build automation - How do you determine the latest SVN revision number rooted in a directory?

Question

I would like to start tagging my deployed binaries with the latest SVN revision number.

However, because SVN is file-based and not directory/project-based, I need to scan through all the directory's and subdirectory's files in order to determine the highest revision number.

Using svn info on the root doesn't work (it just reports the version of that directory, not files in subdirectories):

I was wondering if there is a shortcut using the svn command to do this. Otherwise, can anyone suggest a simple script that is network-efficient (I would prefer if it didn't hit the remote server at all)?

I also understand that one alternative approach is to keep a version file with the svn:keywords. This works (I've used it on other projects), but I get tired of dealing with making sure the file is dirty and dealing with the inevitable merge conflicts.

Answer I see my problem lied with not doing a proper svn up before calling svn info in the root directory:

$ svn info
Path: .
...
Last Changed Author: fak
Last Changed Rev: 713
Last Changed Date: 2008-08-29 00:40:53 +0300 (Fri, 29 Aug 2008)

$ svn up
At revision 721.

$ svn info
Path: .
...
Revision: 721
Last Changed Author: reuben
Last Changed Rev: 721
Last Changed Date: 2008-08-31 22:55:22 +0300 (Sun, 31 Aug 2008)

Answer 1

One way. When you check out the code, look at the last line of svn output:

$ svn up
...stuff...
Updated to revision 66593.

A more direct way:

$ svn info
Path: .
URL: https://svn.example.com/svn/myproject/trunk
Repository Root: https://svn.example.com/svn/
Repository UUID: d2a7a951-c712-0410-832a-9abccabd3052
Revision: 66593
Node Kind: directory
Schedule: normal
Last Changed Author: bnguyen
Last Changed Rev: 66591
Last Changed Date: 2008-09-11 18:25:27 +1000 (Thu, 11 Sep 2008)