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

Question

I deleted a file from a repo and now want to put it back  The best I can figure out is to    update to the revision before the delete copy the files elsewhere update to head copy the files back add them commit   That just smells bad and it looses all history to boot  There has got to be a better way to do this  I have already looked in The SVN Book but didn t find anything and am now looking down the SVN tag list

User · Answer

With Tortoise SVN   If you haven t committed your changes yet  you can do a revert on the parent folder where you deleted the file or directory  If you have already committed the deleted file  then you can use the repository browser  change to the revision where the file still existed and then use the command Copy to    from the context menu  Enter the path to your working copy as the target and the deleted file will be copied from the repository to your working copy

User · Answer

Use svn merge   svn merge -c - rev num that deleted the file  http    lt path to repository gt    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     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     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

User · Answer

With Tortoise SVN   If you haven t committed your changes yet  you can do a revert on the parent folder where you deleted the file or directory  If you have already committed the deleted file  then you can use the repository browser  change to the revision where the file still existed and then use the command Copy to    from the context menu  Enter the path to your working copy as the target and the deleted file will be copied from the repository to your working copy

User · Answer

Use svn merge   svn merge -c - rev num that deleted the file  http    lt path to repository gt    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     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     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

User · Answer

You should be able to just check out the one file you want to restore  Try something like svn co svn   your repos path to file you want to restore rev where rev is the last revision at which the file existed   I had to do exactly this a little while ago and if I remember correctly  using the -r option to svn didn t work  I had to use the  rev syntax   Although I might have remembered it backwards

User · Answer

With Tortoise SVN   If you haven t committed your changes yet  you can do a revert on the parent folder where you deleted the file or directory  If you have already committed the deleted file  then you can use the repository browser  change to the revision where the file still existed and then use the command Copy to    from the context menu  Enter the path to your working copy as the target and the deleted file will be copied from the repository to your working copy

User · Answer

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

User · Answer

Use the Tortoise SVN copy functionality to revert commited changes    Right click the parent folder that contains the deleted files folder Select the  show log  Select and right click on the version before which the changes deleted was done Select the  browse repository  Select the file folder which needs to be restored and right click Select  copy to  which will copy the files folders to the head revision   Hope that helps

User · Answer

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

User · Answer

You should be able to just check out the one file you want to restore  Try something like svn co svn   your repos path to file you want to restore rev where rev is the last revision at which the file existed   I had to do exactly this a little while ago and if I remember correctly  using the -r option to svn didn t work  I had to use the  rev syntax   Although I might have remembered it backwards

User · Answer

Use svn merge   svn merge -c - rev num that deleted the file  http    lt path to repository gt    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     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     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

User · Answer

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

User · Answer

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  lt rev number file to restore gt  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

User · Answer

You should be able to just check out the one file you want to restore  Try something like svn co svn   your repos path to file you want to restore rev where rev is the last revision at which the file existed   I had to do exactly this a little while ago and if I remember correctly  using the -r option to svn didn t work  I had to use the  rev syntax   Although I might have remembered it backwards

User · Answer

Use svn merge   svn merge -c - rev num that deleted the file  http    lt path to repository gt    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     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     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

User · Answer

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

User · Answer

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  lt rev number file to restore gt  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

User · Answer

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

User · Answer

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

User · Answer

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

User · Answer

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

User · Answer

With Tortoise SVN   If you haven t committed your changes yet  you can do a revert on the parent folder where you deleted the file or directory  If you have already committed the deleted file  then you can use the repository browser  change to the revision where the file still existed and then use the command Copy to    from the context menu  Enter the path to your working copy as the target and the deleted file will be copied from the repository to your working copy

User · Answer

Use the Tortoise SVN copy functionality to revert commited changes    Right click the parent folder that contains the deleted files folder Select the  show log  Select and right click on the version before which the changes deleted was done Select the  browse repository  Select the file folder which needs to be restored and right click Select  copy to  which will copy the files folders to the head revision   Hope that helps

User · Answer

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

User · Answer

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

User · Answer

You should be able to just check out the one file you want to restore  Try something like svn co svn   your repos path to file you want to restore rev where rev is the last revision at which the file existed   I had to do exactly this a little while ago and if I remember correctly  using the -r option to svn didn t work  I had to use the  rev syntax   Although I might have remembered it backwards

User · Answer

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

User · Answer

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

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

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