Are subversion externals an antipattern?

Question

Subversion lets you embed working copies of other repositories using externals, allowing easy version control of third-party library software in your project.

While

Answer 1

Saying that a is b does not make a a b unless you say why this is so.

The main flaw I see with external references in subversion is that you're not guaranteed that the repository is present when you update your working copy.

Subversion external references can be used, and abused, and the feature itself is nothing but just that, a feature. It cannot be said to be a pattern, nor a antipattern.

I've read the answer by the person you quote, and I must say that I disagree. If your project requires files version XYZ from a repository, an external subversion reference can easily give you that.

Yes, you can use it wrong by not specifically specifying which version of that reference you need. Will that give you problems? Likely!

Is it an antipattern? Well, it depends. If you follow the link given by the author of the text you quote, ie. here, then no. That something can be used to provide a bad solution does not make the entire method of doing so an antipattern. If that was the rule, then I would say that programming languages by and large are antipatterns, because in every programming language you can make bad solutions.