What is the correct way to restore a deleted file from SVN?

Question

The problem with doing an svn merge as suggested by Sean Bright is that is reintroduces other changes made in the same revision as the deletion. An svn copy is a more targeted operation that will only affect the deleted files.

Using Tortoise SVN you can resurrect a file that has been deleted from your working copy directory and from later SVN revisions, via a svn copy as follows:

• Browse to the working copy folder that previously contained the file.
• Right click on the folder in Explorer, go to TortoiseSVN -> Show log.
• Right click on the revision number just prior to the revision that deleted the file and select "Browse repository".
• Right click on the deleted file and select "Copy to working copy..." and save.

The deleted file will now be in the working copy folder. To re-add it back to SVN, right click on the restored file and select SVN Commit.

NB: This method will preserve the previous history of the restored file, however to see the prior history in the TortoiseSVN log you need to make sure "Stop on copy/rename" is unchecked in the Log messages dialog.

Use svn merge:

svn merge -c -[rev num that deleted the file] http://<path to repository>

So an example:

svn merge -c -12345 https://svn.mysite.com/svn/repo/project/trunk
             ^ The negative is important

For TortoiseSVN (I think...)

• Right click in Explorer, go to TortoiseSVN -> Merge...
• Make sure "Merge a range of revisions" is selected, click Next
• In the "Revision range to merge" textbox, specify the revision that removed the file
• Check the "Reverse merge" checkbox, click Next
• Click Merge

That is completely untested, however.

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Edited by OP: This works on my version of TortoiseSVN (the old kind without the next button)

• Go to the folder that stuff was delated from
• Right click in Explorer, go to TortoiseSVN -> Merge...
• in the From section enter the revision that did the delete
• in the To section enter the revision before the delete.
• Click "merge"
• commit

The trick is to merge backwards. Kudos to sean.bright for pointing me in the right direction!

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Edit: We are using different versions. The method I described worked perfectly with my version of TortoiseSVN.

Also of note is that if there were multiple changes in the commit you are reverse merging, you'll want to revert those other changes once the merge is done before you commit. If you don't, those extra changes will also be reversed.

For completeness, this is what you would have found in the svn book, had you known what to look for. It's what you've discovered already:

Undoing Changes

Resurrecting Deleted Items

Same thing, from the more recent (and detailed) version of the book:

Undoing Changes

Resurrecting Deleted Items

Use the Tortoise SVN copy functionality to revert commited changes:

1. Right click the parent folder that contains the deleted files/folder
2. Select the "show log"
3. Select and right click on the version before which the changes/deleted was done
4. Select the "browse repository"
5. Select the file/folder which needs to be restored and right click
6. Select "copy to" which will copy the files/folders to the head revision

Hope that helps

I always seem to use svn copy as a server operation so not sure if it works with two working paths.

Here is an example of restoring a deleted file into a local working copy of the project:

svn copy https://repos/project/modules/module.js@3502 modules/module.js

While being inside the project directory. This works as well for restoring entire directories.

If you're using Tortoise SVN, you should be able to revert changes from just that revision into your working copy (effectively performing a reverse-merge), then do another commit to re-add the file. Steps to follow are:

1. Browse to folder in working copy where you deleted the file.
2. Go to repo-browser.
3. Browse to revision where you deleted the file.
4. In the change list, find the file you deleted.
5. Right click on the file and go to "Revert changes from this revision".
6. This will restore the file to your working copy, keeping history.
7. Commit the file to add it back into your repository.

The easiest way I have been able to restore files and not lose revision history is using SVN copy, the merge example above to me seems like a more complex way to achieve the same thing. Why is there a need to merge when you simply want to restore a revision?

I use the following in this instance and it works quite well.

svn copy -m 'restoring file' -r <rev_number_file_to_restore> http://from/file.cs http://pathTo/file.cs

I always seem to use svn copy as a server operation so not sure if it works with two working paths.