Rename local folder with svn working copy without clean checkout

smartsvnsvn

Problem: If I rename/move folder with Subversion working copy to another location in file system, svn will complain that it "is not a working copy" anymore. One has to do clean checkout to fix that.

Reason: We have some projects with about 1GB after svn export each + branches. It takes too much time to do clean checkout even over LAN (ssh), let alone WAN. Another issue is that, as we use SmartSVN for Windows, it will also have to rebuild chache which also take a lot of time. And another thing it will take hours to recompile it for every target we support.

Question: Is it possible to rename local folder without clean checkout?

Best Answer

It sounds like you're asking how to move a working copy on your file system (like changing-working-folder-location), while retaining the SmartSVN-specific functionality like the cache and the project views.

SmartSVN allows you to do this to any project with the Project > Edit Working Copy menu option, as described on the SmartSVN projects documentation page (relevant statement below):

If the location of a working copy has changed, you may use Edit Working Copy to point to the new location.

I tested it with a working copy checked out and managed by SmartSVN 6.6:

  1. Rename local working copy directory.

rename trunk to newdirectoryname

  1. Select Project > Edit Working Copy. This should bring up a file browser showing the updated directory tree.

use Edit Working Copy option in trunk Project menu

  1. Highlight the new location of the working copy and hit Select.

select newdirectoryname in file browser

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