Probable bug: writes commit messages to read-only trees

Hello:

I attempted to add and commit a file to a new repo that I *should* have read-write access to. I still can't figure out whether I really have RW or RO access, but I think this is irrelevant.

When I committed the file, I received the following message:
      Adding watchfiles/xdg-utils_1.1.0~rc1+git20111210.watch
      Transmitting file data .
      Committed revision 289.

      Warning: post-commit FS processing had error 'attempt to write a readonly database'.

When I browsed the repo online, I can see that the history has indeed changed, and it references a file that does not exist on the server.

This is very odd behaviour. SVN is writing to the log, THEN attempting to upload the file, and if the upload fails, the log persists.

Suggested behaviour: one of:
      1) determine RO/RW access before writing commit to log; refuse to commit if RO
      2) keep as is, but when RO error encountered, undo the commit.

P.S., forgive me if I've gotten some of the lingo wrong. I'm much more familiar with git.

svn, version 1.8.9 (r1591380)
   compiled May 21 2014, 03:09:46 on x86_64-pc-linux-gnu

running Debian, tracking testing/jessie
SMP Debian 3.14.4-1 (2014-05-13)
Received on 2014-07-17 20:01:57 CEST