105

We have accidentally deleted the 'tags' folder from our Subversion repository where we only intended to delete one specific tag. What is the easiest way to get the 'tags' folder back?

We use TortoiseSVN as our client and I thought that when I go to the repo browser and show log, there will be something like "revert changes from this revision" similarly to what you can see in a similar dialog on your working copy. But there is no such command there...

Improve this question

7 Answers 7

Reset to default
123

Just copy the deleted folder back from an earlier revision.

In the Repository Browser, click the button labeled HEAD (at the top-right corner) to show to a revision there your folder still exists, then right-click that folder and select "Copy to..." and enter the path there you want the folder to be re-created (probably the same path that is already in the text box).

Improve this answer
5
  • 4
    Great tip, thanks. One TortoiseSVN gotcha - in that "copy to..." dialog I had to change the path from 'example.com/svn/tags' to 'tags1' and then back for the OK button to become enabled.
    – Borek Bernard
    Commented Feb 15, 2010 at 11:22
  • 2
    This might be fine for tags, but should not be done to undelete any other folder since you will lose history
    – slckin
    Commented Feb 24, 2012 at 16:33
  • 3
    It does keep history, just did it also.
    – acdcjunior
    Commented Aug 5, 2013 at 13:47
  • 1
    just make sure you uncheck "Stop on copy/rename" when viewing the log, because otherwise TortoiseSVN will not show the history prior to your restore action (obviously)...
    – Oli
    Commented Oct 31, 2016 at 14:35
  • It totally worked. Saved a lot of my time. Thanks :)
    – dgupta3091
    Commented Aug 9, 2019 at 9:27
80

for the command line enthusiasts:

  • first find the revision number where your delete happened:

    svn log -v http://svnserver/path/to/folderContainingDeletedFolder

say you find that the directory was deleted in revision 999 (btw: you might find it easier to find the revision number with the svn repo browser)

  • copy the folder from revision minus 1

    svn copy http://svnserver/path/to/folderContainingDeletedFolder/deletedFolder@998 http://svnserver/path/to/folderContainingDeletedFolder/deletedFolder -m "undeleted folder"

voilà you're done!

in your case this might be:

    svn copy http://svnserver/project/tags@998 http://svnserver/project/tags -m "undeleted folder"
Improve this answer
1
  • Just wanted to confirm that the "svn copy" approach does in fact preserve all history, and for folders it operates recursively, restoring the folder and all children.
    – WallStProg
    Commented Aug 23, 2018 at 19:52
11

Most of these answers will work to a degree but the correct answer is Daniel's. Do a reverse merge. That way you keep version history.

svn merge -r R1:R2

where R1 is the revision that you're at, and R2 is the revision that contains the deleted file/folder.

Improve this answer
4
  • 1
    In a reverse merge, R1 should be the revision you want to revert with R2 being the revision before that.
    – arleslie
    Commented May 3, 2016 at 17:47
  • 2
    You don't lose any history with svn copy.
    – maxschlepzig
    Commented Nov 27, 2016 at 23:13
  • For those of us who aren't command line enthusiasts, see: tortoisesvn.net/docs/nightly/TortoiseSVN_en/…
    – Pascal
    Commented Jul 24, 2017 at 13:20
  • 2
    Wouldn't this restore all deleted files/folders? Would this work if I only want to restore one specific deleted folder but not other deleted folders?
    – OJ7
    Commented May 15, 2018 at 19:36
7

You will need to do a reverse merge.

For details on how to do it (and pretty much anything else you would ever want or need to do with SVN), the official book is available online.

Improve this answer
0
3

Following on from raudi's answer which worked for me after this revision.

Some svn clients might need the revision number specified using the -r revision parameter instead of using @ after the folder as follows:

svn copy svn://svnserver/project/tags svn://svnserver/project/tags **-r 998** -m "undeleted folder"
Improve this answer
1
  • If you're restoring from a folder that still exists then -r <revision> will work. However if you're trying to restore the folder directly you'll need to use @<revision>. Otherwise it'll tell you the file was not found.
    – arleslie
    Commented May 3, 2016 at 17:50
2

Goto Repository Browser of your repository, right-click on the parent folder where your deleted folder existed. Now, Show Log of the parent folder, and select the previous revision where you committed the delete operation. You'll have a list and right click on the folder from the revision info and select Update to this Revision.

You are done

Improve this answer
2
  • Oh I see, it was not in the Show Log dialog but in the main repo browser window. Still, that command will attempt to update my local working copy while I'd like to fix this problem on the server directly (you can imagine that checking out hundreds of tags, each containing thousands of files, is not exactly what I'd like to do).
    – Borek Bernard
    Commented Feb 15, 2010 at 11:08
  • It worked for me. The context menu option (on right click) is "Revert changes from this revision" and it would reverse merge the changes.
    – hsg
    Commented Apr 2, 2019 at 10:21
0

Revert to the revision before the deletion

svn co -N https://svn.ex.com/repo/project/parentfolder@7537 .

svn copy https://svn.ex.com/repo/project/parentfolder/deletedfoldername@7537 deletedfoldername

svn commit -m "restoring" deletedfoldername

Improve this answer

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.