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This file documents version 2 of the svn protocol.
1. Syntactic structure
----------------------
The Subversion protocol is specified in terms of the following
syntactic elements, specified using ABNF [RFC 2234]:
item = word / number / string / list
word = ALPHA *(ALPHA / DIGIT / "-") space
number = 1*DIGIT space
string = 1*DIGIT ":" *OCTET space
; digits give the byte count of the *OCTET portion
list = "(" space *item ")" space
space = 1*(SP / LF)
Here is an example item showing each of the syntactic elements:
( word 22 6:string ( sublist ) )
All items end with mandatory whitespace. (In the above example, a
newline provides the terminating whitespace for the outer list.) It
is possible to parse an item without knowing its type in advance.
Lists are not constrained to contain items of the same type. Lists
can be used for tuples, optional tuples, or arrays. A tuple is a list
expected to contain a fixed number of items, generally of differing
types. An optional tuple is a list containing either zero or a fixed
number of items (thus "optional" here does not refer to the list's
presence or absence, but to the presence or absence of its contents).
An array is a list containing zero or more items of the same type.
Words are used for enumerated protocol values, while strings are used
for text or binary data of interest to the Subversion client or
server. Words are case-sensitive.
For convenience, this specification will define prototypes for data
items using a syntax like:
example: ( literal ( data:string ... ) )
A simple word such as "literal", with no colon, denotes a literal
word. A choice of words may be given with "|" separating the choices.
"name:type" specifies a parameter with the given type.
A type is "word", "number", "string", "list", or the name of another
prototype. Parentheses denote a tuple, unless the parentheses contain
ellipses, in which case the parentheses denote an array containing
zero or more elements matching the prototype preceding the ellipses.
If a tuple has an optional part after the fixed part, a '?' marks
places where the tuple is allowed to end. The following tuple could
contain one, three, or four or more items:
example: ( fixed:string ? opt1:number opt2:string ? opt3:number )
Brackets denote an optional tuple; they are equivalent to parentheses
and a leading '?'. For example, this:
example: ( literal (? rev:number ) ( data:string ... ) )
can be written more compactly like this:
example: ( literal [ rev:number ] ( data:string ... ) )
For extensibility, implementations must treat a list as matching a
prototype's tuple even if the list contains extra elements. The extra
elements must be ignored.
In some cases, a prototype may need to match two different kinds of
data items. This case will be written using "|" to separate the
alternatives; for example:
example: ( first-kind rev:number )
| second-kind
The "command response" prototype is used in several contexts of this
specification to indicate the success or failure of an operation. It
is defined as follows:
command-response: ( success params:list )
| ( failure ( err:error ... ) )
error: ( apr-err:number message:string file:string line:number )
The interpretation of parameters in a successful command response is
context-dependent.
URLs and repository paths are represented as strings. They should be in
canonical form when sent over the protocol. However, as a matter of input
validation, an implementation should always canonicalize received paths if it
needs them in canonicalized form.
2. Connection establishment and protocol setup
----------------------------------------------
By default, the client connects to the server on port 3690.
Upon receiving a connection, the server sends a greeting, using a
command response whose parameters match the prototype:
greeting: ( minver:number maxver:number mechs:list ( cap:word ... ) )
minver and maxver give the minimum and maximum Subversion protocol
versions supported by the server. mechs is present for historical
reasons, and is ignored by the client. The cap values give a list of
server capabilities (see section 2.1).
If the client does not support a protocol version within the specified
range, it closes the connection. Otherwise, the client responds to
the greeting with an item matching the prototype:
response: ( version:number ( cap:word ... ) url:string
? ra-client:string ( ? client:string ) )
version gives the protocol version selected by the client. The cap
values give a list of client capabilities (see section 2.1). url
gives the URL the client is accessing. ra-client is a string
identifying the RA implementation, e.g. "SVN/1.6.0" or "SVNKit 1.1.4".
client is the string returned by svn_ra_callbacks2_t.get_client_string;
that callback may not be implemented, so this is optional.
