Sparse checkouts and svn:externals

Question

I'm trying to do a sparse checkout of a folder containing externals, but none of the externals are being checked out. This issue seems to indicate that this behavior may be by design, or at least that it isn't clear what the behavior should be. From my point of view, the obvious behavior is that externals are treated just as any other directory, and checked out following the same sparse checkout rules.

Is there a way to work around this except manually checking out the externals?

Neoteric

Answer 1

No. Subversion only pulls the externals if you do a recursive checkout of the directory that has the svn:externals property set.

Breana

That sucks. And it pretty much makes sparse checkouts unusable for me. – Neoteric

Yup. it sucks.. I just discovered this for my self.. just another reason why i think svn:externals is a HACK and should be avoided at all cost.... SVN users have to bite the bullet and learn how to MERGE code across branches when sharing code across projects.. The more we practice merging code across branches.. the BETTER we will be at doing something that is an essential skill in software development.. even if you use the new Git or Mecurial and all its branch/merge super powers! – Cluster