Making new repository from working copy before committing files

Question

I am working with Versionsapp and beanstalk, and I have a project that we have been working on that has a few live sites and a sandbox. All the these sites have local folders taken from the main repository.

Everything has been working fine, but I have been developing a new version of the site within the sandbox folder, and this maybe in development for a while, so I don't won't to commit the changes to the repository as this will overwrite the live sites and we are not ready for this.

I'm guessing I should have created a brach and worked on this then overwritten the main tree when ready, but what do I do now? Can I create a new repository, or branch front his working copy?

Answer 1

You can create a branch from your production copy in the repository not from your working copy. Then you may commit to it. Check the SVN book on Branching and be sure to read the book for the respective version of SVN you're using.

What you should basically do is:

1. BackUp all your code
2. Create a branch in the repo
3. Export your code (This means to get the source code only without the .svn folders) All IDEs have this functionality
4. Switch your working copy to the branch
5. Paste your code over your working copy (the working copy should be at the state of the brach - so it should be the same as the production version)
6. Commit into the branch and continue working from there

This is somewhat of a "hack" because of the situation you're into. It will do the job, but it may get complicated if you are working with others on this.