Re: Worst Error Message?

On 7/30/11 9:15 AM, Andy Canfield wrote:
> I just spent all day working on a bug. I could create a repository, and could do
> "svn checkout ..." but when I did "svn commit" I got this error message:
> svn: Commit failed (details follow):
> svn: Server sent unexpected return value (403 Forbidden)
> in response to MKACTIVITY request for
> '/svn/Mummy/!svn/act/991016fc-bbae-4269-a468-b8e3d9bce7b5'
>
> Late that night, it finally hit to me: I had read access to the repository, but
> not write access. My procedure for creating a repository did not grant write
> access to the creator.

Ummm, if it hurts, don't do it.

> That is close to the worst error message I have ever seen.

You haven't been doing complicated things with a computer long, I take it. There
are plenty of worse messages on the order of "can't happen'.

'403 forbidden' makes reasonable sense for a client-side message to someone who
shouldn't know internal details anyway. Is something better in the apache error
log where the sysadmin who set it up wrong should be looking?

-- 
   Les Mikesell
    lesmikesell_at_gmail.com