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Re: "svn propset svn:externals" syntax on Windows command line

From: Simon Large <simon.tortoisesvn_at_gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2012 23:02:30 +0000

On 29 November 2012 21:49, Ben Johnson <ben_at_indietorrent.org> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I've wasted far too much time attempting to discern the correct syntax
> for setting svn:externals properties, *pinned with explicit revision
> numbers*, via the Windows command line.
>
> While I realize that this question is not TSVN-specific, I am hoping the
> TSVN developers can provide some insight, because clearly, this very
> capability has been implemented in TSVN.
>
> I am trying to emulate TSVN's svn:externals property editor, which
> yields the following property string:
>
> -r 661 ^/../framework/trunk/database database
>
> I am using the following command (all on one line):
>
> svn propset svn:externals "-r661 ^/../framework/trunk/database database" .
>
> This yields the following error message:
>
> svn: E205000: Syntax error in revision argument '661
> ^/../framework/trunk/database database'
>
> I have also tried placing a space between "-r" and "661", even though
> the output from "svn help propset" does not use a space in the example
> (it uses "-r25"; see last line in below paragraph):
>
> svn:externals - A newline separated list of module specifiers,
> each of which consists of a URL and a relative directory path,
> similar to the syntax of the 'svn checkout' command:
> http://example.com/repos/zig foo/bar
> A revision to check out can optionally be specified to pin the
> external to a known revision:
> -r25 http://example.com/repos/zig foo/bar
>
> Adding the space yields the same error, but with a space before "661" in
> the message:
>
> svn: E205000: Syntax error in revision argument ' 661
> ^/../framework/trunk/database database'
>
> The problem seems to be related to how Windows handles the minus sign in
> the "-r661" portion of the string. If I escape the minus sign with a
> backslash, the command succeeds, but of course, the backslash appears,
> literally, in the svn:externals property value.
>
> I've scoured the Web looking for examples of how this is done on the
> Windows command line with SVN 1.7, and I can't find a single example.
>
> Any help is greatly appreciated!

The answer is somewhat unexpected, at least to me:

http://subversion.tigris.org/ds/viewMessage.do?dsForumId=463&dsMessageId=2733969

The correct syntax it seems is:

svn propset svn:externals -- "-r661 ^/../framework/trunk/database database" .

And the reason seems to be this one:
http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/online/pages/man3/getopt.3.html

The extra -- prevents the following arguments starting with - from
being parsed as options.

Simon

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Received on 2012-11-30 00:02:36 CET

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