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RE: Unclear syntax for relative addressing of svn:externals, on RHEL 5, subversion-1.6.12

From: Keith Moore <Keith.Moore_at_securency.com>
Date: Mon, 12 Jul 2010 10:05:30 +1000

-----Original Message-----
From: Nico Kadel-Garcia [mailto:nkadel_at_gmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, 10 July 2010 8:13
To: Ryan Schmidt
Cc: Subversion
Subject: Re: Unclear syntax for relative addressing of svn:externals, on RHEL 5, subversion-1.6.12

On Fri, Jul 9, 2010 at 4:19 PM, Ryan Schmidt
<subversion-2010b_at_ryandesign.com> wrote:
>
> On Jul 9, 2010, at 14:08, Nico Kadel-Garcia wrote:
>
>> The allowable syntax for svn:externals is a bit unclear in the Redbook.
>>
>> Shouldn't I be able to set the svn:external to point to a location in
>> my active repository, such as the below settings?
>>
>>    svn propset svn:externals "release-1 ^/tags/release-1" .
>>
>> I seem to be able to set such values, but updating with such values
>> fails miserably with the subversino-1.6.12, published from RPMforge on
>> RHEL 5 (for reference to the version I'm using).
>
> Try
>
>   svn propset svn:externals "^/tags/release-1 release-1" .

On Subversion 1.6? I think not, and tested such. The syntax described
at http://svnbook.red-bean.com/en/1.5/svn.advanced.externals.html
describes the precise reverse syntax, and it accepts this.

       svn propset svn:externals "release-1
svn://svnserver/repo/tags/release-1".

What I wanted to do was have Subversion check out directories from
within the same repository, rooted to the top of the repository, so
that moving a tag or branch up or down wouldn't break the references.
I'd thought from the documentation about 'relative references' that it
would apply to the URL of the external repository, so that if the repo
is checked out as file:///, https:///, svn:///, etc. the URL's for
svn:externals downloading would be auto-munged appropriately.

Is this not available?
---------------------------------------------------------
I think it is available, I'm not sure what you mean by "so that moving a tag or branch up or down wouldn't break the references". I think if you move directories around it is likely to break references, especially if relative to the root of the repository. The only way to prevent failing references is to use a peg revision on the URL.

The original externals syntax was 'directory externalURL' and would accept only full/absolute URLs. In Subversion 1.5 (I think) relative externals were introduced. To support these new relative externals, whilst also maintaining backwards compatibility, a different syntax was introduced, 'externalURL directory'.

If you want relative URLs you must use the new syntax. If you use absolute urls can use either the old or the new syntax.

If the new syntax is failing maybe you could post the error message. I have used externals since I moved to Subversion, the old absolute and the new syntax, without problem.

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Received on 2010-07-12 02:06:49 CEST

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