Migrate Subversion repository

21 March 2011

I needed to migrate an existing Subversion repository to a new server today, here's how I did it:

1. Dump your existing Subversion repository to a compressed file.

svnadmin dump /path/to/repo | gzip > /tmp/repo.svn.gz

2. Transfer the compressed file to the new server.

scp /tmp/repo.svn.gz user@server:/path/to/

3. Create a new Subversion repository on the new server.

svnadmin create /path/to/repo

4. Decompress the repository dump file and import it into the new Subversion repository.

gzip -cd /path/to/repo.svn.gz | svnadmin load --force-uuid /path/to/repo

Notes:

  • The dump command will also allow you to switch between BDB or FSFS back end types (link).
  • The --force-uuid option should allow you to switch any checked out projects to the new Subversion repository location.