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Somehow, and I have no idea how, I have managed to create a folder in our SVN repo called "C:"

This is preventing me from updating my working copy - I get the error

'.' is not valid as filename in directory 'C:\SVN'

All the actual files/folders are all greenflagged, indicating everything is up to date, the bolded line indicating my working copy revision in the log is not at the top - which is very annoying - and may happen to other developers if I don't' fix the repo.

The folder as displayed in the repo browser is empty. When I try to delete the folder in the Tortoise repo browser I get

Unable to connect to a repository at URL
 'svn://10.151.0.107/svn_repository/source/C:'

Can't open file '\svn_repository\source\C:\format': The filename, directory
 name, or volume label syntax is incorrect.

How can I delete this folder?

bahrep
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kpollock
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  • I removed my bogus answer. There're seem to be added issues if the *repository* itself is hosted on Windows as well. – Álvaro González Apr 07 '14 at 10:53
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    What version of SVN tools are you using? This sounds like it is a bug that should be reported (if using a recent version), or possibly indication that something may be broken inside your repository. – Ben Apr 07 '14 at 10:56
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    @kpollock I suggest reporting the issue to users@subversion mailing list as well. See http://subversion.apache.org/mailing-lists.html – bahrep Apr 08 '14 at 10:34
  • Tortoise 1.8.5. Svn itself, unknown. – kpollock Apr 08 '14 at 13:27
  • Which Subversion *server* version do you use? Older versions mapped all files and directories to disk while newer versions don't. – Bert Huijben Apr 08 '14 at 14:58
  • svn version 1.8.8 (r1568071) – kpollock Apr 08 '14 at 15:02

1 Answers1

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The answer is provided at SuperUser at https://superuser.com/questions/165395/how-to-delete-invalid-files-with-colon-in-their-name-under-windows

It could be that you've created the path using Subversion client in the past. Subversion allows special characters in the repository while Windows does not. I can advise removing this C: directory from the latest revision using the command:

svn del "svn://10.151.0.107/svn_repository/source/C:" -m "Removed folder with invalid name"

Community
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bahrep
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  • Hmmm, not sure I want to try deleting C: under Windows... :-) - But the svn command is cool - will try – kpollock Apr 07 '14 at 09:22
  • @kpollock I didn't mean deleting C:\, it's about deleting `C:\SVN\source\C:` (i.e. the path you have on your Windows machine that represents `/source/C:` in the Subversion repository). – bahrep Apr 07 '14 at 09:34
  • ah - C:\SVN\source\C: doesn't exist locally [cos it can't cos it's illegal... hence svn can't find it and complains] – kpollock Apr 07 '14 at 09:40
  • Now I get .... svn: E720123: Unable to connect to a repository at URL 'svn://10.151.0.107/svn_repository/source/C:' svn: E720123: Can't open file '\svn_repository\source\C:\format': The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect. – kpollock Apr 07 '14 at 09:43
  • @kpollock Looks like the URL is invalid or you have some issues on the server-side. Check the server log if there is any. Subversion thinks that you attempt to access repository called `C:` and fails since there is no such repository on the server (error about `format` file indicates this). – bahrep Apr 07 '14 at 09:47
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    I can see the C: folder in the repo browser, so that's kinda odd... I doubt I have server-side access myself, I'd have to escalate. Hmm. thanks for all this, it helps me double check my thinking. – kpollock Apr 07 '14 at 09:51