svn: copy branch to trunk

Question

I have an SVN project with a branch I'm working on, and an empty trunk:

myproject/
  branches/
    mybranch/
      {there's stuff here}
  tags/
  trunk/

How can I copy the contents of mybranch into the trunk? TortoiseSVN complains that there's already a trunk directory. I could delete the (empty) trunk from the repository and then do a copy, but that seems wrong somehow...

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clarification: I have a trunk which I intentionally left empty. My "mybranch" is all checked in. In the repo-browser, TortoiseSVN gives me a "copy" option but not a merge option.

If merging is the right thing to do, what do I do? Do I check out the empty trunk and then merge into that working copy, then check back in?

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update: Merge won't work either; SVN complains the two "branches" (branches/mybranch and trunk) are not ancestrally related.

Answer 1

Generally, you merge a branch into the trunk. The branch usually represents a feature you've branched off for separate development, or because it could break your functionality if not finished. Move and copy are different operations from merge.

Answer 2

You're probably looking for svn merge: http://svnbook.red-bean.com/en/1.0/ch04s04.html

Answer 3

I'd do what you mentioned, delete the trunk and then copy the branch. It is a little wrong, but it's because you didn't copy to make the branch in the first place.

Answer 4

You can do an svn export to the trunk folder and then add and commit.

or... you can merge with the --ignore-ancestry flag