cygwinsvntortoisesvn
In Cygwin, in the directory containing filename.xml, this adds a file (working):
svn add filename.xml
this updates (working):
svn update
But this fails:
svn ci filename.xml
with the message:
Error E205007 (commit failed). Could not use external editor to fetch log message.
In Windows Explorer, if I right click and use TortoiseSVN "SVN Commit" this successfully commits the file.
How do I commit a file to SVN in Cygwin?
I couldn't properly follow the other answers, here's more of a dummies guide...
You can do this either way round to go trunk -> branch or branch -> trunk. I always first do trunk -> branch fix any conflicts there and then merge branch -> trunk.
Essentially you have to have admin rights (directly or indirectly) to the repository to do this. You can either configure the repository to allow all users to do this, or you can modify the log message directly on the server.
See this part of the Subversion FAQ (emphasis mine):
Log messages are kept in the repository as properties attached to each revision. By default, the log message property (svn:log) cannot be edited once it is committed. That is because changes to revision properties (of which svn:log is one) cause the property's previous value to be permanently discarded, and Subversion tries to prevent you from doing this accidentally. However, there are a couple of ways to get Subversion to change a revision property.
The first way is for the repository administrator to enable revision property modifications. This is done by creating a hook called "pre-revprop-change" (see this section in the Subversion book for more details about how to do this). The "pre-revprop-change" hook has access to the old log message before it is changed, so it can preserve it in some way (for example, by sending an email). Once revision property modifications are enabled, you can change a revision's log message by passing the --revprop switch to svn propedit or svn propset, like either one of these:
$svn propedit -r N --revprop svn:log URL $svn propset -r N --revprop svn:log "new log message" URLwhere N is the revision number whose log message you wish to change, and URL is the location of the repository. If you run this command from within a working copy, you can leave off the URL.
The second way of changing a log message is to use svnadmin setlog. This must be done by referring to the repository's location on the filesystem. You cannot modify a remote repository using this command.
$ svnadmin setlog REPOS_PATH -r N FILEwhere REPOS_PATH is the repository location, N is the revision number whose log message you wish to change, and FILE is a file containing the new log message. If the "pre-revprop-change" hook is not in place (or you want to bypass the hook script for some reason), you can also use the --bypass-hooks option. However, if you decide to use this option, be very careful. You may be bypassing such things as email notifications of the change, or backup systems that keep track of revision properties.
Best Answer
You need to include a message when you commit. Use the command
svn ci filename.xml -m "your message here". The message is a descriptor of what you are adding, and/or why you are adding it.