Subversion: Getting "The client is too old" even though all devs are running the same svn version

Question

We are using Subversion to keep track of our code. As part of the build process, some AssemblyInfo.cs files gets temporarily edited by the build script, and when the build is done they are reverted (also by the build script). However, one of our developers get this message when the revert is attempted:

The client is too old to work with working copy 'the path'. You need to get a newer Subversion client, or to downgrade this working copy.

We are all running the same version of Subversion (1.5.1). The only difference between the developer setups is that the user having the problem is using a later version of TortoiseSVN (1.6.0, as opposed to 1.5.x for the others), and we have been running Subversion 1.5.1 the whole time the repository has existed.

Do you have any hint on what the problem might be?

Answer 1

TortoiseSVN 1.6 uses a newer version of the subversion client than 1.5. That's probably what's causing your error.

Another possibility is that the build script is using a different client.

Answer 2

Whenever any subversion client touches a working copy, the first thing it does is to silently update that working copy to its version.

TortoiseSVN will have done this, leaving the other subversion clients unable to reliably read the working copy.

This is true for all subversion clients in all versions (so far). Commandline, Tortoise, subclipse, ankh, rapidsvn - all behave the same.

There is a python script to downgrade a working copy, or you can just scrap it and start again with a new checkout. See the compatibility section of the release notes.

Tortoise generally follows the major release number of the subversion client it uses.

Edit:

In your case you're using 2 clients - tortoise and the commandline in the build script. The build script won't be able to work until it's updated to the latest version.

We have this problem ourselves.

Answer 3

Is there a way to use pre-commit hook scripts to get a clients version number and then check this against acceptable versions?

Cheers, Steve