[nzlug] svn - importing in-place

[Jim Cheetham]

I have a tree of data that is un-reconstructable (i.e. it doesn't have
a make process), but I want to track changes to it with svn. The main
problem is that I want to preserve metadata - file permissions.

I can import it all in to a repository, but in order to have a
"working copy" I have to check it all out again somewhere else. The
check out recreates all the files, but doesn't preserve permissions.

Under normal circumstances I'll never be checking these files out -
only tracking changes to them.

Does anyone have any svn tricks that will allow me to import and
create a working copy in-place?

-jim