svn repository from working copy

Question

Our repository host recently went down taking the repository and all back ups etc with it. I have no access to the repo file system and so cant do svnAdmin dump.

We still have relativly stable up to date working copies.

Currently i can think of two options:

• export on my current working copy.
  • importing to a new repository.
  • checkout from new repository.
  • manual merges of changes from otherworking copies to get team changes.

Or(not sure if even possible)

• svnrelocate to the intended new repository url.
• svn commit the workingcopy to the new repository(i am unsure if this will work due to there being no repository/version info).
• get other team members relocate and update from new repo.

is there any other option or better way to do this?

Thanks

Answer 1

You're a little out of luck. The relocate works when the repository has changed location (e.g. moved to a new server).

You best option is to import to a new repository from one of the working copies (try use the latest one with all the changes reverted - i.e. it'll best represent the HEAD before the crash).

Answer 2

Unlike distributed version control systems (DVCS) like Mercurial, Git, Bazaar, Fossil, etc., Subversion working copies contain only your current (maybe changed) files, the immediate baseline version your changes were based on, and maybe some cached log entries. There is no history present in your working copies, as I'm sure you're aware.

If you foresee this sort of thing possibly happening again, maybe it is time to invest some time in choosing and switching to a DVCS. You don't have the usual concern of "but all our history is in SVN!" to stop you. Then, if your "central" server goes down again, at least one person (possibly many) will have the FULL repository history and you can restore your project on any server you like.