CODEWITHSUNDEEP
svntortoisesvn
MARK002-MAB
MARK002-MAB

Reputation: 772

Can't access remote svn 1.4.6 repository using svn 1.8.x client

I read somewhere that svn client 1.7.x/1.8.x works with any version of svn repository specially, for me is 1.4.6 (my office use it). So, in 2012, I upgraded my all svn clients (slik, ankSVN, TortoiseSVN) to 1.7.2 and all my projects working copy. But, It didn't work well and 95% of the time commits failed. Due to project schedule, I didn't look much for solution and reverted all to 1.6.17.

Now, dev tools (Eclipse, Visual Studio and others) are updating and svn client 1.6.x are not supported anymore on new tools. I've to use newer svn client. So, yesterday, I upgraded all my svn clients to 1.8.9 (latest) instead of 1.7.x because of the previous failure and updated my current project's working copy. But, 1.8.9 doesn't work at all. I tested all my svn clients (I set my repository server URL in TortoiseSVN->Settings->Network->Proxy option). All clients show the following error-

Commit failed (details follow):
Unable to connect to a repository at URL
 'http://path-to-repository'
OPTIONS request on
 'path-to-repository/...' failed: 504

I can't ask the admin to upgrade the repository (prefers old TortoiseSVN for access, but I want to access svn from IDEs) as many others access it from remote location like me. How, can it be fixed?

Update: After failed to use svn client 1.8.9, I installed TortoiseSVN 1.7.3 and it is working (not when I first tried it 2 yrs ago) like 1.6.17 without any additional changes.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 1165

Answers (2)

Stefan
Stefan

Reputation: 43575

quote: I set my repository server URL in TortoiseSVN->Settings->Network->Proxy option

and then later: OPTIONS request on 'path-to-repository/...' failed: 504

with error 504 being gateway timeout

That should have been your clue: the url to your repository is not a proxy and you must not enter it as the proxy url!

If you don't have a special proxy setup, then you do not enter anything in that setting field but leave it empty.

If you really need to enter something in that proxy field, ask your admin about the address of the proxy server and then enter that.

Upvotes: 0

David W.
David W.

Reputation: 107080

there shouldn't be a reason why Subversion 1.7 or Subversion 1.8 won't work with a Subversion 1.4 server. What has changed since Subversion 1.6 is the format of the working copy. That is, how Subversion does its checkout on the client side. You have two choices to handle this:

  • Run the svn upgrade command to upgrade your working directory to the new format. Once you do that, you will not be able to use the older client.
  • Do a new clean checkout. This is the preferable way of doing this.

And now time to vent my spleen...

Spleen Vent

Revision 1.4.x of Subversion is no longer officially supported. Two major changes were introduced in Subversion 1.5 which would make any site want to upgrade:

  • Merge tracking. In Subversion 1.5 servers, merge tracking is supported. This alone is worthy for an upgrade.
  • New svn:externals format: The format for the svn:external property has a new format which is much more flexible than the older format.

Tell your admins to get with the program. I could understand not wanting to upgrade from 1.7 to 1.8. I could even understand not wanting to upgrade from 1.6 to 1.7 or 1.8. However, there is absolutely no reason in the world to stick with such an ancient copy of the Subversion server.

Release 1.4 was released eight years ago. When 1.4 was released, Apple still was called Apple Computer which had recently returned to being merely profitable. It no longer looked like Apple would be going out of business any time soon and some people were attracted to their new MacBook Pro. Sleek machines. Too bad they used the old PowerPC processor and not Intel's new faster Duo Core chips. Unfortunately for Apple, there's no way to pull off such a significant architecture change. Yup, Apple will continue being a niche player in the tech industry.

Meanwhile, Microsoft was making significant strides. People were waiting for the next Windows version, Longhorn, to come out. It would contain major changes in the filesystem and other features that would cement Microsoft's reputation as the tech industry leader. No wonder everyone used Internet Explorer 6.0!

And, Microsoft appeared to be winning the Smartphone market too. Windows Mobile was the OS of choice and even Palm had decided to release its phones using that OS. Of course, all the cool kids were using Blackberries.

That was the world back in Subversion 1.4's days.

Upgrading from one version of Subversion to another on the server is fairly easy (unless you're insisting upon rolling your own. Even a large repository that has to be dump and loaded can probably be converted over in a matter of hours. If you don't do a dump and load, you can use svnadmin upgrade. Upgrading the repo shouldn't take more than an hour.

So, get upgrade that old Subversion 1.4 server to 1.8. You'll get the latest features, improved file moving, and better speed. Plus, Revision 1.8 should last you for at least another two years before you have to upgrade again.

Upvotes: 4

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