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File Commit Problems

When a problem occurs with Tortoise (or most other programs you ever use) an error message is usually presented. -> READ IT.
Most likely it will explain the problem and/or tell you how to fix it. Worst case it provides a few key words to search or ask others about. Which is better than just saying "It didn't work".

If you tried to commit something and got red error messages, read them!

  • If the file is open in a program, you cannot commit it. Close that program first.
  • If you didn't type a comment in the 'Message' box, the system will not commit the file. This comment is to help explain what you did, so it is required.
  • Spaces at the end of a folder name will not work. This sometimes happens on a Mac but apparently cannot be done on a Windows PC.
  • Make sure you do not have file names with "bad" characters. It is possible to have a file name with an asterisk on a Mac but this is invalid on Windows. Try renaming the file in the repository (NOT on your PC's working copy) and see if you can do an SVN Update. If not, you may have to checkout the repository from scratch again. We don't have enough history for this scenario to have other possible solutions.

Cleanup

Sometimes a subversion update or commit gets interrupted for various reasons. Generally you can simply run the "cleanup" command one or more times to recover from this.

In the location you were trying to update/commit from: right click, Tortoise SVN, Cleanup (Note - In Windows 11, the right-click menus have been truncated, so right click, More Options, Tortoise SVN, Cleanup). Be sure ONLY the following options are selected:
  • Cleanup working Copy status
  • Break locks
  • Refresh shell overlays
  • Include externals

If that does not work, you will have to navigate to all the modified folders below that one (look for the red exclamation point next to the folder name) and repeat the "right click, Tortoise SVN, Cleanup" steps.

If that fails, try to navigate to the folder above and try the cleanup again. Repeat this until you have hit the top level of your repository.

If it still fails, you will have to checkout a fresh working copy of your repository as you did at the start of the semester.
  1. RENAME the old 'broken' one first to keep it.
  2. Checkout a fresh working copy.
  3. Copy any files (NOT folders! This must be done by copying one or more files at a time but never a folder!) that you have changed and were unable to commit from the old broken folder to the newly checked out folder.
  4. Commit the new folder
  5. After all files have been copied / committed then the broken working copy can be deleted.

IMPORTANT Windows 11 Note

If you do not see the Cleanup option on Windows 11 then you must manually enable that to show up in the menu! This is apparently new with some Windows 11 installations. After right clicking to bring up the Tortoise menu, go to settings and place a check mark next to Cleanup if not already checked.

Alternatively, you may click on "Show more options", followed by "TortiseSVN", at which point the Clean up option should become available.


Conflict

This means that you changed a file in your working copy that now conflicts with the one in the repo. You must resolve the conflict to clear the problem.

Assuming that file "my_file.docx" is in conflict:
  1. rename "my_file.docx" to "my_file-TEMP.docx"
  2. Update your working copy. This will bring down "my_file.docx" back to your working folder. You will now have BOTH "my_file.docx" and "my_file-TEMP.docx"
  3. Compare "my_file-TEMP.docx" to "my_file.docx" and merge your changes back into "my_file.docx".
  4. Commit "my_file.docx", putting it back in the cloud for others.

Word has a compare feature and Subversion includes one for text files such as programs. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to compare two spreadsheets, PowerPoint documents or CAD files.