Re: Lack of Subversion repository recovery tools

Toby wrote:
>> On 29-Jun-07, at 12:26 PM, david.x.grierson@jpmorgan.com wrote:
>> Consider the following scenario: Let's say you're running version
>> 1.4.7
>> and the latest version is 1.5.3.
>>
>> 1.4.7 contains a defect which under certain circumstances can cause
>> the
>> repository to become corrupted.
>>
>> This defect was identified in version 1.4.8 but wasn't actually fixed
>> until version 1.5.0 because it required a re-design of aspects of the
>> repository format which wouldn't have been appropriate to issue in
>> a point
>> release of the product.
>
>Very unlikely.
>
>In the more likely scenario of a corruption bug in 1.4.7, if it were
>serious, it would merit a 1.4.8.

Okay - just ran into the "read length line" error for the first time
today.

A developer in one of the teams that use our SubVersion repositories
couldn't checkout a directory which appeared to have become corrupted over
30 revisions before the HEAD.

I had to dig around for 1) information on this corruption 2) whether any
tools for correcting the corruption existed or would I have to start
hacking around with the revision file and a copy of the revision format
description trying to figure out what was up?

There appears to have been enough of a need for a fixer tool that John
Szakmeister has developed a tool for fixing the corruption:
http://www.szakmeister.net/blog/?page_id=16

This appears to be a perfect example of this kind of situation:

*) The developers are not 100% sure as to what is causing the corruption
because they don't have a mechanism for reproducing it - consequently they
are unable to say whether it's actually fixed yet AFAIK.
*) The corruption is serious enough that the revision in question (and any
dependent revisions) are broken until the corruption is fixed.

All that's required is a "this is a known issue - here's a
path/URL/description" to be spat out by a "svnadmin verify" command and
take the fsfsverify tool John's written into the distribution while they
look for a fix. This would allow them to state that there is a supported
workaround while they are looking for the full resolution to the issue.

This would have certainly made my life easier and slighly less scarey
today.

John - if you're still reading this forum - thanks so much for fsfsverify
it's saved my day!

Dg.

--
David Grierson
JPMorgan - IB Architecture - Source Code Management Consultant
GDP 228-5574 / DDI +44 141 228 5574 / Email david.x.grierson@jpmorgan.com
Sentinel House 2nd floor, 103 Waterloo Street, Glasgow G2 7BW
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