Adding files to the ignore list in Subversion is one of those tasks that I do so infrequently that whenever it comes up I've forgotten the syntax. Next time I'll have this handy blog entry to remind me.
Typically I want to do this to hide Eclipse project artifacts and Maven build targets from Subversion. So here's how to do that.
Firstly we add the project non-recursively so that we don't automatically add the things we want to put into the ignore list. Adding the project to subversion creates the .svn directory which tracks properties set on the directory and is therefore necessary for managing the ignore list.
dcminter@treacle:~$ svn add project --non-recursive A project
Now we have somewhere to keep the properties associated with the project directory we can edit them. This next command opens up the default text editor (the same one you use to enter commit messages).
dcminter@treacle:~$ svn propedit svn:ignore project
In the editor you enter the list of files and directories that you want to mark as being ignored, and then save and exit.
.project .classpath .settings target
When you exit you should then see the success message.
dcminter@treacle:~$ svn propedit svn:ignore project Set new value for property 'svn:ignore' on 'project'
You can use the svn propget command to verify the values that you have set without needing to go back into the editor.
dcminter@treacle:~$ svn propget svn:ignore project .project .classpath .settings target
Commit the project directory.
dcminter@treacle:~$ svn commit project
Enter an appropriate update message in the editor. Note that only the project directory is included in this commit.
Modified Adding the new project directory with an appropriate ignore list. --This line, and those below, will be ignored-- AM project
You should now see the commit confirmation.
dcminter@treacle:~$ svn commit project Adding project Committed revision 97.
Now if you do an ls and then a svn stat you will see that the specified files and directories are now being ignored by Subversion.
dcminter@treacle:~$ cd project/ dcminter@treacle:~$ ls -al total 24 drwxr-xr-x 6 dcminter dcminter 4096 2007-12-24 15:15 . drwxr-xr-x 10 dcminter dcminter 4096 2007-12-24 15:21 .. -rw-r--r-- 1 dcminter dcminter 0 2007-12-24 15:07 .classpath -rw-r--r-- 1 dcminter dcminter 0 2007-12-24 15:07 .project drwxr-xr-x 2 dcminter dcminter 4096 2007-12-24 15:08 .settings drwxr-xr-x 2 dcminter dcminter 4096 2007-12-24 15:08 src drwxr-xr-x 6 dcminter dcminter 4096 2007-12-24 15:21 .svn drwxr-xr-x 2 dcminter dcminter 4096 2007-12-24 15:08 target dcminter@treacle:~/project$ svn stat ? src dcminter@treacle:~/project$
Really the only important bit of the above to remember is the use of the svn propedit svn:ignore path command, but sometimes it can help to have a bit of context.