Moving a project from one Subversion repository to another

I recently had to assist a copasetic client with moving a project from one Subversion repository to another repository. There are essentially two options for such a move– either export artifacts from the old repository and import the same artifacts into the new repository or leverage Subversion’s dump and load commands. The later option preserves everything, that is, tags, branches, and history.

In my case, the client wished to preserve everything; consequently, a simple export/import was out of the question. Conducting a migration using the dump and corresponding load command is fairly straight forward and I found someone who documented it quite nicely. A few other notes:

• depending on how many projects are stored in your repository, resultant dump files might be enormous, baby
• thus, you might want to investigate using the <a href="http://svnbook.red-bean.com/en/1.1/ch05s03.html#svn-ch-5-sect-3.1.3">svndumpfilter</a> command
• Reorienting projects to point to the new repository can easily be done via the command line (via the <a href="http://svnbook.red-bean.com/en/1.0/re27.html">switch</a> command); however, some developer tools, such as Eclipse’s Subclipse don’t offer a GUI way to achieve the same goal
• don’t underestimate the push back and fear some command line neophytes will throw your way

You can follow thediscoblog on Twitter now!