How to see when an item was added using svnlook?

Post by Bo Berglund
I am trying to use svnlook to find the revision when a directory was
created. I want to use this to dig out the timestamps of tags and
branches. My svn version is 1.9.7 (both server and client).
So far I have not found a way to do it...
svnlook history <repo> <project>/branches/<branchdir>
shows a lot of revisions which are for changes to any file within the
directory, but not the addition commit for the actual directory itself

The directories are not unrelated.

Post by Bo Berglund
D:\>svnlook history D:\SVN\test\bosse
/CVSMailer/branches/Branch_Rel_1-2-9 -l 5
REVISION PATH
-------- ----
120 /CVSMailer/branches/Branch_Rel_1-2-9
119 /CVSMailer/branches/Branch_Rel_1-2-9
103 /CVSMailer/branches/Branch_Rel_1-2-9
100 /CVSMailer/trunk
98 /CVSMailer/trunk
... and the list continues in *trunk* for about 50 lines ...

Yes, that is correct. You asked for the history of the item; it was
copied (branched) from trunk in r103, and svnlook is showing the whole
history.

Post by Bo Berglund
Is there a command to show the revision when an item (directory or
file) was actually created in svn?

Currently the only hack to do this is by using 'svn log --stop-on-copy'
in a working copy.

Post by Bo Berglund
I have read the whole SVNBook 1.7 chapter on svnlook but did not find
an obvious candidate.
D:\>svnlook info -r 699 D:\SVN\test\bosse
cvs2svn
2006-04-22 23:17:29 +0200 (lö, 22 apr 2006)
79
This commit was manufactured by cvs2svn to create tag
'Rel_1-5-2-50_20060422'.
D:\>svnlook changed -r 699 D:\SVN\test\bosse --copy-info
A + CVSMailer/tags/Rel_1-5-2-50_20060422/
(from CVSMailer/trunk/:r698)
But lacking the revision number when it was added I cannot find the
extra info like the date...

"The date" is a revision property.

What are you actually trying to achieve? There's a good chance that
whatever you're trying to use svnlook for has already been implemented
half a dozen times, using an existing tool might get you to your goal
quite a bit faster.

-- Brane

Daniel Shahaf

2018-01-02 09:59:15 UTC

Post by Bo Berglund
Is there a command to show the revision when an item (directory or
file) was actually created in svn?

Currently the only hack to do this is by using 'svn log --stop-on-copy'
in a working copy.

Wouldn't 'svn log --stop-on-copy URL' work?

There's also this (not immediately obvious) command for showing the
revision that created TARGET at that location, via a copy or otherwise:

svn log -r 0:HEAD -q -v --stop-on-copy --limit=1 -- TARGET

Branko Čibej

2018-01-02 10:37:49 UTC

Post by Bo Berglund
Is there a command to show the revision when an item (directory or
file) was actually created in svn?

Currently the only hack to do this is by using 'svn log --stop-on-copy'
in a working copy.

Wouldn't 'svn log --stop-on-copy URL' work?

It would ... I just didn't want to confuse the issue by introducing the
not-so-subtle difference between the "client" and the "working copy."

Post by Daniel Shahaf
There's also this (not immediately obvious) command for showing the
svn log -r 0:HEAD -q -v --stop-on-copy --limit=1 -- TARGET

Indeed, that's a better hack.

-- Brane

Bo Berglund

2018-01-02 12:29:40 UTC

On Tue, 02 Jan 2018 09:59:15 +0000, Daniel Shahaf

Post by Bo Berglund
Is there a command to show the revision when an item (directory or
file) was actually created in svn?

Currently the only hack to do this is by using 'svn log --stop-on-copy'
in a working copy.

Wouldn't 'svn log --stop-on-copy URL' work?
There's also this (not immediately obvious) command for showing the
svn log -r 0:HEAD -q -v --stop-on-copy --limit=1 -- TARGET

I believe this only works in a working copy, not on the server in a
hook...

--
Bo Berglund
Developer in Sweden

Johan Corveleyn

2018-01-02 12:42:52 UTC

Post by Bo Berglund
On Tue, 02 Jan 2018 09:59:15 +0000, Daniel Shahaf

Post by Bo Berglund
Is there a command to show the revision when an item (directory or
file) was actually created in svn?

Currently the only hack to do this is by using 'svn log --stop-on-copy'
in a working copy.

Wouldn't 'svn log --stop-on-copy URL' work?
There's also this (not immediately obvious) command for showing the
svn log -r 0:HEAD -q -v --stop-on-copy --limit=1 -- TARGET

I believe this only works in a working copy, not on the server in a
hook...

As Daniel suggested, this also works with a URL as target. You don't
need a working copy. It's fine to run 'svn' with a URL from within a
hook:

svn log -r 0:HEAD -q -v --stop-on-copy --limit=1 -- $URL_TO_BRANCH

Some svn admins only try to limit their hooks to svnlook, but at some
point that falls short of what you need to do ('svn' is often more
powerful). I see no problem using the 'svn' executable.

--
Johan

Johan Corveleyn

2018-01-02 12:46:25 UTC

Post by Johan Corveleyn

Post by Bo Berglund
On Tue, 02 Jan 2018 09:59:15 +0000, Daniel Shahaf

Post by Bo Berglund
Is there a command to show the revision when an item (directory or
file) was actually created in svn?

