, and Subversion tries to prevent you from doing this accidentally. However, there are a couple of ways to get Subversion to change a revision property.
• How do I completely remove a file from the repository's history?
  There are special cases where you might want to destroy all evidence of a file or commit. (Perhaps somebody accidentally committed a confidential document.) This isn't so easy, because Subversion is deliberately designed to never lose information.
• How do I allow clients to authenticate against a Windows domain controller using SSPI authentication?
  TortoiseSVN has an excellent document that describes setting up a Subversion server on Windows. See the section on SSPI authentication in the link below for more information.
• How can I hotbackup my repository when svnadmin fails on files larger than 2Gb?
  Early versions of APR on its 0.9 branch, which Apache 2.0.x and Subversion 1.x use, have no support for copying large files (2Gb+). A fix that solves the svnadmin hotcopy problem has been applied and is included in APR 0.9.5+ and Apache 2.0.50+. The fix doesn't work on all platforms, but works on Linux.
• How can I specify a Windows drive letter in a file:URL?
  Like this: svn import file:///d:/some/path/to/repos/on/d/drive. See Repository URLs in the Subversion Book for more details.
• How do I generate an SSL certificate for my server?
  In order to use HTTPS with your SourceForge install, you need to have a valid SSL certificate installed for Apache to use.
• How do I create a local backup of a remote SVN repository?
  You can back up your remote Subversion repository to your local system by keeping a mirror copy of the repository locally using svnsync.