auto-prop in /etc/subversion/config not being applied remotely.

I am having a problem with setting auto-props on files from the default
config file.

I have set up a very short config entry for subversion running on linux in
/etc/subversion/config containing the following:

        # no-unlock = yes
        enable-auto-props = yes
        [auto-props]
        *.doc = svn:needs-lock;svn:mime-type=application/msword

Importing a file using file:///... from my local account works fine and
the properties are set accordingly. If I override the properties in my
file in my local ~/.subversion/config file, these are set instead, which
appears to be working as expected.

However, I also access the repository remotely over ssh from Windows and
in this instance if I have local settings in my Application
Data\Subversion\config file it also sets these properties when importing
instead of the /etc ones. So far so good.

The problem arises when this file's contents are commented out (as per the
default local config file) in which case subversion just imports a .doc
file as though no config exists, ignoring the mime type and needs-lock
property. For some reason, it does NOT apply the settings in
/etc/subversion/config.

Is this the expected behaviour for subversion when dealing with remote
clients or is it a bug -- I thought the whole point of the global
/etc/subversion config settings file was to provide a default handling on
the server where the options weren’t specified by the client.

This problem occurs both when using the svn import command or tortoise.

Has anyone else had this problem?

Any ideas or comments would be appreciated.

--
Graham Coles