Using Subversion Sparse Checkout to Retrieve Selected Directories

Desired outcome

Create a working copy that contains only the directories you need from a large Subversion repository, saving disk space and reducing update time.

Prerequisites

• Subversion client version 1.5 or later installed.
• Read access to the repository URL (e.g., https://svn.example.com/repo).
• Basic familiarity with svn checkout and svn update commands.

Procedure

1. Perform an initial sparse checkout that brings in only the top‑level directories you want to work with. For example, to check out just the trunk and a specific subdirectory src/lib:

svn checkout --depth=immediates https://svn.example.com/repo/trunk my-working-copy

This creates my-working-copy containing the trunk directory but with all its immediate children set to depth empty (i.e., only their names are present).

2. Navigate into the working copy and set the depth for the subdirectory you actually need:

cd my-working-copy/trunk
svn update --set-depth=infinity src/lib

Now src/lib and all of its nested contents are fully populated, while other directories under trunk remain absent.

3. If you later need additional directories, adjust their depth similarly:

svn update --set-depth=infinity src/tools
svn update --set-depth=immediates docs   # keep only the docs folder name

4. To reduce the working copy again, set a shallower depth:

svn update --set-depth=empty src/tools   # removes src/tools contents

Expected checks

• After each svn update --set-depth run, verify the reported depth with:

svn info --depth=immediates src/lib

The output should show Depth: infinity for fully expanded directories or Depth: empty for collapsed ones.

• Use svn status to ensure no unexpected modifications appear; omitted items will show as ! only if they were deliberately removed by a depth reduction.
• List the actual contents to confirm:

svn list -R src/lib

Recovery options

Changing depth from deeper to shallower removes the omitted files from the working copy. If you realize you need those files again, simply run an svn update --set-depth=infinity on the affected directory to restore them. No repository data is lost; only the working copy is modified.

Limitations

• Build scripts that expect the full tree may fail if they reference files omitted by a sparse checkout. Verify script compatibility before relying on a reduced working copy.
• Depth properties are stored per‑directory; mixing inconsistent depths (e.g., a parent set to empty while a child is infinity) can lead to confusing states. Keep depth settings hierarchical and update parents before children when expanding.