SVN: cannot find committed files

Question

Relatively new with SVN. I am using svn on local system (OpenSuSE 11.3). I have already created a repo folder with svn. Access repository with file:///path . I am having problems with files bring copied from repo and commit to repo

In my workplace folder I cannot see the files from repo after running the checkout command

svn checkout file:///home/svn/projects/

In my workplace after creating a test file called "testing" and adding it to the svn via

svn add testing

I can see the .svn folder being created in the same directory. However after committing the file

svn commit testing

I am taken to vi with

--This line, and those below, will be ignored--

A   testing

after copying the A testing to before the line and exiting vi with :wq I get

Sending        testing
Transmitting file data .
Committed revision 1.

However back in the repo (/home/svn/projects) I cannot locate the file. My svn is also handling another repo directory but that one is empty and the file doesn't go there either.

Thanks

Answer 1

The Subversion repository is a database that does not store your files in an obvious way. In particular it doesn't store the history for a file in a file with the same name.

The only place you will see your file with the name attached is in a checked out working directory, never in the repository itself.

Also, the A testing line you see in the commit message file is there as a helpful hint informing you what will be committed. You do not need to move it in order to commit your file, and leaving it in place or deleting it will not result in your file not being committed. There is a reason the line reading --This line, and those below, will be ignored-- is there.

As a side note, I cannot recommend Subversion as the version control system to use for any new projects. If you have a specific reason to use it, do so. But if you don't, I would very strongly recommend checking out Mercurial or git and using one of those two instead.