Re: how do I revert a bad commit without creating a new revision?

On Fri, 08 Jul 2011, Konstantin Kolinko wrote:
> Another possibility: I think it is possible to effectively
> truncate the repository by removing some files + running
> svnadmin recover. Just theory - I have not tried it. I
> wish there were official command (or instruction) how to
> truncate a repository (as a cheap alternative to implementing
> obliteration).

To truncate a repository that uses the "fsfs" format, so that
you lose everything after a certain revision, you can try the
following procedure. This is not supported, and might break
everything.

   1. Ensure that no new changes can be committed. (Tell your
      users to stop work, or rename the directory on the server to
      make it inaccessible, or activate some hook scripts that deny
      permission for any changes.)

   2. Ensure that you have a backup.

   3. Examine the "db/current" file in the repository. It should
      contain the most recent revision number. If it's not what
      you expected, then give up.

   4. Change the "db/current" file, making it refer to the most
      recent "good" revision (e.g. 417810) instead of to the newer
      revisions that you want to disappear (e.g. 417811).

   5. Delete the db/revs and db/revprops files corresponding to the
      revisions that you want to disappear (e.g. db/revs/417/417811
      and db/revprops/417/417811).

   6. Allow access to the repository again.

Any working copies that have references to the revisions that have
disappeared, will now be broken. You may be able to fix them via
"svn update -r${LAST_GOOD_REVISION}", but in the worst case, your
users will have to delete the working copies and check them out
again.

--apb (Alan Barrett)
Received on 2011-07-08 08:48:31 CEST