svn Can't set position pointer in file

Question

I'm having an issue with an svn repository that has been working just fine up to now.

I am getting the error

svnadmin: Can't set position pointer in file 'repository/db/revs/0/783': Invalid argument

for example when I run

svnadmin verify

Other general symptoms include not being able to checkout, update, commit etc.

Any help much appreciated

thanks! Peter

Answer 1

OK... I just had this problem and was able to fix it. I'm using FSFS. The last good revision I had was Revision Number 88. Revision 89 was the one that was broken.

1. I copied the repository and named it repository-2018-10-18-broken. Absolutely do this first!!!

2. I deleted the following files in the original repository:

/repository/db/revs/0/89

/repository/db/revprops/0/89

/repository/db/transactions/89*.*

3. Using my trusty text editor, I then edited the file /repository/db/current and changed the 89 to 88. I left in the trailing new line.

This worked like a charm. I can't say it will work for anyone else, but I don't see why it wouldn't. It seems like it effectively, truly, deletes the bad revision.

Answer 2

When the same problem occurred we were able to track it down to an individual folder which had files that were moved incorrectly.

Other folders allowed committing and updating, only when including that folder did we get the message of being unable to set the pointer.

The solution was:

1. Remove the offending folder from the SVN (ignore, recursive)
2. Add the folder again.
3. Commit the folder.

This seemed to fix whatever was wrong.

With more trial and error I guess the problem could be tracked to the file[s] that were responsible, but in this case we stopped at folder level.