Subversion update externals to a date

Question

I\'m working on a large, established project under SVN control. Many parts of the code base are being checked out as externals, but are being actively worked on by other peo

Answer 1

This is tricky, and I'm afraid I can't offer a good solution to your current situation - but Brian has given the answer on how to avoid it.

The avoidance comes down to a little bit of repository theory - basically it must not be possible to modify any source code for your project without a corresponding revision appearing in trunk.

By pointing all externals to tags or specific revisions, no changes from them can appear in the main project history without committing a change to the external reference. But if you point an external to a moving trunk, a change to the external will not show up in the main project's timeline at all - leaving you in the position you're in.

Personally, I've taken the view that externals should be treated and released as independent projects, hence all externals point to tags. During heavy parallel development, it's fine to 'switch' an external to trunk, or to have an unstable development branch temporarily pointing to an external trunk, but the mainline project trunk always points to a stable external, and it's a conscious decision to upgrade. This view may be overkill for your situation, but it's worth seeing other possibilities.