How to require commit messages in VisualSVN server?

Question

We\'ve got VisualSVN Server set up as our Subversion server on Windows, and we use Ankhsvn + TortoiseSVN as clients on our workstations.

How can you configure the se

Answer 1

We use the excellent CS-Script tool for our pre-commit hooks so that we can write scripts in the language we're doing development in. Here's an example that ensures there's a commit message longer than 10 characters, and ensures that .suo and .user files aren't checked in. You can also test for tab/space indents, or do small code standards enforcement at check-in, but be careful making your script do too much as you don't want to slow down a commit.

// run from pre-commit.cmd like so:
// css.exe /nl /c C:\SVN\Scripts\PreCommit.cs %1 %2
using System;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Text;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;
using System.Linq;

class PreCommitCS {

  /// 
Controls the procedure flow of this script
  public static int Main(string[] args) {
    if (args.Length < 2) {
      Console.WriteLine("usage: PreCommit.cs repository-path svn-transaction");
      Environment.Exit(2);
    }

    try {
      var proc = new PreCommitCS(args[0], args[1]);
      proc.RunChecks();
      if (proc.MessageBuffer.ToString().Length > 0) {
        throw new CommitException(String.Format("Pre-commit hook violation\r\n{0}", proc.MessageBuffer.ToString()));
      }
    }
    catch (CommitException ex) {
      Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
      Console.Error.WriteLine(ex.Message);
      throw ex;
    }
    catch (Exception ex) {
      var message = String.Format("SCRIPT ERROR! : {1}{0}{2}", "\r\n", ex.Message, ex.StackTrace.ToString());
      Console.WriteLine(message);
      Console.Error.WriteLine(message);
      throw ex;
    }

    // return success if we didn't throw
    return 0;
  }

  public string RepoPath { get; set; }
  public string SvnTx { get; set; }
  public StringBuilder MessageBuffer { get; set; }

  /// 
Constructor
  public PreCommitCS(string repoPath, string svnTx) {
    this.RepoPath = repoPath;
    this.SvnTx = svnTx;
    this.MessageBuffer = new StringBuilder();
  }

  /// 
Main logic controller
  public void RunChecks() {
    CheckCommitMessageLength(10);

    // Uncomment for indent checks
    /*
    string[] changedFiles = GetCommitFiles(
      new string[] { "A", "U" },
      new string[] { "*.cs", "*.vb", "*.xml", "*.config", "*.vbhtml", "*.cshtml", "*.as?x" },
      new string[] { "*.designer.*", "*.generated.*" }
    );
    EnsureTabIndents(changedFiles);
    */

    CheckForIllegalFileCommits(new string[] {"*.suo", "*.user"});
  }

  private void CheckForIllegalFileCommits(string[] filesToExclude) {
    string[] illegalFiles = GetCommitFiles(
      new string[] { "A", "U" },
      filesToExclude,
      new string[] {}
    );
    if (illegalFiles.Length > 0) {
      Echo(String.Format("You cannot commit the following files: {0}", String.Join(",", illegalFiles)));
    }
  }

  private void EnsureTabIndents(string[] filesToCheck) {
    foreach (string fileName in filesToCheck) {
      string contents = GetFileContents(fileName);
      string[] lines = contents.Replace("\r\n", "\n").Replace("\r", "\n").Split(new string[] { "\n" }, StringSplitOptions.None);
      var linesWithSpaceIndents =
        Enumerable.Range(0, lines.Length)
             .Where(i => lines[i].StartsWith(" "))
             .Select(i => i + 1)
             .Take(11)
             .ToList();
      if (linesWithSpaceIndents.Count > 0) {
        var message = String.Format("{0} has spaces for indents on line(s): {1}", fileName, String.Join(",", linesWithSpaceIndents));
        if (linesWithSpaceIndents.Count > 10) message += "...";
        Echo(message);
      }
    }
  }

  private string GetFileContents(string fileName) {
    string args = GetSvnLookCommandArgs("cat") + " \"" + fileName + "\"";
    string svnlookResults = ExecCmd("svnlook", args);
    return svnlookResults;
  }

  private void CheckCommitMessageLength(int minLength) {
    string args = GetSvnLookCommandArgs("log");
    string svnlookResults = ExecCmd("svnlook", args);
    svnlookResults = (svnlookResults ?? "").Trim();
    if (svnlookResults.Length < minLength) {
      if (svnlookResults.Length > 0) {
        Echo("Your commit message was too short.");
      }
      Echo("Please describe the changes you've made in a commit message in order to successfully commit. Include support ticket number if relevant.");
    }
  }