Upon receiving the client's response to the greeting, the server sends
an authentication request, which is a command response whose arguments
match the prototype:
auth-request: ( ( mech:word ... ) realm:string )
The mech values give a list of SASL mechanisms supported by the
server. The realm string is similar to an HTTP authentication realm
as defined in [RFC 2617]; it allows the server to indicate which of
several protection spaces the server wishes to authenticate in. If
the mechanism list is empty, then no authentication is required and no
further action takes place as part of the authentication challenge;
otherwise, the client responds with a tuple matching the prototype:
auth-response: ( mech:word [ token:string ] )
mech specifies the SASL mechanism and token, if present, gives the
"initial response" of the authentication exchange. The client may
specify an empty mechanism to decline authentication; otherwise, upon
receiving the client's auth-response, the server sends a series of
challenges, each a tuple matching the prototype:
challenge: ( step ( token:string ) )
| ( failure ( message:string ) )
| ( success [ token:string ] )
If the first word of the challenge is "step", then the token is
interpreted by the authentication mechanism, and the response token
transmitted to the server as a string. The server then proceeds with
another challenge. If the client wishes to abort the authentication
exchange, it may do so by closing the connection.
If the first word of the challenge is "success", the authentication is
successful. If a token is provided, it should be interpreted by the
authentication mechanism, but there is no response.
If the first word of the challenge is "failure", the authentication
exchange is unsuccessful. The client may then give up, or make
another auth-response and restart the authentication process.
RFC 2222 requires that a protocol profile define a service name for
the sake of the GSSAPI mechanism. The service name for this protocol
is "svn".
After a successful authentication exchange, the server sends a command
response whose parameters match the prototype:
repos-info: ( uuid:string repos-url:string ( cap:word ... ) )
uuid gives the universal unique identifier of the repository,
repos-url gives the URL of the repository's root directory, and the
cap values list the repository capabilities (that is, capabilities
that require both server and repository support before the server can
claim them as capabilities, e.g., SVN_RA_SVN_CAP_MERGEINFO).
The client can now begin sending commands from the main command set.
2.1 Capabilities
The following capabilities are currently defined (S indicates a server
capability and C indicates a client capability):
[CS] edit-pipeline Every released version of Subversion since 1.0
announces the edit-pipeline capability; starting
in Subversion 1.5, both client and server
*require* the other side to announce edit-pipeline.
[CS] svndiff1 If both the client and server support svndiff version
1, this will be used as the on-the-wire format for
svndiff instead of svndiff version 0.
[CS] accepts-svndiff2 This capability advertises support for accepting
svndiff2 deltas. The sender of a delta (= the editor
driver) may send it in any svndiff version the receiver
has announced it can accept.
[CS] absent-entries If the remote end announces support for this capability,
it will accept the absent-dir and absent-file editor
commands.
[S] commit-revprops If the server presents this capability, it supports the
rev-props parameter of the commit command.
See section 3.1.1.
[S] mergeinfo If the server presents this capability, it supports the
get-mergeinfo command. See section 3.1.1.
[S] depth If the server presents this capability, it understands
requested operational depth (see section 3.1.1) and
per-path ambient depth (see section 3.1.3).
[S] atomic-revprops If the server presents this capability, it
supports the change-rev-prop2 command.
See section 3.1.1.
[S] inherited-props If the server presents this capability, it supports the
retrieval of inherited properties via the get-dir and
get-file commands and also supports the get-iprops
command (see section 3.1.1).
[S] list If the server presents this capability, it supports the
list command (see section 3.1.1).
3. Commands
-----------
Commands match the prototypes:
command: ( command-name:word params:list )
The interpretation of command parameters is different from command to
command.
Initially, the client initiates commands from the main command set,
and the server responds. Some commands in the main command set can
temporarily change the set of commands which may be issued, or change
the flow of control so that the server issues commands and the client
responds.
Here are some miscellaneous prototypes used by the command sets:
proplist: ( ( name:string value:string ) ... )
iproplist: ( ( name:string proplist ) ... )
propdelta: ( ( name:string [ value:string ] ) ... )
node-kind: none|file|dir|unknown
bool: true|false
lockdesc: ( path:string token:string owner:string [ comment:string ]
created:string [ expires:string ] )
3.1. Command Sets
There are three command sets: the main command set, the editor command
set, and the report command set. Initially, the protocol begins in
the main command set with the client sending commands; some commands
can change the command set and possibly the direction of control.
