SVN and NTFS - illegal character ':' in filename

[Markus Fried]

Hi,

I'm using SVN (client side) on a Win7 64bit box with NTFS. I've got an issue when SVN tried to create a (SVN-system-file) named "locations-fit (10.08.09 09:52).js.svn-base".

On NTFS a ':' marks an "alternate data stream", so a "svn update" produces an file system error.

Is there a way to tell SVN not to use such file names?

Best regards
Mark.

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[Ryan Schmidt]

On Mar 23, 2010, at 05:14, Markus Fried wrote:

> I'm using SVN (client side) on a Win7 64bit box with NTFS. I've got an issue when SVN tried to create a (SVN-system-file) named "locations-fit (10.08.09 09:52).js.svn-base".
>
> On NTFS a ':' marks an "alternate data stream", so a "svn update" produces an file system error.
>
> Is there a way to tell SVN not to use such file names?

You can write a pre-commit hook preventing the commit of files whose names contain forbidden characters. There's a whole list of characters and filenames that Windows doesn't like that it would be useful to prevent the commit of. I'm not sure if anybody has written such a script yet.

After you put such a hook script in place, you may also still need to look at all the files already in your repository and see if any of them violate the naming restrictions, and rename them if they do.

[Markus Fried]

Hi Ryan,

it's not a file I put into SVN that causes the problem - it seems that SVN attached a kind of time stamp for one of its book keeping files in the .svn folder.

So I cannot use your solution.

Best regards
Mark.

-------- Original-Nachricht --------
> Datum: Tue, 23 Mar 2010 06:46:52 -0500
> Von: Ryan Schmidt <subversi...@ryandesign.com>
> An: Markus Fried <markus...@gmx.net>
> CC: us...@subversion.apache.org
> Betreff: Re: SVN and NTFS - illegal character \':\' in filename

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[Ryan Schmidt]

On Mar 23, 2010, at 10:04, Markus Fried wrote:

> it's not a file I put into SVN that causes the problem - it seems that SVN attached a kind of time stamp for one of its book keeping files in the .svn folder.

I've never seen Subversion do that before. You're certain there is not a file called "locations-fit (10.08.09 09:52).js" in your repository?

[Andy Levy]

On Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 11:04, Markus Fried <markus...@gmx.net> wrote:
> Hi Ryan,
>
> it's not a file I put into SVN that causes the problem - it seems that SVN attached a kind of time stamp for one of its book keeping files in the .svn folder.
>
> So I cannot use your solution.

My organization uses Subversion exclusively with Windows clients and
we have never seen this behavior. Subversion isn't doing what you
describe above, that filename was put into your repository by someone.

[Blair Zajac]

On 03/23/2010 08:04 AM, Markus Fried wrote:
> Hi Ryan,
>
> it's not a file I put into SVN that causes the problem - it seems that SVN attached a kind of time stamp for one of its book keeping files in the .svn folder.

As others have stated, that file is something checked into svn.

What svn does is save a pristine copy of the file in the .svn folder but
appends the ".svn-base" to its name, so it's natural to think it's
something that svn maintains for itself, but in this case the root cause
is a poorly named file checked into svn.

Regards,
Blair

[Sarah George]

As others have said, it sounds like there is a file in your repository
with some characters in the filename that your OS doesn't like. The
best fix is to find and rename the file. Here are some suggestions on
how to do this if you're having trouble just checking it out.

A checkout should tell you how far its getting before the filename
becomes a problem, and narrow down finding a problem file in the
repository.

You can use 'svn ls URL' to look for the problem filename without
checking it out, and svn mv URL1 URL2 to move the file to a better
filename without needing it checked out.

-- Sarah

[Markus Fried]

Thank you very much for pointing me to the solution. svn ls did indeed reveal the little rascal and I could remove it!

Thanks again!

Mark.

-------- Original-Nachricht --------
> Datum: Tue, 23 Mar 2010 18:21:59 -0700
> Von: Blair Zajac <bl...@orcaware.com>
> An: Markus Fried <markus...@gmx.net>
> CC: Ryan Schmidt <subversi...@ryandesign.com>, us...@subversion.apache.org

> Betreff: Re: SVN and NTFS - illegal character \':\' in filename

> On 03/23/2010 08:04 AM, Markus Fried wrote:

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[David Weintraub]

If you have both Unix and Windows boxes on the same project, it's very
possible for someone on Unix to create a file with an invalid
character or name for Windows. For example, aux.java is an invalid
file name on Windows.

I have a pre-commit trigger that allows you to ban characters or file
names from being added into your Subversion repository.

> GMX DSL: Internet, Telefon und Entertainment für nur 19,99 EUR/mtl.!
> http://portal.gmx.net/de/go/dsl02
>

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