Bert Huijben wrote:
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Neels Janosch Hofmeyr [mailto:neels_at_elego.de]
>> Sent: zondag 21 juni 2009 1:20
>> To: dev_at_subversion.tigris.org
>> Subject: svn obliterate? svn overwrite!
>>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> just now I had a discussion on #svn where a user o2T7 asked about undo.
>> We
>> drifted into "svn obliterate", and o2T7 compared the workings of svn to
>> human memory. He said:
>>
>> <o2T7> well, what real minds do is "imagine" or "fill with convenient
>> data"
>> what they would like to be there ;)
>>
>> So, instead of removing a revision that contains sensitive data, might
>> it be
>> easier to just *overwrite* those sections that company X doesn't want
>> to be
>> sitting in their repos?
>>
>> It's still checksum business. But it's a smaller set of problems than
>> with
>> "svn obliterate". Maybe some brilliant mind could find out how to
>> overwrite
>> without changing the checksum result.....
>>
>> Any case. I like the approach :)
>
> On every update (switch, etc.) you receive binary diffs from the repository
> that assume your local base-version exactly matches the file on the server
> (or the binary diff talks nonsense).
>
> With this change you would void that assumption.. (just assume updating from
> or to the to be obliterated revision) and you would trick the validation
> rules too.
>
> So.. the result would be that all your existing working copies might be
> broken, but you will never know if they are...
>
> (And if you assume that there are no working copies using this version..
> then you could just as well change the checksum and/or use svndumpfilter (or
> manual patching of the dumpfile))
>
>
> And this doesn't even look at the fs-layer dependencies on old versions.
> (Versions of nodes can be stored as a binary diff against older and newer
> versions of the file)..
>
>
> Bert
Heh, no doubt there are lots of difficulties... I just fancied the thought
of scrambling instead of cutting. But I see that it doesn't make it any
easier in practice.
I, personally, don't care much for either. Just thinking aloud...
~Neels
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http://subversion.tigris.org/ds/viewMessage.do?dsForumId=462&dsMessageId=2363859
Received on 2009-06-21 02:12:34 CEST