3.1.1. Main Command Set
The main command set corresponds to the svn_ra interfaces. After each
main command is issued by the client, the server sends an auth-request
as described in section 2. (If no new authentication is required, the
auth-request contains an empty mechanism list, and the server proceeds
immediately to sending the command response.) Some commands include a
second place for auth-request point as noted below.
reparent
params: ( url:string )
response: ( )
get-latest-rev
params: ( )
response: ( rev:number )
get-dated-rev
params: ( date:string )
response: ( rev:number )
change-rev-prop
params: ( rev:number name:string ? value:string )
response: ( )
If value is not specified, the rev-prop is removed.
(Originally the value was required; for minimum impact, it was
changed to be optional without creating an optional tuple for
that one parameter as we normally do.)
change-rev-prop2
params: ( rev:number name:string [ value:string ]
( dont-care:bool ? previous-value:string ) )
response: ( )
If value is not specified, the rev-prop is removed. If dont-care is false,
then the rev-prop is changed only if it is currently set as previous-value
indicates. (If dont-care is false and previous-value is unspecified, then
the revision property must be previously unset.) If dont-care is true,
then previous-value must not be specified.
rev-proplist
params: ( rev:number )
response: ( props:proplist )
rev-prop
params: ( rev:number name:string )
response: ( [ value:string ] )
commit
params: ( logmsg:string ? ( ( lock-path:string lock-token:string ) ... )
keep-locks:bool ? rev-props:proplist )
response: ( )
Upon receiving response, client switches to editor command set.
Upon successful completion of edit, server sends auth-request.
After auth exchange completes, server sends commit-info.
If rev-props is present, logmsg is ignored. Only the svn:log entry in
rev-props (if any) will be used.
commit-info: ( new-rev:number date:string author:string
? ( post-commit-err:string ) )
NOTE: when revving this, make 'logmsg' optional, or delete that parameter
and have the log message specified in 'rev-props'.
get-file
params: ( path:string [ rev:number ] want-props:bool want-contents:bool
? want-iprops:bool )
response: ( [ checksum:string ] rev:number props:proplist
[ inherited-props:iproplist ] )
If want-contents is specified, then after sending response, server
sends file contents as a series of strings, terminated by the empty
string, followed by a second empty command response to indicate
whether an error occurred during the sending of the file.
NOTE: the standard client doesn't send want-iprops as true, it uses
get-iprops, but does send want-iprops as false to workaround a server
bug in 1.8.0-1.8.8.
get-dir
params: ( path:string [ rev:number ] want-props:bool want-contents:bool
? ( field:dirent-field ... ) ? want-iprops:bool )
response: ( rev:number props:proplist ( entry:dirent ... )
[ inherited-props:iproplist ] )]
dirent: ( name:string kind:node-kind size:number has-props:bool
created-rev:number [ created-date:string ]
[ last-author:string ] )
dirent-field: kind | size | has-props | created-rev | time | last-author
| word
NOTE: the standard client doesn't send want-iprops as true, it uses
get-iprops, but does send want-iprops as false to workaround a server
bug in 1.8.0-1.8.8.
check-path
params: ( path:string [ rev:number ] )
response: ( kind:node-kind )
If path is non-existent, 'svn_node_none' kind is returned.
stat
params: ( path:string [ rev:number ] )
response: ( ? entry:dirent )
dirent: ( kind:node-kind size:number has-props:bool
created-rev:number [ created-date:string ]
[ last-author:string ] )
New in svn 1.2. If path is non-existent, an empty response is returned.
get-mergeinfo
params: ( ( path:string ... ) [ rev:number ] inherit:word
descendants:bool)
response: ( ( ( path:string merge-info:string ) ... ) )
New in svn 1.5. If no paths are specified, an empty response is
returned. If rev is not specified, the youngest revision is used.
update
params: ( [ rev:number ] target:string recurse:bool
? depth:word send_copyfrom_args:bool ? ignore_ancestry:bool )
Client switches to report command set.
Upon finish-report, server sends auth-request.
After auth exchange completes, server switches to editor command set.
After edit completes, server sends response.
response: ( )
switch
params: ( [ rev:number ] target:string recurse:bool url:string
? depth:word ? send_copyfrom_args:bool ignore_ancestry:bool )
Client switches to report command set.
Upon finish-report, server sends auth-request.
After auth exchange completes, server switches to editor command set.
