Question

I have two svn repositories, one each for the iOS and Android versions of a mobile app. Both versions of the app share an identical SQLite database. At present each repo has its own copy of the database, which means changes have to be applied twice.

Instead, I would like to add a third repo containing the database and use svn:externals to pull a copy into the working folder on checkout for a given version of the app. I was able to set up externals, but on checkout it creates a subfolder in my working directory and places the external file there. I want it to pull down the external file without creating a subfolder.

I tried using . and ./ as the local path in the externals definition without success.

Is this possible or should I look for another approach?

Edit – Thanks to a good answer from Manojlds I was able to make this work with the database in its own separate repository. I’m still a little confused because the TortoiseSVN documentation specifically states that:

The URL for a file external must be in the same repository as the URL
that the file external will be inserted into; inter-repository file
externals are not supported.

The documentation I’m referring to can be found here. I’m adding a link in case someone comes across this question and is as confused as I was.

Answer 1

You should be able to do:

svn propset svn:externals "^/path/sqlite.db sqlite.db" .

(full path above if it is a different repo – why do you need a different repo though? It can be a different folder within the same repo, with iPhone and Android apps being separate projects within the same repo as well. But that is a separate discussion)