bug report: svn client 1.7.x silently fails to fetch files via svn:externals under certain conditions.

Hello,

I've stumbled upon the following Subversion client 1.7.x bug:

Under certain conditions SVN silently fails to fetch external file at
specified operative revision from repository into a working copy.
Here is the simplest scenario:

1) I create 'file.txt' and commit it to repository 'A/trunk' directory;
2) then I copy entire 'A/trunk' directory to 'A/tags/1.0' using 'svn
copy URL URL' command;
3) next I create 'B' directory in the repository with one empty 'import'
subdirectory, which I want to use for importing 'A/tags/1.0/file.txt'
via svn:externals;
4) to use explicit revision number in svn:externals property I run 'svn
list A/tags/1.0/file.txt -v' command, which gives me the last revision,
at which file.txt was modified (say, revision 1).
5) now I checkout 'B' into a working copy and set svn:externals property
over 'import' subdirectory as follows: ' -r1 ^/A/tags/1.0/file.txt
file.txt'
6) finally I update 'B' working copy, which should fetch file.txt into
import directory; unfortunately, that doesn't happen - 'import'
directory remains empty, though svn reports no errors

It is important to note, that this bug is not present in any SVN 1.6.x
client. It only manifests itself in SVN 1.7.x (up to its latest version
1.7.5)
I tested it on Windows and Linux platforms using both pre-compiled
version of svn client, which comes with TortoiseSVN, as well as svn
client, compiled and installed from tar.
Also I tried to use both svn:// (with svnserve of 1.6.x and 1.7.x
versions) and file:// access methods.
The result doesn't depend on the access method, neither it depends on
the version of the svnserve at the backend (in case of svn:// method ),
so it is an svn client 1.7.x issue.

Here is the script to reproduce the described bug:
##############################################################################################################
#!/bin/sh

# You might need to adjust these lines to point to your
# compiled-from-source Subversion binaries, if using those:
if [ -z "$SVN" ]; then
   SVN=`which svn`
   SVNADMIN=`which svnadmin`
fi

# Use English output.
LC_ALL=C; export LC_ALL

# Select an access method. If svn://, the svnserve setup is
# handled automagically by this script; but if http://, then
# you'll have to configure it yourself first.
#
# URL=http://localhost/SOMETHING/repos
# URL=svn://localhost/repos
URL=file:///`pwd`/repos

${SVNADMIN} create repos

echo "### Making a Greek Tree for import..."
mkdir import-me
mkdir import-me/A
mkdir import-me/A/trunk
mkdir import-me/A/tags
mkdir import-me/B
mkdir import-me/B/trunk
mkdir import-me/B/trunk/import
echo "This is the file 'file.txt'" > import-me/A/trunk/file.txt
echo "### Done."
echo ""
echo "### Importing it..."
(cd import-me; ${SVN} import -q -m "Initial import." ${URL})
echo "### Done."
echo ""

echo "### copy A/trunk to A/tags/1.0 ###"
${SVN} cp ${URL}/A/trunk ${URL}/A/tags/1.0 -m 'make 1.0 release of
project A'
revision=`${SVN} ls ${URL}/A/tags/1.0/file.txt -v| grep -P -o '^\s+\d+'
| grep -P -o '\d+'`
echo "### 'A/tags/1.0/file.txt' Last Commit Revision: $revision ###"

echo "### checkout B/trunk to wc ###"
${SVN} co ${URL}/B/trunk wc
cd wc

echo "### set svn:externals property over B/trunk/import to: '
-r$revision ^/A/tags/1.0/file.txt file.txt' ###"
${SVN} propset svn:externals " -r$revision ^/A/tags/1.0/file.txt
file.txt" import

echo "### update B/trunk working copy ###"
${SVN} update

echo "### list updated B/trunk wc contents ###"
ls -R
##############################################################################################################

The above script renders following output:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
### Making a Greek Tree for import...
### Done.

### Importing it...
### Done.

### copy A/trunk to A/tags/1.0 ###

Committed revision 2.
### 'A/tags/1.0/file.txt' Last Commit Revision: 1 ###
### checkout B/trunk to wc ###
A wc/import
Checked out revision 2.
### set svn:externals property over B/trunk/import to: ' -r1
^/A/tags/1.0/file.txt file.txt' ###
property 'svn:externals' set on 'import'
### update B/trunk working copy ###
Updating '.':

Fetching external item into 'import/file.txt':
External at revision 1.

At revision 2.
### list updated B/trunk wc contents ###
.:
import

./import:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The 'wc/import' directory is empty after update, when svn 1.7.x is used.
Again, that doesn't happen with svn 1.6.x.

Sincerely,

Alex Siyanko

-- 
Alex Siyanko<br>
as_at_xdyne.com