After edit completes, server sends response.
response: ( )
status
params: ( target:string recurse:bool ? [ rev:number ] ? depth:word )
Client switches to report command set.
Upon finish-report, server sends auth-request.
After auth exchange completes, server switches to editor command set.
After edit completes, server sends response.
response: ( )
diff
params: ( [ rev:number ] target:string recurse:bool ignore-ancestry:bool
url:string ? text-deltas:bool ? depth:word )
Client switches to report command set.
Upon finish-report, server sends auth-request.
After auth exchange completes, server switches to editor command set.
After edit completes, server sends response.
response: ( )
log
params: ( ( target-path:string ... ) [ start-rev:number ]
[ end-rev:number ] changed-paths:bool strict-node:bool
? limit:number
? include-merged-revisions:bool
all-revprops | revprops ( revprop:string ... ) )
Before sending response, server sends log entries, ending with "done".
If a client does not want to specify a limit, it should send 0 as the
limit parameter. rev-props excludes author, date, and log; they are
sent separately for backwards-compatibility.
log-entry: ( ( change:changed-path-entry ... ) rev:number
[ author:string ] [ date:string ] [ message:string ]
? has-children:bool invalid-revnum:bool
revprop-count:number rev-props:proplist
? subtractive-merge:bool )
| done
changed-path-entry: ( path:string A|D|R|M
? ( ? copy-path:string copy-rev:number )
? ( ? node-kind:string ? text-mods:bool prop-mods:bool ) )
response: ( )
get-locations
params: ( path:string peg-rev:number ( rev:number ... ) )
Before sending response, server sends location entries, ending with "done".
location-entry: ( rev:number abs-path:number ) | done
response: ( )
get-location-segments
params: ( path:string [ start-rev:number ] [ end-rev:number ] )
Before sending response, server sends location entries, ending with "done".
location-entry: ( range-start:number range-end:number [ abs-path:string ] ) | done
response: ( )
get-file-revs
params: ( path:string [ start-rev:number ] [ end-rev:number ]
? include-merged-revisions:bool )
Before sending response, server sends file-rev entries, ending with "done".
file-rev: ( path:string rev:number rev-props:proplist
file-props:propdelta ? merged-revision:bool )
| done
After each file-rev, the file delta is sent as one or more strings,
terminated by the empty string. If there is no delta, server just sends
the terminator.
response: ( )
lock
params: ( path:string [ comment:string ] steal-lock:bool
[ current-rev:number ] )
response: ( lock:lockdesc )
lock-many
params: ( [ comment:string ] steal-lock:bool ( ( path:string
[ current-rev:number ] ) ... ) )
Before sending response, server sends lock cmd status and descriptions,
ending with "done".
lock-info: ( success ( lock:lockdesc ) ) | ( failure ( err:error ) )
| done
response: ( )
unlock
params: ( path:string [ token:string ] break-lock:bool )
response: ( )
unlock-many
params: ( break-lock:bool ( ( path:string [ token:string ] ) ... ) )
Before sending response, server sends unlocked paths, ending with "done".
pre-response: ( success ( path:string ) ) | ( failure ( err:error ) )
| done
response: ( )
get-lock
params: ( path:string )
response: ( [ lock:lockdesc ] )
get-locks
params: ( path:string ? [ depth:word ] )
response ( ( lock:lockdesc ... ) )
replay
params: ( revision:number low-water-mark:number send-deltas:bool )
After auth exchange completes, server switches to editor command set.
After edit completes, server sends response.
response ( )
replay-range
params: ( start-rev:number end-rev:number low-water-mark:number
send-deltas:bool )
After auth exchange completes, server sends each revision
from start-rev to end-rev, alternating between sending 'revprops'
entries and sending the revision in the editor command set.
After all revisions are complete, server sends response.
revprops: ( revprops:word props:proplist )
(revprops here is the literal word "revprops".)
response ( )
get-deleted-rev
params: ( path:string peg-rev:number end-rev:number )
response: ( deleted-rev:number )
get-iprops
params: ( path:string [ rev:number ] )
response: ( inherited-props:iproplist )
New in svn 1.8. If rev is not specified, the youngest revision is used.
list
params: ( path:string [ rev:number ] depth:word
( field:dirent-field ... ) ? ( pattern:string ... ) )
Before sending response, server sends dirents, ending with "done".
dirent: ( rel-path:string kind:node-kind
? [ size:number ] [ has-props:bool ] [ created-rev:number ]
[ created-date:string ] [ last-author:string ] )
| done
dirent-field: kind | size | has-props | created-rev | time | last-author
| word
response: ( )
New in svn 1.10. If rev is not specified, the youngest revision is used.
