Fetching older repository snapshots

In addition to all of the above commands, you can use svn update and svn checkout with the --revision option to take an entire working copy “back in time” [8]:

$ svn checkout -r 1729 # Checks out a new working copy at r1729
…
$ svn update -r 1729 # Updates an existing working copy to r1729
…

Tip

Many Subversion newcomers attempt to use the above svn update example to “undo” committed changes, but this won't work as you can't commit changes that you obtain from backdating a working copy if the changed files have newer revisions. See the section called “Resurrecting Deleted Items” for a description of how to “undo” a commit.

Lastly, if you're building a release and wish to bundle up your files from Subversion but don't want those pesky .svn directories in the way, then you can use svn export to create a local copy of all or part of your repository sans .svn directories. As with svn update and svn checkout, you can also pass the --revision option to svn export:

$ svn export http://svn.example.com/svn/repos1 # Exports latest revision
…
$ svn export http://svn.example.com/svn/repos1 -r 1729
# Exports revision r1729
…

[8] See? We told you that Subversion was a time machine.

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