How do I checkout a single file (not folder) from the SVN repository?

Question

Currently I am working on a C#.net project (visual studio 2005). I could checkout a project from the SVN repository, make changes to a file and commit.

But, how can I specify the checkout depth (sparse checkout) and checkout a single file by using sharpSVN DLL? Please help.

Answer 1

Subversion clients do not, so far as I know, generally support single-file checkouts. You can certainly get a single file (with nothing more than a simple HTTP GET request to the URL), but checking back in changes will be more difficult.

The reason for this is that Subversion wants to create its metadata directories ( .svn ) to track properties, URLs, the old version of the file, etc. That's hard to do in a single file.

Answer 2

Like @derobert said, you cannot check out a single file. The best you can do is a non-recursive checkout of that file's directory.