SVN frequently says file is locked by me in another working copy

Question

I have an SVN repository (hosted on Dreamhost) with needs-lock set on binary files. It sometimes happen that, while committing files locked and modified by me, the commit fails

Answer 1

If using a JetBrains IDE:

right click on the file you want to unlock, go to Subversion and click lock

then select checkbox steal existing lock and apply with OK

right click on that file again, go to Subversion and click unlock

If using command line:

lock the file with --force

svn lock --force path/to/file.ext

and unlock it again

svn unlock path/to/file.ext

Answer 2

I also encountered the same problem and found that out of three machines, in one of the machine I have locked the file and due to which I also facing the problem. What I did is release the lock from that machine and proceed further.

OR

Steal the lock first and then start working as this is the best option provided by SVN.

Answer 3

Found this: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/subversion_users/wZikmNEubz4 It seems this problem manifests when using an svn 1.8 client and a server prior to 1.6.17: when updating the root folder of a working copy, my locks get broken (regardless of the needs-lock flag).

I downgraded to a 1.7.14 client and the problem does not occur.

Answer 4

Cleanup will not help. That's used for working copy locks, whereas you're running into an issue with files being locked in the repository itself as a means of implementing a mutex between users. See The Three Meanings of "Lock"

You probably have a client that's locking the file(s) for you in a different working copy without your knowledge (either locally or in a WC on your server), or perhaps you've got a WebDAV share that you've mounted and are opening the file(s) there which is causing a lock to be created.

Answer 5

On Windows, I fixed the problem by the following steps: 1. Launch Repository Browser by clicking "Repo-browser" in the menu. 2. Locate the locked file. 3. Right click your mouse on the locked file. 4. Click "break lock".