SVN client 1.8 with server 1.6.17, HTTP error 408

Hi,

we are using in production a SVN server on a Ubuntu 12.04LTS machine.
SVN there is:
# svn --version
svn, version 1.6.17 (r1128011)
   compiled Jun 26 2013, 20:44:36

We provide both svn:// access and http:// (through Apache2). Apache2
version is:
# apache2 -v
Server version: Apache/2.2.22 (Ubuntu)
Server built: Jul 12 2013 13:37:10

People have started updating their clients to 1.8. While on svn:// they
have no issues, with web_dav, the situation is different.
Any update or checkout on http:// leads to a 408 error from SVN client
(Timeout request).

I went down to the Apache2 log files. Here is an example access, just
for option:
127.0.0.1 - - [31/Oct/2013:09:31:12 +0000] "OPTIONS
/reactos/trunk/reactos HTTP/1.0" 200 874 "-" "SVN/1.8.1
(x86-microsoft-windows) serf/1.2.1"
127.0.0.1 - - [31/Oct/2013:09:31:12 +0000] "OPTIONS
/reactos/trunk/reactos HTTP/1.0" 400 770 "-" "SVN/1.8.1
(x86-microsoft-windows) serf/1.2.1"
At the same time, the error log is spawning lots of errors:
[Thu Oct 31 09:30:35 2013] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] (70007)The timeout
specified has expired: Error reading first chunk
[Thu Oct 31 09:30:42 2013] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] (70007)The timeout
specified has expired: Error reading first chunk
[Thu Oct 31 09:31:11 2013] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] Provider
encountered an error while streaming a REPORT response. [500, #0]
[Thu Oct 31 09:31:11 2013] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] A failure occurred
while driving the update report editor [500, #103]
[Thu Oct 31 09:31:11 2013] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] Error writing
base64 data: Software caused connection abort [500, #103]
[Thu Oct 31 09:31:22 2013] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] (70007)The timeout
specified has expired: Error reading first chunk

This appears to match the timeout...

I've tried to improve (as recommended) the KeepAlive, without (sensible)
effect on that issue.

Regarding other configuration tweaks in Apache2, we have:
MaxRequestsPerChild 512
LimitXMLRequestBody 0
LimitRequestBody 0

What's the best way to fix this?

Please note that a bug report has been opened on our side and it might
contain more up to date information:
https://jira.reactos.org/browse/ONLINE-400
And it appears we're not the only one to face it:
http://bugs.irssi.org/index.php?do=details&task_id=898

Thanks in advance for your help.

With my best regards,

-- 
Pierre Schweitzer<pierre at reactos.org>
System Administrator
ReactOS Foundation