Subversion: Locking files fails

Question

I just migrated some Subversion repositories from a Windows 2003 server to a Windows 2008 server, and upgraded Subversion from 1.5 to 1.7 in the process. Checkout and commit works, however when users try to lock files, they get this message:

Error: LOCK of '/SVN/TempRepo_OnlyToPlayWith/Documents/Test.docx': Could not read
Error: status line: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host.
Error: (https://subversion.mysite.com)

(Where https://subversion.mysite.com is the site where subversion is hosted)

I've been searching for what the problem might be, without luck.

Help me, StackOverflow - you're my only hope.

Edit:

Some more investigation has uncovered that, when I don't go through https, but use Tortoise on the server directly to the repo using file:///, I get the following error message:

Error: Can't open file 'D:\SVNRepositories\TempRepo_OnlyToPlayWith\db\write-lock':
Error: Access is denied.

However, using the command-line svn tool from a console with administrator privileges works without problems.

Could this really just be a problem with read/write permissions? And if so, why does checkout/commit/etc. work, but not locking files in the repository?

More edit:

Apparently, after investigating the event log, it seems that httpd.exe keeps crashing, blaming mod_dav.so:

Faulting application name: httpd.exe, version: 2.2.21.0, time stamp: 0x4e6a3015 Faulting module name: mod_dav.so, version: 2.2.21.0, time stamp: 0x4e6a3023

David W. David W. · Accepted Answer · 2011-12-13T16:29:25

The question is whether this is a problem with the repository or your Apache http instance. You changed two things on us: The version of the repository, and the version of the OS.

Let's try to eliminate Apache as the problem. Shutdown Apache http and start the repository using the svnserve command (which should come with Subversion server). You will need to update your repository's conf\svnserve.conf file to enable the passwd file, and then update passwd to include a few user names and passwords.

Do a clean checkout, and then try doing a lock. Do you get the same error? If so, there's a problem with your repository. Upgrading from 1.5 to 1.7 is a big, big change in the repository structure. Did you do a dump and load from before? Did you do an svnadmin upgrade?

If the lock problem disappears, then the problem is with your Apache http configuration. What type of Apache http installation are you using? Is this something you compiled yourself, or is this something like CollabNet's Subversion Edge -- a prebuilt package?

Subversion: Locking files fails

2 Answers