Tortoise Subversion : Java Glossary

Tortoise Subversion 1.9.4 Last revised/verified: 2016-04-29 is a subversion client that works inside Windows Explorer (not Internet Explorer) letting you do your work with right clicks. It is not quite full-featured, but it is simpler since is uses the familiar directory displays.

gmane.comp.version-control.subversion.tortoisesvn.user is a newsgroup to discuss TortoiseSVN. It is carried free on newsserver news.gmane.org. You will need a newsreader to access it, not a browser. Unfortunately, has been no traffic on it lately.

Steps

Here are the basic TortoiseSVN operations to get set up:

1. Create the repository at your Subversion Host.
2. Configure the subversion ⇒ settings → edit subversion configuration file. This a text file containing comments to help you configure it.
3. Configure your global-ignores.
4. Configure your auto-props in C:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\Subversion\config., acessible via right click TortoiseSVN ⇒ Settings ⇒ edit something like this:
5. Import a directory tree into the repository. As with all version control systems, it takes some experimenting so that when you import a directory or file, it goes where you expect it to in the repository tree. One of the easiest ways to get started is to use the repo-browser, navigate in the repository of the parent of the directory you want to add and select add folder.
6. Checkout part of the repository, usually to a different spot on disk from where you imported it from. This is where you specifiy the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) (and protocol) of your repository on the server, e.g. https://wush.net/svn/salamander
7. Make a change to some of the checked out files.
8. Use Update to fetch any recent changes to the repository made by other people. Subversion will attempt to merge your changes with those of other people. You will have to look its attempt over and correct any errors.
9. Commit the merged changes to record them in the repository.
10. Add a file, group of files or dir to the repository that are not represented there (perhaps out of date) already.
11. Commit the add. The files are not copied to the repository until you do the commit of all previous adds in one fell swoop.
12. Delete a file from the checked out files.
13. Commit the deletion. This will mark the file as deleted in the repository and it will throw away the previous update history. You won’t be able to get it back with Subversion.
14. Use the Repo-Browser delete of a file or directory. This will delete all history of this file or directory from the respository.

Global Ignores

You can specify the excludes in the global ignore settings, or in the Subversion configuration file with:
global-ignores = *.class *.com *.digest *.exe *.jar *.log *.log.html *.lst *.map *.obj *.raw *.ser *.sln *.table *.tmp *.zip */javadoc */jetpdb Debug javadoc jetpdb Release temp.* temp?.* temp?.*
or after you have done a checkout, add by right clicking on a file or directory you do not want to include and selecting add to ignore list. Oddly, you can’t make such file-by-file two-click exclusions prior to or during the import. Adding ignores won’t delete any existing files or directory from the repository. It is merely a list of what you want to ignore, not what everyone has to ignore.

Files

TortoiseSVN will create a .svn directory in any directory, or mother of a directory, you have checked out. Don’t delete or modify any of the files in it. It is considerably bigger than the equivalent .cvs directory. In it is a pristine directory tree where it keeps copies of all your versioned files as there were at last checkin but renamed to be unique. It also keeps an SQL (Standard Query Language) databese called wc.db where it tracks what is in all the pristine files and the various properties.

Tips

• There are two rename commands, one immediately visible when you right click and one inside the Tortoise subversion sub menu. Use the second, or you may find TortoiseSubversion later undoing your renames.
• Use cleanup and/or update when TortoiseSubversion appears to be giving the wrong status to your files or directories. It only works on entire directories, not individual files.
• Use commit with the show unversioned files option to find out which files you have failed to add or explicitly exclude.
• Use the recent message option to find the reason text of recent commits rather than typing it over and over.
• Subversion has three sources of information:
  • The repository. You can find out what is on file with the repo-browser.
  • The .svn subdirectories of any directory under version control. The very existence of this directory is evidence it is under Subversion control. These must not be meddled with, not even redated, except as a last resort.
  • The current contents of the client files.
  Subversion is rather delicate for a backup tool. It is very easy to get it out of sync, to accidentally delete or to fail to save.
• Don’t use any other tools but Tortoise Subversion and svn.exe to delete or rename files under Subversion control.
• Use svn.exe for repetitive work. It is bundles withTortoise Subversion. It is the command line client for SVN (Subversion). I found it easier to learn than Tortoise because you can type svn help revert etc. and it will not only explain how to use the command, it will explain what it does. Here is how I used it paired with Take Command to remove all *.css files from all my Subversion repositories:
• I you get into a bind with an uncorrectable tree conflict, MKCOL errors, crashes etc., you can use this drastic solution. Copy the files in the damaged directory to a safe place. Use the Tortoise Subversion delete to delete the entire troublesome directory and commit it. Then copy the files back into the local directory and recommit them from scratch. The catch is you will lose all your version history.

Deleting

If you want to delete the file on your disk and mark it as deleted in the repository, use SVN delete then commit.

If you want to keep the file on your disk, but no longer track it in the replository, use SVN delete and add to ignore list, then commit.

If you want to delete all record of the file of ever having existing from the repository, find it is the repo-browser and delete it and use delete to delete it from your hard disk.

Advantages of Tortoise Subversion

• Though Subversion still has add/commit, Tortoise subversion automatically commits when you add.
• It is fairly intuitive to use. Just left click on a directory and follow your nose.

Disadvantages of Tortoise Subversion

• Even though it is quite old, every version corrects over a dozen bugs. There is something wrong with quality control if bugs are still being found after all this time.
• There is a bug that has frozen one of my directories. I can’t do anything with it. There does not seem to be a way to start that directory over from scratch.
• TortoiseSubversion often gives you the wrong status for a directory or file. Sometimes it is just lazy in updating. Sometimes it gets confused. Using Cleanup and Update often clear the problem.
• Cleanup crashes TortoiseSubversion every time I use it, however, it does its work before crashing.
• TortoiseSubversion often ignores your global includes. Running cleanup often gets it back on track.
• You can’t sort files by status. This makes it hard to find one needle file in the haystack that is causing trouble.
• Global ignores are not global. The value displayed at any level in the directory differs from the value in the file.
• This is a small flaw but it is highly irritating. Its progress meters stop half way when the work is done. I find myself waiting for it to complete long after it actually has completed because I have been watching the progress meter, waiting for it to complete.
• If anything happens to its svn directory, cleanup may not be sufficient to recover. Sometimes the only way I could get it working again was to save my files elsewhere, delete the what I no longer wanted to track from the repository with repo-browser, then delete the entire directory containing the directories I just attempted to delete from my local hard disk, the do an update, then copy back in my files and recommit. Smaller hammers include: cleanup, update, resolve, revert. It should be able to recover loss or deletion of the svn files without the massive spoon feeding it currently requires.
• If you accidentally click delete and add to ignore list even if you detect the problem before committing that delete, there is no way I could find to undo it. Any attempt will render your files in conflicted state.
• If you try to delete a directory, when you still have uncommitted changes pending, it sulks.
• Even when you are the sole user of your repository, it often secretly wants you to update before commit to update your local files with potential changes from other users.