Exclamation mark in <SolutionName.suo> file does not go away even after SVN commit

Question

After I add and commit changes from my VS2008 solution folder, I have noticed that the the exclamation mark on all files and folders changes to a checkmark after the commit is completed to SVN repo, except for the file which is in the same folder as the folder. Even after I hit Refresh or perform SVN update and then Refresh, the exclamation mark stays. Is the problem between the chair and the keyboard or a known SVN issue. Please note that I am using Tortoise SVN 1.6.9 on Windows. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Firstly, you should notbe adding *.suo files to source control. It is bad practise, especially if you have multiple users working on the same project or solution. You should add all *.suo files to the SVN ignore list.

That said, the problem you describe is fairly common with Tortoise SVN and SVN in general, in my experience. Sometimes Tortoise SVN / SVN can get a bit confused, the .svn meta-data folders can get out of sync with the server copy, or even corrupted. To solve this problem, your working copy needs to be 'Cleaned up'.

Try the following:

Select the folder of your working copy in Windows Explorer, then

Right Click - Tortoise SVN - Clean Up.

If this doesn't work immediately, try multiple combinations of updating your working copy, then cleaning it, then updating again. This usually fixes the problem.

Read here and here for more.

The problem is also quite often with Windows/Windows Explorer itself. Refreshing of the SVN status icons doesn't always happen immediately. I believe it is a problem/limitation of the combination of Windows Explorer and the Tortoise SVN shell plugin.