svn commit: r1936672 - subversion/site/staging/docs/release-notes

Author: hartmannathan
Date: Tue Jul 28 15:19:14 2026
New Revision: 1936672

Log:
In site/staging:

Add a notice about the BDB backend's impending REMOVAL to the 1.15 release
notes.

* staging/docs/release-notes/1.15.html
  (#news): Add a link to the new subsection. We don't have a full TOC (links
   to all subsections) but I'm adding this one to draw more attention to it.
  (#compatibility-repository): Add note that BDB will be removed and point
   readers to the new subsection.
  (#bdb-removal): New subsection.

Discussions on dev@ mailing list:
- "State of BDB FS backend" started 24 July 2026:
    https://lists.apache.org/thread/xxbwf4ltkq3zl04w03kc8o2jsgs5nmfo
- "Removing BDB support from 1.15", started 18 Mar 2025:
    https://lists.apache.org/thread/kn0yw4f8p6tn2tzq4obr5r5v609g6g1m
- "Berkely DB precompiled for Windows" started 26 Sept 2024:
    https://lists.apache.org/thread/m4o5l9rntc98y6s8wrhsn329by9bhr19
    https://lists.apache.org/thread/99zo1wq003109p06dt1tcxyzd7cyyw32
    https://lists.apache.org/thread/7plrvmhk3c0jvhkq1tfwds8j4tmlgslc

Modified:
   subversion/site/staging/docs/release-notes/1.15.html

Modified: subversion/site/staging/docs/release-notes/1.15.html
==============================================================================
--- subversion/site/staging/docs/release-notes/1.15.html	Tue Jul 28 14:23:24 2026	(r1936671)
+++ subversion/site/staging/docs/release-notes/1.15.html	Tue Jul 28 15:19:14 2026	(r1936672)
@@ -41,7 +41,13 @@
       >###</a></li>
   -->
   <li><a href="#compatibility"
-      >Compatibility Considerations</a></li>
+      >Compatibility Considerations</a>
+    <ul>
+      <li><a href="#bdb-removal"
+          >The Berkeley DB-based repository back-end will be
+          <strong>removed</strong> soon</a></li>
+    </ul>
+  </li>
   <li><a href="#new-features"
       ><strong>New Features</strong></a>
     <ul>
@@ -107,9 +113,19 @@ available unless both client and server
 <p>Subversion 1.15 servers can read and write to repositories created by
 earlier versions.</p>
 
-<p>There is <strong>no need</strong> to <a href="http://svnbook.red-bean.com/en/1.8/svn.reposadmin.maint.html#svn.reposadmin.maint.migrate.svnadmin"
+<p>If you are using the FSFS or FSX repository backends, there is <strong>no
+need</strong> to
+<a href="http://svnbook.red-bean.com/en/1.8/svn.reposadmin.maint.html#svn.reposadmin.maint.migrate.svnadmin"
 >dump and reload</a> your repositories.
 
+<p>If you are using the BDB repository backend, Subversion 1.15 servers can
+read and write to these repositories as well. However, this backend is
+deprecated and planned for <strong>removal</strong> in a future Subversion
+release. Users with BDB-backed repositories are advised to migrate them to
+FSFS as soon as possible. For more details, see <a href="#bdb-removal">The
+Berkeley DB-based repository back-end will be <strong>removed</strong>
+soon</a>.
+
 </div>  <!-- compatibility-repository -->
 
 <div class="h3" id="compatibility-working-copy">
@@ -226,6 +242,100 @@ run prior to the upgrade.</p>
 
 </div>  <!-- wc-upgrade -->
 
+<div class="h3" id="bdb-removal">
+<h3>The Berkeley DB-based repository back-end will be <strong>removed</strong>
+soon
+  <a class="sectionlink" href="#bdb-removal"
+    title="Link to this section"></a>
+</h3>
+
+<p>Subversion's Berkeley DB-based repository backend (BDB) has been deprecated
+since <a href="https://subversion.apache.org/docs/release-notes/1.8.html#bdb-deprecated"
+>Subversion 1.8</a> (released in 2013) and is planned for
+<strong>removal</strong> with a future Subversion release line.</p>
+
+<p>The FSFS repository backend has been the default repository backend since
+<a href="https://subversion.apache.org/docs/release-notes/1.2.html#fsfs"
+>Subversion 1.2</a> (released in 2005).</p>
+
+<p>Users who have BDB-backed Subversion repositories should migrate them to
+the FSFS backend as soon as possible.</p>
+
+<div class="h4" id="bdb-removal-means">
+<h4>What this means:
+  <a class="sectionlink" href="#bdb-removal-means"
+    title="Link to this section"></a>
+</h4>
+<ul>
+  <li>The Subversion 1.15.x release line may be the last release line to
+      support the BDB-based repository backend.</li>
+  <li>It will not be possible to access BDB-backed Subversion repositories
+      after upgrading to a Subversion release that no longer supports it.</li>
+</ul>
+</div>  <!-- bdb-removal-means -->
+
+<div class="h4" id="bdb-removal-who-is-affected">
+<h4>Who is affected:
+  <a class="sectionlink" href="#bdb-removal-who-is-affected"
+    title="Link to this section"></a>
+</h4>
+<ul>
+  <li>Users who have BDB-backed Subversion repositories.</li>
+</ul>
+
+<p>To determine whether a Subversion repository uses the BDB backend, use
+<tt>svnadmin info</tt>:</p>
+
+<pre>
+$ svnadmin info /path/to/repo
+Path: /path/to/repo
+UUID: 19f98c9d-5f82-40ed-9793-29bfe375e977
+Revisions: 0
+Repository Format: 5
+Compatible With Version: 1.6.0
+Repository Capability: mergeinfo
+Filesystem Type: bdb
+Filesystem Format: 4
+Configuration File: /path/to/repo/db/DB_CONFIG
+</pre>
+
+<p>Notice the line that reads <tt>Filesystem Type: bdb</tt>. This repository
+is backed by the BDB backend and will need to be migrated.</p>
+
+</div>  <!-- bdb-removal-who-is-affected -->
+
+<div class="h4" id="bdb-removal-who-is-not-affected">
+<h4>Who is <em>not</em> affected:
+  <a class="sectionlink" href="#bdb-removal-who-is-not-affected"
+    title="Link to this section"></a>
+</h4>
+<ul>
+  <li>Users whose Subversion repositories are backed by the FSFS or FSX
+      repository backends.</li>
+</ul>
+
+<p>NOTE: FSX is considered experimental and not recommended for production
+use.</p>
+</div>  <!-- bdb-removal-who-is-not-affected -->
+
+<div class="h4" id="bdb-removal-migration">
+<h4>What steps to take:
+  <a class="sectionlink" href="#bdb-removal-migration"
+    title="Link to this section"></a>
+</h4>
+
+<p>Users who have BDB-backed Subversion repositories should migrate them to
+the FSFS backend as soon as possible to avoid disruption. This requires to
+"dump" the repository using a Subversion release that supports BDB and then to
+"load" the repository using any recent Subversion release. For details, please
+see the FAQ entry
+<a href="https://subversion.apache.org/faq.html#bdb-fsfs-convert">How do I
+convert my repository from using BDB to FSFS or from FSFS to BDB?</a>.</p>
+
+</div>  <!-- bdb-removal-migration -->
+
+</div>  <!-- bdb-removal -->
+
 <!-- (This section only makes sense when there are some issues listed in it.)
 <div class="h3" id="compat-misc">
 <h3>Miscellaneous Compatibility Notes