Dumping a remote SVN repository without admin access

Nitin — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 20:49:47 +0000

When you need to dump a SVN repository, all you have to do is

svnadmin dump REPOS_PATH

But wait, then you need to have admin access to the server on which your SVN repository is hosted. Often, that is not the case and you have to contact the company which hosts your repository to do it for you. I have a repository hosted at CVSdude and I needed to dump it. As I am on the Developer Edition plan, I do not enjoy the privileges to backup my repositories from my admin panel. I could have mailed the guys at cvsdude, who according to me are quite supportive and quick to respond, but that would have taken longer than what I am going to describe next.

SVN provides a unique utility, svnsync which is a Subversion remote repository mirroring tool. Put simply, it allows you to replay the revisions of one repository into another one. Now, we can create an empty repository on our local system, synchronize it with the remote repository and then dump the local repository. Follow the following 4 step process to have a dump of your repository:

Create a local repository
svnadmin create c:/repos

It will create an empty repository on your local system.
Add “pre-revprop-change” hook to your local repository
You need to add an empty file into the hooks folder of your repository. This file should be named pre-revprop-change.cmd on Windows and pre-revprop-change on Linux systems.
For Linux users:

echo ‘#!/bin/sh’ > repos/hooks/pre-revprop-change
chmod +x repos/hooks/pre-revprop-change

This allows svnsync to make revision changes to your local repository. Note that your remote repository is never modified during this process, in fact we just need read access to the remote repository.
Synchronize your local repository with the remote repository
svnsync init file:///c:/repos https://test.cvsdude.com/fbl
svnsync sync file:///c:/repos
Dump your local repository
svnadmin dump file:///c:/repos > repos.dmp

That would be all, you can now have a cup of coffee.

PHP: Archive files for Backup on Server

Nitin — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 05:25:50 +0000

As Currently I am hosting this website on a free host, my web host imposes several limitations on me. One of them is not providing the feature to download the whole folder. This makes taking backup really hard as you have download each and every file yourself. Although it is a matter of days when I shift this website to a new server, I wrote the following PHP script which automatically archives the files in a folder and then the zip files can be easily downloaded with a single click. The script is crude in nature as I did not handle much exceptions but it works fine for me. You might need to change certain parameters to run it with your PHP resource limits. The code is pretty self explanatory although if you find difficulty understanding some part or find a bug or want to suggest any improvement, do leave a comment.

< ?
/**
* Copyright (c) 2009, Nitin Kumar Gupta, http://publicmind.in.
* All rights reserved.
*
* Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
* modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
* are met:
*
* * Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
* notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
*
* * Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above
* copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following
* disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided
* with the distribution.
*
* THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS
* "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT
* LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS
* FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
* COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT,
* INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING,
* BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES;
* LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER
* CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
* LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY
* WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY
* OF SUCH DAMAGE.
*/

/*
* This is a BSD License approved by the Open Source Initiative (OSI).
* See: http://www.opensource.org/licenses/bsd-license.php
*/

/**
* Directory to archive.
* example: '.' - root directory
* 'folder/sub-folder/sub-folder' - for an internal folder.
*
* Note: Do not use trailing slashes.
*/
$directory = '.';

// File name for the backup along with timestamp. If the filename exists,
// They are numbered as backup_1, backup_2,...
$time = date("d_m_y");;
$zipname = 'backup_'.$time;
$count = 1;

$maxFiles = 500; //Number of files to be added to each archive.
//Varies with your PHP Memory limit and execution time.
//After a certain limit, the zipArchive is unable to archive.

$fileNums = 0;
$filenames = array();

parse($directory);
zipFiles();
echo "Done";
return;

/**
* Archives the files present in the global $filename array.
*
* @return:
*
* 0: fail
* 1: Success
*/
function zipFiles() {
global $count;
global $zipname;
global $filenames;
$zipfile = $zipname . '.zip';
while(file_exists($zipfile)) {
$zipfile = $zipname.'_'.$count.'.zip';
$count++;
}
$zip = new ZipArchive();

if ($zip->open($zipfile, ZIPARCHIVE::CREATE)!==TRUE) {
exit("Error opening , Make sure you have write permissionsn");
}
foreach ($filenames as $filename) {
$zip->addFile($filename,$filename);
echo "Adding " . $filename . " to ".$zipfile."";
}

echo "Files Packed = " . $zip->numFiles . "
";
if(!$zip->status) {
echo "Success";
return 1;
}
else {
echo "Fail";
return 0;
}
$zip->close();
}

/**
* parses the whole directory and archives it in small parts, each
* containg $maxFiles files each.
*
* @param:
*
* $dir: Directory to archive recursively.
*/
function parse($dir) {
global $filenames;
global $fileNums;
global $maxFiles;
if ($handle = opendir($dir)) {
while (false !== ($file = readdir($handle))) {
if ($file != "." && $file != ".." && is_file($dir.'/'.$file)) {
$filenames[] = $dir.'/'.$file;
$fileNums++;

if($fileNums >= $maxFiles) {
$fileNums=0;
if(!zipFiles()) return;
$filenames = array();
}
}

else if ($file != "." && $file != ".." && is_dir($dir.'/'.$file)) {
parse($dir.'/'.$file);
}
}
closedir($handle);
}
}
?>

To get going, just upload the script file in your root directory and point the $directory variable to the folder you want to archive. Now run the script using your web browser(make sure you run it once) and you are done. You will see the backup zip files in the current directory.

Hope you find it useful.

Public Mindscript

Dumping a remote SVN repository without admin access

PHP: Archive files for Backup on Server