svn co authorization fails

I have read and reread all FAQs, google groups, the SVN book, but still am
unable to figure this one out...

I have setup a SVN repository on my Linux box at /var/svnroot

ssh into box as a regular user (vladb) and try this:

svn co svn://localhost:3690/var/svnroot

I enter correct password for the user as indicated in the repository's
conf/passwd file and get 'Authorization failed' error. Now, I am very
certain password is correct, because I'd get "Password incorrect" error if I
entered a different password.

my conf/authz file:

[svnroot:/]
vladb = rw

my conf/svnserve.conf file:
[general]
anon-access = read
auth-access = write
password-db = passwd
authz-db = authz
realm = repository

my regular user on that box is 'vladb' (group 'web'). SVN user is svnadmin
(also group 'web') and /var/svnroot is owned by svnadmin:web (sticky).

I tried to debug svnserve but there appears to be no switch available to
force svnserve to spit out even as little as error messages.. I'm simply
stumped. Your help is greatly appreciated!

Cheers,
Vlad
Received on Wed Jan 11 23:44:51 2006