Question

I am wondering what happens in SVN when a file is updated directly instead of using SVN? The main reason I am asking is that there was a problem updating the SVN on my machine (windows) when the server (linux) had 2 names that were the same, but different case. I resolved this on the server, but didn’t do it through SVN since it won’t update correct, but I still get the issue. Do I need to run some kind of command to update it?

Thanks.

EDIT:

I deleted the comflicting file in the working direcotry and wanted to know if doing things directory in the working directory get tracked at all or what needs to be done to resync.

Answer 1

When SVN gets blocked because the repository is more “up to date” than the local checkout, one brain dead foolproof solution is:

1. Move (or remove) the files that are causing the conflict at the command line (don’t use SVN tools to do this, and don’t use the GUI if you have tortoise installed).
2. svn update the repository, which will restore the current copy of the files from the subversion server.
3. Decide what to do with your cached copies of the old files. Either manually merge them back into the repository, discard them, or remake the changes in the new svn managed files (depending on your needs).

Note that if you move the files into a directory using tortoise, make sure that you move it into a directory that’s not associated with ANY SVN project. It’s not fun trying to undo the helpful changes tortoise does in thinking your wanting a SVN move to accompany the file system move.