svn: E155021: This client is too old to work with the working copy at xxx (format '31')

Question

I am trying to import some gradle projects in my Spring Tool Suite . I have installed Subclipse 1.10.5 in my STS and svn client installed in my machine is 1.8.8 . I have tried downgrading to 1.7.10 on my mac but still I get the same problem while importing .

For others SVN 1.7.10 and Subclipse 1.10.5 seems to work fine but in my machine I am getting the error

svn: E155021: This client is too old to work with the working copy at
  '/Users/agarg/Documents/Mars/trunk' (format '31')

Stuck here for some time now and unable to resolve this . Tried a lot of things as I found over the net but still stuck.

Answer 1

I had this problem on Mac OS Yosemite with Webstorm and IntelliJ.

svn --version on the command line printed 1.8, but even with command line client option enabled with value svn in Webstorm/IntelliJ I was getting the warning.

Running which svn and pasting the value (/usr/local/bin/svn for me) into WebStorm->Preferences->Version Control->Subversion->Use command line client removed the warning and fixed the issues I was having in Webstorm and IntelliJ.

Answer 2

The working copy has format understandable by SVN 1.8 client, but your client is SVN 1.7 or older.

1. You should double-check what Subclipse / SVNKit / svn.exe client versions you have on your system.

2. Try accessing the working copy from command-line and see whether you get the same error.

Answer 3

If you definitely have svn installed and running at the correct version you want, this error means the metadata in your project refers to an older version of subversion. Upgrade it by following this guide: http://www.robsearles.com/2008/12/svn-client-is-too-old-to-work-with-working-copy-solution-using-rsync/

Answer 4

I had this same issue on OSX. I have been able to upgrade the SVN by following the step by step guide here:

URL: http://andowebsit.es/blog/noteslog.com/post/how-to-upgrade-subversion-on-osx/

First check which svn version you have:

$ svn --version
  svn, version 1.7.17 (r1591372)
  compiled Aug  7 2014, 17:03:25
  ...

Seems like its old version, so update it.

$ brew update
$ brew install subversion

This will take some seconds to install. Now check how many svn you have. You will see the another entry belew.

$ which -a svn
 /usr/bin/svn
 /usr/local/bin/svn

Edit the ~/.bash_profile with

export PATH="/usr/local/bin:$PATH"

And then

$ source ~/.bash_profile

$ svn --version
svn, version 1.8.10 (r1615264)
compiled Aug 25 2014, 10:57:58 on x86_64-apple-darwin13.3.0
...

Now you will see the SVN verison is upgraded from 1.7 to 1.8.