Re: svn:externals - using an external file

Richard Cavell <[email protected]> Thu, 12 Feb 2026 17:54:10 +0100
Newsgroups gmane.comp.version-control.subversion.user
Message-ID <trinity-3f13b63a-f212-46d4-92fa-bad4c4ea957b-1770915250017@3c-app-mailcom-lxa03>
<html><head></head><body><div style="font-family: Verdana;font-size: 12.0px;"><div>
<div>Aha. Thanks, Johan.</div>

<div>&nbsp;</div>

<div>It&#39;s a bit strange that there&#39;s a difference between file and directory externals on this point, but... whatever.</div>

<div>&nbsp;</div>

<div>Richard
<div>&nbsp;
<div name="quote" style="margin:10px 5px 5px 10px; padding: 10px 0 10px 10px; border-left:2px solid #C3D9E5; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;">
<div style="margin:0 0 10px 0;"><b>Sent:</b>&nbsp;Thursday, February 12, 2026 at 3:45 PM<br/>
<b>From:</b>&nbsp;&quot;Johan Corveleyn&quot; &lt;[email protected]&gt;<br/>
<b>To:</b>&nbsp;[email protected]<br/>
<b>Cc:</b>&nbsp;[email protected]<br/>
<b>Subject:</b>&nbsp;Re: svn:externals - using an external file</div>

<div name="quoted-content">On Thu, Feb 12, 2026 at 3:33&#8239;PM Richard Cavell &lt;[email protected]&gt; wrote:<br/>
&gt;<br/>
&gt; 3 has existed in repo2 since revision 1 of repo2.<br/>
&gt; svn:externals on / (root) of repo was added in revision 5 of repo.<br/>
<br/>
The problem is that &#39;3&#39; is a file (hence the mention of &quot;file<br/>
external&quot; in the error message). And &quot;file externals&quot; work differently<br/>
from directory externals. More to the point: file externals can only<br/>
be used within the same repository, not cross-repository.<br/>
<br/>
It&#39;s a bit hidden in the text at [1]: &quot;File externals cannot refer to<br/>
files from other repositories. A file external&#39;s URL must always be in<br/>
the same repository as the URL that the file external will be inserted<br/>
into.&quot;<br/>
<br/>
[1] <a href="https://svnbook.red-bean.com/en/1.7/svn.advanced.externals.html" target="_blank">https://svnbook.red-bean.com/en/1.7/svn.advanced.externals.html</a><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
--<br/>
Johan</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div></div></body></html>