Commit symlink into subversion

Question

I'm tring to commit a symlink into subversion, but I get this error when I try to add the actual symlink:

Can't replace 'path/to/symlink' with a node of a differing type; the deletion must be committed and the parent updated before adding 'path/to/symlink'

If you are on a legacy system (ie svn version 1.6.x) see below — Jeff, Oct 16 '17 at 19:14

Michael Krelin - hacker · Accepted Answer · 2009-09-25T17:28:24.213

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I read it as - you have to remove the file, commit, update, create symlink, add it, commit.

And my guess is that you're trying to remove the file, create symlink, commit in one go.

edited Sep 25 '09 at 17:28

answered Sep 25 '09 at 17:01

Michael Krelin - hacker

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I did delete something earlier that was previously in the place I'm tring to symlink to but I committed my change before trying to add the symlink to subversion. – vise Sep 25 '09 at 17:15
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"and the parent update". Maybe you need to `svn update` for whatever reason? – Michael Krelin - hacker Sep 25 '09 at 17:19
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I've edited the update step into my answer for future sufferers. – Michael Krelin - hacker Sep 25 '09 at 17:29
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When removing, a "svn delete --keep-local" might be useful. – rob Apr 12 '12 at 14:04

score 13 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 26 '11 at 17:39

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svn delete x
svn ci -m'blah'
svn update
ln -s blee x
svn add x

answered Feb 26 '11 at 17:39

Jim Lebeau

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score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 17 '17 at 08:22

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find . -type l | xargs -i -x svn propset svn:special on {}

answered Oct 17 '17 at 08:22

Yates Zhou

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score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 16 '17 at 19:22

The error I got on svn 1.6.11 reads

svn: Commit failed (details follow):
svn: Entry '/path/to/symlink' has unexpectedly changed special status

I fixed it by simply

svn propset svn:special on /path/to/symlink

And then rerunning the commit. Apparently no need to delete, update, etc....

Commit symlink into subversion

4 Answers4

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