How to rename a file using svn?
SvnSvn Problem Overview
When I try svn mv old_file_name new_file_name
, I get
svn: Path 'new_file_name' is not a directory
What's the correct way? (sorry, this seems so trivial, but I'm stuck).
PS. using svn version 1.6.11
EDIT it seems I get this error only if new_file_name
refers to the name of a file that is currently under version control. In this case, of course, I can simply
mv old_file_name new_file_name
svn delete old_file_name
Svn Solutions
Solution 1 - Svn
The behaviour differs depending on whether the target file name already exists or not. It's usually a safety mechanism, and there are at least 3 different cases:
Target file does not exist:
In this case svn mv
should work as follows:
$ svn mv old_file_name new_file_name
A new_file_name
D old_file_name
$ svn stat
A + new_file_name
> moved from old_file_name
D old_file_name
> moved to new_file_name
$ svn commit
Adding new_file_name
Deleting old_file_name
Committing transaction...
Target file already exists in repository:
In this case, the target file needs to be removed explicitly, before the source file can be renamed. This can be done in the same transaction as follows:
$ svn mv old_file_name new_file_name
svn: E155010: Path 'new_file_name' is not a directory
$ svn rm new_file_name
D new_file_name
$ svn mv old_file_name new_file_name
A new_file_name
D old_file_name
$ svn stat
R + new_file_name
> moved from old_file_name
D old_file_name
> moved to new_file_name
$ svn commit
Replacing new_file_name
Deleting old_file_name
Committing transaction...
In the output of svn stat
, the R
indicates that the file has been replaced, and that the file has a history.
Target file already exists locally (unversioned):
In this case, the content of the local file would be lost. If that's okay, then the file can be removed locally before renaming the existing file.
$ svn mv old_file_name new_file_name
svn: E155010: Path 'new_file_name' is not a directory
$ rm new_file_name
$ svn mv old_file_name new_file_name
A new_file_name
D old_file_name
$ svn stat
A + new_file_name
> moved from old_file_name
D old_file_name
> moved to new_file_name
$ svn commit
Adding new_file_name
Deleting old_file_name
Committing transaction...
Solution 2 - Svn
Using TortoiseSVN worked easily on Windows for me.
Right click file -> TortoiseSVN menu -> Repo-browser -> right click file in repository -> rename -> press Enter -> click Ok
Using SVN 1.8.8 TortoiseSVN version 1.8.5
Solution 3 - Svn
This message will appear if you are using a case-insensitive file system (e.g. on a Mac) and you're trying to capitalize the name (or another change of case). In which case you need to rename to a third, dummy, name:
svn mv file-name file-name_
svn mv file-name_ FILE_Name
svn commit
Solution 4 - Svn
It can be if you created new directory at the disk BEFORE create/commit it in the SVN. All that you need is just create it in SVN and do move after:
$ svn mv etc/nagios/hosts/us0101/cs/us0101ccs001.cfg etc/nagios/hosts/us0101/ccs/
svn: E155010: Path '/home/dyr/svn/nagioscore/etc/nagios/hosts/us0101/ccs' is not a directory
$ svn status
? etc/nagios/hosts/us0101/ccs
$ rm -rvf etc/nagios/hosts/us0101/ccs
removed directory 'etc/nagios/hosts/us0101/ccs'
$ svn mkdir etc/nagios/hosts/us0101/ccs
A etc/nagios/hosts/us0101/ccs
$ svn move etc/nagios/hosts/us0101/cs/us0101ccs001.cfg etc/nagios/hosts/us0101/ccs/us0101accs001.cfg
A etc/nagios/hosts/us0101/ccs/us0101accs001.cfg
D etc/nagios/hosts/us0101/cs/us0101ccs001.cfg
$ svn status
A etc/nagios/hosts/us0101/ccs
A + etc/nagios/hosts/us0101/ccs/us0101accs001.cfg
> moved from etc/nagios/hosts/us0101/cs/us0101ccs001.cfg
D etc/nagios/hosts/us0101/cs/us0101ccs001.cfg
> moved to etc/nagios/hosts/us0101/ccs/us0101accs001.cfg