More Disconnected Operations
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## More Disconnected Operations

In recent years, disk space has become outrageously cheap and abundant, but network bandwidth has not. Therefore, the Subversion working copy has been optimized around the scarcer resource.

The `.svn` administrative directory serves the same purpose as the `CVS` directory, except that it also stores read-only, “pristine” copies of your files. This allows you to do many things offline:

svn status

  Shows you any local changes you've made (see the section called “See an overview of your changes”)

svn diff

  Shows you the details of your changes (see the section called “Examine the details of your local modifications”)

svn revert

  Removes your local changes (see the section called “Fix Your Mistakes”)

Also, the cached pristine files allow the Subversion client to send differences when committing, which CVS cannot do.

The last subcommand in the list—svn revert—is new. It will not only remove local changes, but also unschedule operations such as adds and deletes. Although deleting the file and then running `svn update` will still work, doing so distorts the true purpose of updating. And, while we're on this subject…

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