Subversion woes

I spent most of today working with (fighting with) Subversion.

After the ill-fated upgrade of SuSE Linux 10.0 to 10.2 on //grendel, which was the Subversion server, I copied the Subversion repository files to //desdemona, hoping to restore them and resume Subversion operations.

Such was not the case. I restored the files, but apparently not all files, since Subversion complained about revisions. The new Subversion attempted to create revision 1, but knew that there was already twenty-five other revisions.

In the end, I killed the Subversion repository, created a new empty repository, and imported all of the files. This process removes all history, so I have lost my changes. Probably not a solution for a serious operation, but sufficient for my needs. I can now use Subversion to store changes.

Deciding on this course of action was fairly easy for me. I don't need a complete history of changes. I had the entire (current) set of source files. I could spend a lot of time diagnosing the problem and finding a solution -- but there are other things I want to do.

Lessons learned: before upgrading the operating system, back up important files. (For Subversion, use the "unload" feature to create a stand-alone file of the repository. Even when I think the upgrade is "simple".)

In other news, I attended the first day of the local science fiction convention. Software development is about more that software, and the convention is a good way to get new ideas. I attended a few sessions. The most memorable was titled "What Western Civilization Expected From Science", and quickly got off-track and discussed science fiction. Yet it was a good session, with ideas about philosophy, science, and psychology.