Question

I’m using svn:externals and I’ve specified a specific revision using the SVN1.5+ format, but SVN seems to ignore the revision number.

$ svn --version
svn, version 1.6.17 (r1128011)

$ svn propget svn:externals trunk/project1/src/library/Deit/
-r658 ^/vendor/Deit/Config Config
-r658 ^/vendor/Deit/Config.php Config.php

$ svn up trunk/project1/src/library/Deit/
svn: warning: Error handling externals definition for '****/trunk/project1/src/library/Deit/Config':
svn: warning: File not found: revision 851, path '/vendor/Deit/Config'
svn: warning: Error handling externals definition for '****/trunk/project1/src/library/Deit/Config.php':
svn: warning: File not found: revision 851, path '/vendor/Deit/Config.php'

Since revision 658 I’ve replaced the vendor library with a new version (by doing svn rm, svn commit, svn add, svn commit). Now the specified files no longer exist in the latest revision but I still want to use the old version of these specific files in some cases.

How can I use external files from revision 658 but that don’t exist in the latest revision?

Answer 1

Have you tried using the peg-revision syntax (described on the same page you linked)? E.g:

^/vendor/Deit/Config@658 Config

I have never used that syntax, but IIRC a peg-revision also has to be used when wanting to display the history of an item which no longer exists in the head revision.