SVN AuthzSVNAccessFile woes

Setting up AuthzSVNAccessFile support for Subversion (SVN) should not be that hard, right? Plenty of documentation exists... but there is one pitfall - if you define access for certain repository directories make sure the path does not contain a trailing slash!

If you don't you will see this error message:

Sending folder/design/readme.txt

svn: Commit failed (details follow):

svn: Server sent unexpected return value (403 Forbidden) in response to CHECKOUT request for '/myrepos/!svn/ver/501/trunk/folder/design/readme.txt'

svn: Your commit message was left in a temporary file:

svn: '/tmp/trunk/svn-commit.2.tmp'

Here is a simple AuthzSVNAccessFile sample file showing the issue:

[groups]

developers = mike, peter

designers = marc

[/]

@developers = rw

* = r

# This will not work!

[myrepos:/trunk/folder/design/]

@designers = rw

# Just leave out the trailing slash!

[myrepos:/trunk/folder/design]

@designers = rw