A better way renaming a file in svn?

Question

I am not quite sure if I am weird or what, but it seems I cannot find a proper answer for renaming files in svn.

The official documentation assumes I am going to (out of my all worries of coding and maintenance) rename files using svn before I make changes!!!

Am I missing something or what? Can svn accept a renaming I did using the file system without forcing me to revert the old file and moving the new file I worked with to another folder before I can make (svn mv old_file new_file), after then only I can bring back the new file I worked on and then replace it back!

I am using SilkSVN version 1.8.13 on Windows.

Lazy Badger · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-12 16:49:59Z

3

Can svn accept a renaming I did using the file system

No. OS-level renaming will produce broken history (two unrelated file-actions - "file added" and "file deleted") in log without any relation between two files, contrary to properly moved|renamed file

>svn log -q -v intefaces.txt --stop-on-copy
------------------------------------------------------------------------
r5 | Badger | 2015-07-12 20:58:23 +0500 (Вс, 12 июл 2015)
Changed paths:
   A /trunk/API/intefaces.txt (from /trunk/inteface.txt:4)
...

answered Jul 12, 2015 at 16:49

Lazy Badger

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2 Comments

Ghasan غسان Over a year ago

So the only way is to rename in svn first and then make changes in the IDE, right?

Lazy Badger Over a year ago

@Ghasan - yes, or "change SCM"

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 11:44:00Z

2

I don't know about SilkSVN, and I am pretty sure the command-line doesn't have this, but TortoiseSVN has a "repair move" feature that can be used to fix the situation where you forgot to use SVN to rename a file, and just did it using OS commands (or, if you had to use an external tool to upgrade/rename a file – I'm looking at you, Microsoft).

In TortoiseSVN, if you've renamed a file and SVN doesn't know yet, you can use "Check for Modifications" to see both a "missing" file and an "unversioned" file. Highlight both with a CTRL-Click, and then the context menu contains a "repair move" option that marks the file as renamed instead of an unversioned add/delete.

Note, even lacking this feature, you don't need to revert the old file, just temporarily rename/move the file you're working on back to its old location and then use svn move to put it back where you want it: SVN "repair move" from the command-line.

edited May 23, 2017 at 11:44

CommunityBot

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answered Jul 13, 2015 at 14:34

Ben

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1 Comment

Ghasan غسان Over a year ago

Man! I just cannot imagine that I could not think of it! I mean just renaming the new file with the old one using OS command, and the rename it back again using svn! Oh, my! Kudos!

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