[svnbook] r3776 committed - * src/en/book/ch03-advanced-topics.xml...

[svnbook at googlecode.com]

Revision: 3776
Author: cmpilato at gmail.com
Date: Tue Sep  7 09:16:26 2010
Log: * src/en/book/ch03-advanced-topics.xml
   For issue 94, add some warnings about the pros and cons of operating
   directly on the external working copy.  Suggested by
   gaffe_1{_AT_}live.com.
http://code.google.com/p/svnbook/source/detail?r=3776

Modified:
  /trunk/src/en/book/ch03-advanced-topics.xml

=======================================
--- /trunk/src/en/book/ch03-advanced-topics.xml	Fri Jul 24 11:29:59 2009
+++ /trunk/src/en/book/ch03-advanced-topics.xml	Tue Sep  7 09:16:26 2010
@@ -2948,7 +2948,7 @@
          <emphasis>they</emphasis> looked back when your repository was
          at that previous revision.  For software projects, this could
          be the difference between a successful and a failed build of
-        an older snapshot of your complex codebase.</para>
+        an older snapshot of your complex codebase.</para>
      </tip>

      <para>For most repositories, these three ways of formatting the
@@ -3183,6 +3183,28 @@
        definition format, older clients will <emphasis>not</emphasis>
        be able to correctly parse the new format.</para>

+    <warning>
+      <para>External working copies are still completely
+        self-sufficient working copies.  You can operate directly on
+        them as you would any other working copy.  This can be a handy
+        feature, allowing you to examine an external working copy
+        independently of any primary working copy
+        whose <literal>svn:externals</literal> property caused its
+        instantiation.  Be careful, though, that you don't
+        inadvertently modify your external working copy in subtle ways
+        that cause problems.  For example, while an externals
+        definition might specify that the external working copy should
+        be held at a particular revision number, if you
+        run <command>svn update</command> directly on the external
+        working copy, Subversion will oblige, and now your external
+        working copy is out of sync with its declaration in the
+        primary working copy.  Using <command>svn switch</command> to
+        directly switch the external working copy (or some portion
+        thereof) to another URL could cause similar problems if the
+        contents of the primary working copy are expecting particular
+        contents in the external content.</para>
+    </warning>
+
      <para>Besides the <command>svn checkout</command>, <command>svn
        update</command>, <command>svn switch</command>, and
        <command>svn export</command> commands which actually manage the
@@ -3195,7 +3217,6 @@
        themselves.  You can pass the
        <option>--ignore-externals</option> option to any of these
        subcommands to disable externals definition processing.</para>
-
    </sect1>

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