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What is the difference between the following two files on an SVN server (ie not in a checked out repository)?

format
db/format

In our repositories the contents of the first is 5 while the contents of the second is 2

Rich
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1 Answers1

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The format file contains information about Subversion repository format, while db/format holds information about Subversion Repository File System (FS) format.

Repository format number:

  • Formats 0, 1 and 2 were pre-1.0.
  • Format 3 was current for 1.0 through to 1.3.
  • Format 4 was an abortive experiment during the development of the locking feature in the lead up to 1.2.
  • Format 5 was new in 1.4, and is the first format which may contain BDB or FSFS filesystems with a FS format other than 1, since prior formats are accepted by some versions of Subversion which do not pay attention to the FS format number.

FSFS format number:

Ivan Zhakov
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  • Thanks! Do you have any details about what the numbers mean? (I'm still going to accept your answer though, as you've answered my initial question) – Rich Jun 07 '11 at 07:18
  • I've updated my answer with brief description of different repository and FSFS versions. – Ivan Zhakov Jun 08 '11 at 07:57
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    And FSFS format 6 was added in Subversion 1.8. It adds revprop packing as well as a few other improvements. http://subversion.apache.org/docs/release-notes/1.8.html#fsfs-enhancements – tgharold Aug 05 '13 at 11:16
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    @tgharold Thanks for reminder. I've added information about FSFS format 6 to my answer. – Ivan Zhakov Aug 06 '13 at 22:32
  • does someone know what Format 12 means ? – Erdinc Ay Aug 12 '16 at 16:01
  • @ErdincAy Format 12 looks like Subversion **Working Copy** format, while this question about Subversion **Repository** formats. See https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1364618 for information about Working Copy formats. – Ivan Zhakov Nov 29 '17 at 08:43