How To Setup Post-Commit Email in VisualSVN

Question

I am trying to configure the built-in post-commit hook for VisualSVN Server. I configured the post-commit script directly through VisualSVN Server Manager and it is as follows:

"%VISUALSVN_SERVER%\bin\VisualSVNServerHooks.exe" ^
    commit-notification "%1" -r %2 ^
    --from aaron@posscribble.com --to aaron@posscribble.com ^
    --smtp-server mail.posscribble.com

The post-commit fails with the following error message:

Post-Commit Error

Can someone help me understand why VisualSVN is referencing the C:\Development\Source\format path? I have also tried replacing the environment variable (i.e. %VISUALSVN_SERVER%) with the direct path to the directory where VisualSVNServerHooks.exe is located to no avail. What am I doing wrong here?

Is your repository stored in C:\Development\ directory? Is it's name "Source"? — bahrep, Oct 24 '13 at 15:44
Believe it or not, after much searching someone recommended taking the parenthesis off the first argument so that it is just %1 and that solved the problem. The path to the repository has spaces in it and I copied the script right off of VisualSVN Server documentation. Anyways, that solved the issue. — Grasshopper, Oct 25 '13 at 02:43
Did my answer help you in 2013? Please, upvote it then. I'm trying to "optimize rep' :) — bahrep, Feb 15 '19 at 14:53

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 25 '13 at 13:19

After scouring web forums someone recommended taking the parenthesis off the first argument even though the path to the repository has parenthesis in it so that it is just %1 and that solved the problem. The working VisualSVN post-commit script is below:

"%VISUALSVN_SERVER%\bin\VisualSVNServerHooks.exe" ^
    commit-notification %1 -r %2 ^
    --from aaron@posscribble.com --to aaron@posscribble.com ^
    --smtp-server mail.posscribble.com

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 24 '13 at 15:47

The issue is quite irrelevant to the post-commit hook script. The error states that the repository lacks "format" file. It's expected that this file exists and contains the format number of this filesystem. So does the file exist?

If the file is missing, you can't do anything with the repository: you can't access the repository with Subversion client, can't run svnadmin commands and it's expected that the hook scripts fail (at least on latest SVN / VisualSVN Server versions).

The easiest way to solve the issue would be to take format file from another repository and copy it to "C:\Development\Source\". However you must ensure that the copied file has correct format number for the Source repository.

I solved the issue...see my comment above. How should I close this post? Create my own answer? — Grasshopper, Oct 25 '13 at 02:44
@Grasshopper create your own answer and accept it as the correct one :) — bahrep, Oct 25 '13 at 08:54

How To Setup Post-Commit Email in VisualSVN

2 Answers2