Upgrading the filesystem format of a repository

Applies to: VisualSVN Server 3.9 and later

Each Subversion repository stores data in an internal virtual filesystem that can have different format versions. Different filesystem formats versions exist because new Apache Subversion releases often introduce new features, which for compatibility reasons are only made available for newer formats. Read the article KB135: Understanding the Subversion repository types and formats to learn more about the particular filesystem format versions and the features they introduce.

While older filesystem formats remain fully compatible with the newest releases, they may not support the most recent and advanced features. Such new features often result in improved performance, easier maintenance and may add additional version control capabilities. Therefore, it is recommended to keep your repositories at the latest filesystem format. This can be achieved by a near-instant procedure of upgrading your repositories.

Note
After upgrading the filesystem format, you will be unable to host the upgraded repositories using older versions of VisualSVN Server linked with older Subversion releases. Older Subversion command line tools may be unable to access the upgraded repositories, too. You can find the filesystem format and the VisualSVN Server version compatibility table in the article KB135: Understanding the Subversion repository types and formats.

Upgrading the filesystem format of a single repository

Follow these steps to upgrade the format of a single repository using the VisualSVN Server Manager console:

  1. Start VisualSVN Server Manager.
  2. Expand the Repositories node.
  3. Right-click a repository which filesystem format you want to upgrade.
  4. Click All Tasks and Upgrade Repository Format.
  5. Click Yes.
  6. Wait for the upgrade to complete and click OK.

The filesystem format upgrade for the repository is complete.

Alternatively, you can use the Update-SvnRepository PowerShell cmdlet to upgrade a repository. For example, run the following PowerShell command to upgrade the repository MyRepo: 

Update-SvnRepository MyRepo

Learn more about Update-SvnRepository cmdlet in the dedicated section of the article KB88: VisualSVN Server PowerShell Cmdlet Reference

Upgrading the filesystem format of repositories in bulk

Follow these steps to upgrade the format of your repositories using the VisualSVN Server Manager console:

  1. Start VisualSVN Server Manager.
  2. Right-click the Repositories node.
  3. Select All Tasks | Upgrade Repositories Format.
  4. Select the repositories to upgrade and click OK. Note that all the repositories with older filesystem format will be selected by default.
  5. Wait for the upgrade to complete and click OK.

The filesystem format upgrade for the selected repositories is complete.

Alternatively, you can use the Update-SvnRepository PowerShell cmdlet to upgrade the format of repositories in bulk. For example, run the following PowerShell command to upgrade all the repositories to the latest format at once: 

Get-SvnRepository | Update-SvnRepository

Learn more about Update-SvnRepository cmdlet in the dedicated section of the article KB88: VisualSVN Server PowerShell Cmdlet Reference

See also

KB135: Understanding the Subversion repository types and formats

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