Subversion properties are versioned metadata attached to files or directories. Property edits behave much like file-content edits: they can be reviewed, committed, updated, reverted, and conflicted.
A property change is local until committed.
Defines unversioned names or patterns to ignore below a versioned directory.
Use it for generated files, build output, caches, or other files that should not normally be considered for version control.
An ignore rule does not remove an item that is already versioned.
Defines additional working copies that Subversion should obtain below a versioned directory.
Externals are powerful enough to deserve their own topic: Externals.
Controls line-ending normalization for text files. Common values include native platform line endings or a fixed line-ending style.
Changing this property can cause large apparent file changes if line endings are normalized.
Enables expansion of supported Subversion keywords in file content.
Be careful with generated or signed content where automatic expansion would be undesirable.
Describes file content type. Subversion can use it to distinguish text-like and binary content behavior.
An incorrect binary MIME type can also affect operations such as Annotate.
Makes a file read-only in the working copy until a repository lock is obtained, as a reminder to use lock-modify-unlock behavior.
This is most useful for files that cannot be merged safely, such as many binary design formats.
Marks a file as executable on platforms where executable permission is meaningful.
Stores merge-tracking history.
Subversion normally maintains svn:mergeinfo automatically during merges. Manual edits should be avoided unless you understand how the merge history is being represented.
The bugtraq:* property family is a widely used client convention for connecting Subversion commits to an issue tracker. TortoiseSVN and AnkhSVN’s Generic Bugtraq provider can share the same settings.
Common values include:
bugtraq:url — issue URL template containing %BUGID%,bugtraq:message — commit-message pattern,bugtraq:label — label shown beside the issue field,bugtraq:number — whether IDs are numeric,bugtraq:warnifnoissue — whether to remind the user when no ID is entered while an issue tracker is associated with the project. Removing the tracker disables this reminder even if the property remains,bugtraq:append — whether the generated issue text is appended or inserted at the top,bugtraq:logregex — regular-expression rules for finding issue IDs in log messages.These are normal versioned SVN properties. Changing them creates local property modifications that must be committed to share them with other working copies.
See Issue Tracking Integration.
AnkhSVN also stores its selected issue-provider association as SVN properties on the solution working-copy root. Those properties identify which connector/provider AnkhSVN should host in the Issues tab.
Removing an AnkhSVN tracker association removes only that association metadata. It intentionally does not delete a Local SVN Issues file and does not erase standard bugtraq:* properties.
Properties such as svn:ignore and svn:externals are commonly placed on directories. Some Subversion configurations also use inherited properties.
When debugging unexpected behavior, check parent directories as well as the immediate file.
Property changes can conflict independently from file content. A file may have no text conflict but still have an unresolved property conflict.
Some Subversion clients can apply properties automatically when files are added, based on client configuration. Global ignore settings can also hide files without using a versioned svn:ignore property.
That means two developers can see different add/ignore behavior if their local Subversion configuration differs.