SVN Propset with in Python Script

Question

I'm automating project creation with a python script. I can create repositories, checkout, commit, and import directories, all from within python.

What it won't seem to do is set the svn:externals property. I can set this from command line but when I try to run the command with a subprocess.call it doesn't work.

Here's the command line (that works when in the checked-out project directory):

svn propset svn:externals "trunk/Source/Interactive/Flash.Externals https://server/svn/proj/" . 

Here's the script call (which runs after checking the repo out to gv.project_repo_dir ):

# gv is a global variables object
odir = getcwd()
chdir(getcwd() + '/' + gv.project_repo_dir)
res = call(['svn', 'propset', 'svn:externals',                                                \
            '"'+ gv.interactive_subpath +'Flash.Externals '+ gv.mirror_project_repo_url +'"', \
            '.'])
chdir(odir)

Here's the error from the script run:

svn: Error parsing svn:externals property on '.': '"trunk/Source/Interactive/Flash.Externals https://server/svn/proj/"'

I've tried this with shell=True as an arg to the call and without; no dice.

Any ideas?

Stats:

• Python 2.7
• Windows Server 2003
• VisualSVN

Answer 1

I would recommend looking at the pysvn module vs. doing it through command line:

http://pysvn.tigris.org/

But if you have to do it through command line, can you use the os.system call instead of the subprocess?

os.system('svn propset svn:externals "trunk/Source/Interactive/Flash.Externals https://server/svn/proj/" . ')

should run "as shell", you just aren't able to get feedback from it - it will run the command and wait until the command is finished.

That, or you could try breaking the command up (not 100% sure if this works in Windows, but pretty sure):

import shlex
commands = shlex.split('svn propset svn:externals "trunk/Source/Interactive/Flash.Externals https://server/svn/proj/" .')
subprocess.call(commands)

Answer 2

I don't know I buy the "it doesn't work with shell=True" statement. The error shows that it interpreted the double quotation marks as literals, as in it's trying to use "trunk/Source/Interactive/Flash.Externals https://server/svn/proj/" as one of the execvp arguments. The double quotation marks only have special meaning to a shell.

Example:

>>> subprocess.call(["ls", '"."'], shell=False)
ls: ".": No such file or directory
2

With shell=True:

>>> subprocess.call(["ls", '"."'], shell=True)
metrics_poller.sock  OSL_PIPE_0_SingleOfficeIPC_b919ef148f655fcebc4bf633c062a098  sv9hg.tmp
metrics.sock         proc_mgr_stats                                               userinstall.mBa793
mysql_tzinfo_stderr  sess_716518f985ab8de017981347a8b61c611c9880bd                userinstall.omY802

Try removing the double quotes if the shell=True variation really doesn't help.

res = call(['svn', 'propset', 'svn:externals',                                                \
            gv.interactive_subpath +'Flash.Externals '+ gv.mirror_project_repo_url, \
            '.'])