Delete file with all history from svn repository

Question

Is there any way to delete file from svn repository including all its history? This issue emerges when I want to get rid of large binary file residing in repo.

I kn

Answer 1

I agree with McDowell's proposal, but would like to suggest that you consider replacing the large file with a text file that simply contains the hash of the file for the removed entry.

If you have a huge number of, for example, .o files from accidentally checking in a build directory, this may not be appropriate. But if you are removing a bunch of binary artifacts you don't want from a directory that includes a bunch of binary artifacts you DO want, you are at high risk of making an expensive mistake. At a minimum, consider removing them from trunk and most branches, but leaving a feature branch full of placeholder text files with the hash of the original binary. This can at least be enough to figure out what happened later, verify that a stray copy that shouldn't have been deleted is in fact the right file, and put it back under revision control.

And, obviously, back the entire repo up to something read-only, like a couple of M-Discs or something, before you even think about doing any of this stuff.