If the dirent-fields don't contain "kind", "unknown" will be returned
in the kind field.
3.1.2. Editor Command Set
An edit operation produces only one response, at close-edit or
abort-edit time. However, the consumer may write an error response at
any time during the edit in order to terminate the edit operation
early; the driver must notice that input is waiting on the connection,
read the error, and send an abort-edit operation. After an error is
returned, the consumer must read and discard editing operations until
the abort-edit. In order to prevent TCP deadlock, the consumer must
use non-blocking I/O to send an early error response; if writing
blocks, the consumer must read and discard edit operations until
writing unblocks or it reads an abort-edit.
target-rev
params: ( rev:number )
open-root
params: ( [ rev:number ] root-token:string )
delete-entry
params: ( path:string rev:number dir-token:string )
add-dir
params: ( path:string parent-token:string child-token:string
[ copy-path:string copy-rev:number ] )
open-dir
params: ( path:string parent-token:string child-token:string rev:number )
change-dir-prop
params: ( dir-token:string name:string [ value:string ] )
close-dir
params: ( dir-token:string )
absent-dir
params: ( path:string parent-token:string )
add-file
params: ( path:string dir-token:string file-token:string
[ copy-path:string copy-rev:number ] )
open-file
params: ( path:string dir-token:string file-token:string rev:number )
apply-textdelta
params: ( file-token:string [ base-checksum:string ] )
textdelta-chunk
params: ( file-token:string chunk:string )
textdelta-end
params: ( file-token:string )
change-file-prop
params: ( file-token:string name:string [ value:string ] )
close-file
params: ( file-token:string [ text-checksum:string ] )
absent-file
params: ( path:string parent-token:string )
close-edit
params: ( )
response: ( )
abort-edit
params: ( )
response: ( )
finish-replay
params: ( )
Only delivered from server to client, at the end of a replay.
3.1.3. Report Command Set
To reduce round-trip delays, report commands do not return responses.
Any errors resulting from a report call will be returned to the client
by the command which invoked the report (following an abort-edit
call). Errors resulting from an abort-report call are ignored.
set-path:
params: ( path:string rev:number start-empty:bool
? [ lock-token:string ] ? depth:word )
delete-path:
params: ( path:string )
link-path:
params: ( path:string url:string rev:number start-empty:bool
? [ lock-token:string ] ? depth:word )
finish-report:
params: ( )
abort-report
params: ( )
4. Extensibility
----------------
This protocol may be extended in three ways, in decreasing order of
desirability:
* Items may be added to any tuple. An old implementation will
ignore the extra items.
* Named extensions may be expressed at connection initiation time
by the client or server.
* The protocol version may be bumped. Clients and servers can then
choose to any range of protocol versions.
4.1. Limitations
The current implementation limits the length of a word to 31 characters.
Longer words, such as capability names, will be cause an error on the
receiver side.
4.2. Extending existing commands
Extending an existing command is normally done by indicating that its
tuple is allowed to end where it currently ends, for backwards
compatibility, and then tacking on a new, possibly optional, item.
For example, diff was extended to include a new mandatory text-deltas
parameter like this:
/* OLD */ diff:
params: ( [ rev:number ] target:string recurse:bool ignore-ancestry:bool
url:string )
/* NEW */ diff:
params: ( [ rev:number ] target:string recurse:bool ignore-ancestry:bool
url:string ? text-deltas:bool )
The "?" says that the tuple is allowed to end here, because an old
client or server wouldn't know to send the new item.
For optional parameters, a slightly different approach must be used.
set-path was extended to include lock-tokens like this:
/* OLD */ set-path:
params: ( path:string rev:number start-empty:bool )
/* NEW */ set-path:
params: ( path:string rev:number start-empty:bool ? [ lock-token:string ] )
The new item appears in brackets because, even in the new protocol,
the lock-token is still optional. However, if there's no lock-token
to send, an empty tuple must still be transmitted so that future
extensions to this command remain possible.