Aha. Thanks, Johan.
It's a bit strange that there's a difference between file and directory externals on this point, but... whatever.
Richard
Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2026 at 3:45 PM
From: "Johan Corveleyn" <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: Re: svn:externals - using an external file
From: "Johan Corveleyn" <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: Re: svn:externals - using an external file
On Thu, Feb 12, 2026 at 3:33 PM Richard Cavell <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> 3 has existed in repo2 since revision 1 of repo2.
> svn:externals on / (root) of repo was added in revision 5 of repo.
The problem is that '3' is a file (hence the mention of "file
external" in the error message). And "file externals" work differently
from directory externals. More to the point: file externals can only
be used within the same repository, not cross-repository.
It's a bit hidden in the text at [1]: "File externals cannot refer to
files from other repositories. A file external's URL must always be in
the same repository as the URL that the file external will be inserted
into."
[1] https://svnbook.red-bean.com/en/1.7/svn.advanced.externals.html
--
Johan
>
> 3 has existed in repo2 since revision 1 of repo2.
> svn:externals on / (root) of repo was added in revision 5 of repo.
The problem is that '3' is a file (hence the mention of "file
external" in the error message). And "file externals" work differently
from directory externals. More to the point: file externals can only
be used within the same repository, not cross-repository.
It's a bit hidden in the text at [1]: "File externals cannot refer to
files from other repositories. A file external's URL must always be in
the same repository as the URL that the file external will be inserted
into."
[1] https://svnbook.red-bean.com/en/1.7/svn.advanced.externals.html
--
Johan
