What is a Subversion (SVN) dump file?
A repository dump stream (often referred to as a “dump file” when stored as a file on a disk) is a portable, flat file format that describes the various revisions in your repository—what was changed, by whom, when, and so on. This dump stream is the primary mechanism used to move versioned history—in whole or in part, with or without modification—between repositories.
For more information see the Repository Maintenance chapter of the SVN Redbook.
Downloading a dump file from Assembla SVN
To download a dump file of your Assembla-hosted SVN repository:
Go the SVN tab for the repository you wish to export, then go to the Import/Export sub-tab (You'd need ALL permissions or being an owner).
Click the Generate Repository dump button.
An export job will be scheduled and run in the background. This job will create a compressed dump file of the repository and place it in a temporary folder on the server. A link to download the file will appear in the Import/Export page and it will be available for 24 hours.
To generate a standard dump file from Assembla's dump, untar the compressed file and run this command:
svnadmin dump /path/to/untarred/folder --incremental --deltas > /path/to/single/dump/file
For a guide to importing repository dump files from an outside source to Assembla, check out Migrating SVN Repositories to Assembla.
Have questions? Email us at support@assembla.com