How to correct "containing working copy admin area is missing" error?

["Zembower, Kevin" <kz...@jhuccp.org>]

I'm experiencing an error similar to the ones you can find described in emails to this list at http://subversion.tigris.org/servlets/SearchList?list=users&searchText=%22containing+working+copy+admin+area+is+missing%22&defaultField=subject&Search=Search

Specifically, this one seems closest to my problem: http://subversion.tigris.org/servlets/ReadMsg?listName=users&msgNo=75049. Unfortunately, there's no answer.

I was trying to do an 'in-place' importation of all the files in /usr/local/src/* on my host. I executed these commands successfully:
kevinz@centernet:/usr/local$ svn mkdir file:///var/lib/svn/usr_local_src -m"Subversion repository for /usr/local/src/*."

Committed revision 156.
kevinz@centernet:/usr/local$ cd src/
kevinz@centernet:/usr/local/src$ svn checkout file:///var/lib/svn/usr_local_src .
Checked out revision 156.
kevinz@centernet:/usr/local/src$ svn add *
A         catz
A         countPopular.pl
A         countPopular.pl,v
svn: Can't create directory 'dnstran1.5.2/.svn': Permission denied
kevinz@centernet:/usr/local/src$

At this point, I discovered that /usr/local/src/dnstran1.5.2/ was only writable by root, so I chgrp it to my group and made it writable by group and tried to continue:
kevinz@centernet:/usr/local/src$ sudo chgrp -R admin dnstran1.5.2
Password:
kevinz@centernet:/usr/local/src$ svn add *
svn: warning: 'catz' is already under version control
svn: warning: 'countPopular.pl' is already under version control
svn: warning: 'countPopular.pl,v' is already under version control
svn: warning: 'dnstran1.5.2' is already under version control
A         doc2html.cfg
A         doc2html.pl
<snip>
A         temp.html
kevinz@centernet:/usr/local/src$ svn commit -m"Initial check-in of /usr/local/src/*."
svn: Commit failed (details follow):
svn: Directory '/usr/local/src/dnstran1.5.2/.svn' containing working copy admin area is missing
kevinz@centernet:/usr/local/src$

At this point, I can't add it:
kevinz@centernet:/usr/local/src$ svn add dnstran1.5.2/*
svn: 'dnstran1.5.2' is not a working copy
svn: Can't open file 'dnstran1.5.2/.svn/entries': No such file or directory
kevinz@centernet:/usr/local/src$ svn add dnstran1.5.2
svn: warning: 'dnstran1.5.2' is already under version control
kevinz@centernet:/usr/local/src$

There is no .svn directory in the dnstran1.5.2 directory:
kevinz@centernet:/usr/local/src$ ls -laR dnstran1.5.2
dnstran1.5.2:
total 544
drwxrwxr-x 2 root admin   4096 Jun  2  2004 .
drwxrwsr-x 6 root admin   4096 Oct 31 10:20 ..
-rw-rw-r-- 1 root admin   7271 May  8  2002 README
-rwxrwxr-x 1 root admin 525520 Jun 21  2002 dnstran
-rw-r--r-- 1 root admin   2772 Jun  2  2004 dnstran.cfg
-rw-rw-r-- 1 root admin   2663 Jun 21  2002 dnstran.cfg.orig
kevinz@centernet:/usr/local/src$

I can't 'svn rm' it:
kevinz@centernet:/usr/local/src$ svn rm dnstran1.5.2
svn: Directory 'dnstran1.5.2/.svn' containing working copy admin area is missing
kevinz@centernet:/usr/local/src$

I can't check it out again, because it's never been checked in.

The only reference to it in Subversion seems to be in the file /usr/local/src/.svn/entries, where it appears. I'm hesitant to just edit it out of the file.

Can anyone with a more in-depth knowledge of Subversion advise me on how to proceed to fix this problem? My only thought is to remove all traces of .svn files and directories and re-import the whole lot.

Thanks so much for your suggestions and advice.

-Kevin


Kevin Zembower
Internet Services Group manager
Center for Communication Programs
Bloomberg School of Public Health
Johns Hopkins University
111 Market Place, Suite 310
Baltimore, Maryland  21202
410-659-6139


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