[RFC] svn wc verify -- pristine files consistency check, and possibly repair

Proposal: a feature to check whether a Subversion WC's pristine texts
(and potentially other metadata) are all present and uncorrupted.
Possible second stage: ability to repair some problems.

Why?

Different factors can cause corruption, including:

   * the user accidentally changing .svn files by running a
search-and-replace etc.;
   * bugs in Subversion;
   * "random" corruption caused by hardware or other software.

One customer I know of recently found corruption of the "pristine
checksum mismatch" kind in some WCs when trying to commit from them, and
was looking for a way to check whether other WCs were valid ahead of
finding a problem at commit time. That is not the first time users have
experienced WC corruption. The usual suggestion, "check out a fresh
WC", is a blunt tool and may leave a user with residual fear,
uncertainty and doubt.

Right now, there is no good and easy way to check if a WC's pristines
are present and correct.

Does it make sense as a feature proposal? Thoughts?

- Julian
Received on 2020-01-09 17:38:14 CET