  private string[] GetCommitFiles(string[] changedIds, string[] includedFiles, string[] exclusions) {
    string args = GetSvnLookCommandArgs("changed");
    string svnlookResults = ExecCmd("svnlook", args);
    string[] lines = svnlookResults.Split(new string[] { "\r", "\n" }, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
    var includedPatterns = (from a in includedFiles select ConvertWildcardPatternToRegex(a)).ToArray();
    var excludedPatterns = (from a in exclusions select ConvertWildcardPatternToRegex(a)).ToArray();
    var opts = RegexOptions.IgnoreCase;
    var results =
      from line in lines
      let fileName = line.Substring(1).Trim()
      let changeId = line.Substring(0, 1).ToUpper()
      where changedIds.Any(x => x.ToUpper() == changeId)
      && includedPatterns.Any(x => Regex.IsMatch(fileName, x, opts))
      && !excludedPatterns.Any(x => Regex.IsMatch(fileName, x, opts))
      select fileName;
    return results.ToArray();
  }

  private string GetSvnLookCommandArgs(string cmdType) {
    string args = String.Format("{0} -t {1} \"{2}\"", cmdType, this.SvnTx, this.RepoPath);
    return args;
  }

  /// 

  /// Executes a command line call and returns the output from stdout.
  /// Raises an error is stderr has any output.
  /// 
  private string ExecCmd(string command, string args) {
    Process proc = new Process();
    proc.StartInfo.FileName = command;
    proc.StartInfo.Arguments = args;
    proc.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
    proc.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
    proc.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
    proc.StartInfo.RedirectStandardError = true;
    proc.Start();

    var stdOut = proc.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
    var stdErr = proc.StandardError.ReadToEnd();

    proc.WaitForExit(); // Do after ReadToEnd() call per: http://chrfalch.blogspot.com/2008/08/processwaitforexit-never-completes.html

    if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(stdErr)) {
      throw new Exception(string.Format("Error: {0}", stdErr));
    }

    return stdOut;
  }

  /// 

  /// Writes the string provided to the Message Buffer - this fails
  /// the commit and this message is presented to the comitter.
  /// 
  private void Echo(object s) {
    this.MessageBuffer.AppendLine((s == null ? "" : s.ToString()));
  }

  /// 

  /// Takes a wildcard pattern (like *.bat) and converts it to the equivalent RegEx pattern
  /// 
  /// The wildcard pattern to convert.  Syntax similar to VB's Like operator with the addition of pipe ("|") delimited patterns.
  /// A regex pattern that is equivalent to the wildcard pattern supplied
  private string ConvertWildcardPatternToRegex(string wildcardPattern) {
    if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(wildcardPattern)) return "";

    // Split on pipe
    string[] patternParts = wildcardPattern.Split('|');

    // Turn into regex pattern that will match the whole string with ^$
    StringBuilder patternBuilder = new StringBuilder();
    bool firstPass = true;
    patternBuilder.Append("^");
    foreach (string part in patternParts) {
      string rePattern = Regex.Escape(part);

      // add support for ?, #, *, [...], and [!...]
      rePattern = rePattern.Replace("\\[!", "[^");
      rePattern = rePattern.Replace("\\[", "[");
      rePattern = rePattern.Replace("\\]", "]");
      rePattern = rePattern.Replace("\\?", ".");
      rePattern = rePattern.Replace("\\*", ".*");
      rePattern = rePattern.Replace("\\#", "\\d");

      if (firstPass) {
        firstPass = false;
      }
      else {
        patternBuilder.Append("|");
      }
      patternBuilder.Append("(");
      patternBuilder.Append(rePattern);
      patternBuilder.Append(")");
    }
    patternBuilder.Append("$");

    string result = patternBuilder.ToString();
    if (!IsValidRegexPattern(result)) {
      throw new ArgumentException(string.Format("Invalid pattern: {0}", wildcardPattern));
    }
    return result;
  }

  private bool IsValidRegexPattern(string pattern) {
    bool result = true;
    try {
      new Regex(pattern);
    }
    catch {
      result = false;
    }
    return result;
  }
}

public class CommitException : Exception {
  public CommitException(string message) : base(message) {
  }
}