Currently the only hack to do this is by using 'svn log --stop-on-copy'
in a working copy.

Wouldn't 'svn log --stop-on-copy URL' work?
There's also this (not immediately obvious) command for showing the
svn log -r 0:HEAD -q -v --stop-on-copy --limit=1 -- TARGET

I believe this only works in a working copy, not on the server in a
hook...

As Daniel suggested, this also works with a URL as target. You don't
need a working copy. It's fine to run 'svn' with a URL from within a
svn log -r 0:HEAD -q -v --stop-on-copy --limit=1 -- $URL_TO_BRANCH
Some svn admins only try to limit their hooks to svnlook, but at some
point that falls short of what you need to do ('svn' is often more
powerful). I see no problem using the 'svn' executable.

Forgot to add: an important difference, of course, is that 'svn' can
only be used to inspect revisions that have already been committed
(like from a post-commit hook, or from tools that run in a cron job
and inspect committed revisions). If you want to inspect an
uncommitted transaction, as you would do in the pre-commit hook, then
you have no alternative, you have to use svnlook.

--
Johan

Branko Čibej

2018-01-02 12:49:35 UTC

Post by Bo Berglund
On Tue, 02 Jan 2018 09:59:15 +0000, Daniel Shahaf

Post by Bo Berglund
Is there a command to show the revision when an item (directory or
file) was actually created in svn?

Currently the only hack to do this is by using 'svn log --stop-on-copy'
in a working copy.

Wouldn't 'svn log --stop-on-copy URL' work?
There's also this (not immediately obvious) command for showing the
svn log -r 0:HEAD -q -v --stop-on-copy --limit=1 -- TARGET

I believe this only works in a working copy, not on the server in a
hook...

Yes it does work on the server in a hook if TARGET is an URL.

$ svn log -r 0:HEAD -q -v --stop-on-copy --limit=1 https://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/subversion/branches/1.10.x
------------------------------------------------------------------------
r1817773 | julianfoad | 2017-12-11 14:22:31 +0100 (Mon, 11 Dec 2017)
Changed paths:
A /subversion/branches/1.10.x (from /subversion/trunk:1817772)
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Of course, on the server, you can use a file:// URL to avoid looping
through HTTP(S).

-- Brane

Bo Berglund

2018-01-02 12:27:32 UTC

Yes, that is correct. You asked for the history of the item; it was
copied (branched) from trunk in r103, and svnlook is showing the whole
history.

I noted this and asked if there is a way to get the revision when the
directory was actually ADDED thus making it possible to extract the
timestamp. I should probably have asked in the subject for the
*revision* it was added and that would have given me the tool to get
the other info...

Post by Bo Berglund
Is there a command to show the revision when an item (directory or
file) was actually created in svn?

Currently the only hack to do this is by using 'svn log --stop-on-copy'
in a working copy.

This is not going to work on the server using svnlook then....

Post by Bo Berglund
D:\>svnlook changed -r 699 D:\SVN\test\bosse --copy-info
A + CVSMailer/tags/Rel_1-5-2-50_20060422/
(from CVSMailer/trunk/:r698)
But lacking the revision number when it was added I cannot find the
extra info like the date...

"The date" is a revision property.

But I am looking for a way to find the revision so this timestamp I am
after can be extracted...

Post by Branko Äibej
What are you actually trying to achieve?

Apart from the timestamp I want for other purposes I am also after the
revision for a changed file when it was last changed (forgot this when
posting).
So I want to create a commit email including info that we are used to
having in the emails we get from our earlier system.
This includes a list with the following for each changed item:

-Item that was changed (dir or file, available in svnlook changed)
-revision it was changed (i.e. the commit revision - simple)
-revision it was last changed before this commit (how to do this?)
-a command to diff the new file version with the previous

So my mail will contain this tabular list:
Op Item rev previous_rev diff_revs

(Op is D U _U or UU from svnlook changed)

All but the two last items are simple....

Post by Bo Berglund
There's a good chance that

whatever you're trying to use svnlook for has already been implemented
half a dozen times, using an existing tool might get you to your goal
quite a bit faster.

Not for me because all the hook scripts I have looked at are either
too simplistic (basically pushing svnlook info and svnlook changed
into the mail body) or they are written in a language I do not
master...

I am almost done now, only lacking a way to find the revision of the
last change before the current for all file items in the list of
changes.

I will skip the diff-revs link for now because it relied on the ViewVc
service for the CVS repository where a diff was available and I only
had to calculate the url of the proper diff to put into the email.

Now I first have to install and make working the ViewVc version which
is able to work with svn....

--
Bo Berglund
Developer in Sweden

Branko Čibej

2018-01-02 12:51:48 UTC

Post by Bo Berglund

Yes, that is correct. You asked for the history of the item; it was
copied (branched) from trunk in r103, and svnlook is showing the whole
history.

Post by Bo Berglund
Is there a command to show the revision when an item (directory or
file) was actually created in svn?

Currently the only hack to do this is by using 'svn log --stop-on-copy'
in a working copy.

This is not going to work on the server using svnlook then....