This is run before the commit transaction is even created. It is typically used to decide if the user has commit privileges at all. The repository passes two arguments to this program: the path to the repository, and username which is attempting the commit. If the program returns a non-zero exit value, the commit is stopped before the transaction is even created. If the hook program writes data to stderr, it will be marshalled back to the client.

This is run when the transaction is complete, but before it is committed. Typically, this hook is used to protect against commits that are disallowed due to content or location (for example, your site might require that all commits to a certain branch include a ticket number from the bug tracker, or that the incoming log message is non-empty). The repository passes two arguments to this program: the path to the repository, and the name of the transaction being committed. If the program returns a non-zero exit value, the commit is aborted and the transaction is removed. If the hook program writes data to stderr, it will be marshalled back to the client.

The Subversion distribution includes some access control scripts (located in the tools/hook-scripts directory of the Subversion source tree) that can be called from pre-commit to implement fine-grained write-access control. Another option is to use the mod_authz_svn Apache httpd module, which provides both read and write access control on individual directories (see «Per-Directory Access Control»). In a future version of Subversion, we plan to implement access control lists (ACLs) directly in the filesystem.

This is run after the transaction is committed, and a new revision is created. Most people use this hook to send out descriptive emails about the commit or to make a backup of the repository. The repository passes two arguments to this program: the path to the repository, and the new revision number that was created. The exit code of the program is ignored.

The Subversion distribution includes mailer.py and commit-email.pl scripts (located in the tools/hook-scripts/ directory of the Subversion source tree) that can be used to send email with (and/or append to a log file) a description of a given commit. This mail contains a list of the paths that were changed, the log message attached to the commit, the author and date of the commit, as well as a GNU diff-style display of the changes made to the various versioned files as part of the commit.

Another useful tool provided by Subversion is the hot-backup.py script (located in the tools/backup/ directory of the Subversion source tree). This script performs hot backups of your Subversion repository (a feature supported by the Berkeley DB database back-end), and can be used to make a per-commit snapshot of your repository for archival or emergency recovery purposes.

Because Subversion's revision properties are not versioned, making modifications to such a property (for example, the svn:log commit message property) will overwrite the previous value of that property forever. Since data can be potentially lost here, Subversion supplies this hook (and its counterpart, post-revprop-change) so that repository administrators can keep records of changes to these items using some external means if they so desire. As a precaution against losing unversioned property data, Subversion clients will not be allowed to remotely modify revision properties at all unless this hook is implemented for your repository.

This hook runs just before such a modification is made to the repository. The repository passes four arguments to this hook: the path to the repository, the revision on which the to-be-modified property exists, the authenticated username of the person making the change, and the name of the property itself.

As mentioned earlier, this hook is the counterpart of the pre-revprop-change hook. In fact, for the sake of paranoia this script will not run unless the pre-revprop-change hook exists. When both of these hooks are present, the post-revprop-change hook runs just after a revision property has been changed, and is typically used to send an email containing the new value of the changed property. The repository passes four arguments to this hook: the path to the repository, the revision on which the property exists, the authenticated username of the person making the change, and the name of the property itself.

The Subversion distribution includes a propchange-email.pl script (located in the tools/hook-scripts/ directory of the Subversion source tree) that can be used to send email with (and/or append to a log file) the details of a revision property change. This mail contains the revision and name of the changed property, the user who made the change, and the new property value.

This hook runs whenever someone attempts to lock a file. It can be used to prevent locks altogether, or to create a more complex policy specifying exactly which users are allowed to lock particular paths. If the hook notices a pre-existing lock, then it can also decide whether a user is allowed to «steal» the existing lock. The repository passes three arguments to the hook: the path to the repository, the path being locked, and the user attempting to perform the lock. If the program returns a non-zero exit value, the lock action is aborted and anything printed to stderr is marshalled back to the client.

This hook runs after a path is locked. The locked path is passed to the hook's stdin, and the hook also receives two arguments: the path to the repository, and the user who performed the lock. The hook is then free to send email notification or record the event in any way it chooses. Because the lock already happened, the output of the hook is ignored.

This hook runs whenever someone attempts to remove a lock on a file. It can be used to create policies that specify which users are allowed to unlock particular paths. It's particularly important for determining policies about lock breakage. If user A locks a file, is user B allowed to break the lock? What if the lock is more than a week old? These sorts of things can be decided and enforced by the hook. The repository passes three arguments to the hook: the path to the repository, the path being unlocked, and the user attempting to remove the lock. If the program returns a non-zero exit value, the unlock action is aborted and anything printed to stderr is marshalled back to the client.

This hook runs after a path is unlocked. The unlocked path is passed to the hook's stdin, and the hook also receives two arguments: the path to the repository, and the user who removed the lock. The hook is then free to send email notification or record the event in any way it chooses. Because the lock removal already happened, the output of the hook is ignored.