Question

So I have a local build file.

It shouldn’t be in SVN at all, but, it is. (Thanks, previous maintainer!) But changes have been made to the local copy, which only apply to building on the box it’s on.

I screw up and do a commit that commits this local build file. Now the SVN repo copy has these local changes; this is bad.

How can I get back to status quo ante, where the local changes are in the local copy, not in the SVN repo, and a subsequent svn update won’t overwrite the local changes?

Answer 1

1. backup the file with the local changes somewhere.
2. do a show log on the file, and revert this file to the revision before the unwanted changes (using an update with the given revision number)
3. commit the file
4. update the whole working copy
5. restore the backup done at step 1

You might use changelists or lock the file to avoid making the same mistake again.