Is it possible to make SVN ignore changes in character case?

Question

We have VB6 application in a SVN repository and VB6 has the annoying habit to globally change the character case of same identifiers, thus creating many pseudo-conflicts.

Is it possible to make SVN ignore such changes?

We also have Java projects, so it must be a per-repository setting.

Answer 1

You can have SVN use an external diff tool to do diffs and merges, which could ignore whitespace. For example, the "diff" command on Unix has an --ignore-case option to ignore case.

Beware though, this will ignore case changes even when these are significant for VB, for example inside of strings.

A better option would probably be to standardize on whatever capitalization VB6 is trying to force on you (or turn off that option in VB6, if it as one), so that it isn't changing it in existing files all the time.

Answer 2

The diff is performed locally so every client can decide its strategy. You can configure a local diff tool. Windows and unix versions how to do this are described in the SVN book.

You can use this with unix:

svn --diff-cmd "./idiff.sh" diff

idiff.sh :

#!/bin/sh

LEFT=${6}
RIGHT=${7}

diff -i $LEFT $RIGHT