SVN allows the addition of empty directories. Even if this is not recommended.
When an empty directory is present in a diff, arc patch will create a file in its place with touch because no patch file will be present for this patch.
arc diff should at least warn the user that the addition will not be handled properly.
This seems straightforward to reproduce:
$ svn st $ mkdir empty-dir $ svn add empty-dir A empty-dir $ arc diff --only --conduit-uri=http://local.phacility.com/ SKIP STAGING Unable to determine repository for this change. Created a new Differential diff: Diff URI: http://local.phacility.com/differential/diff/264/ Included changes: A (dir) empty-dir $ svn -R revert . Reverted 'empty-dir' $ rm -rf empty-dir/
Now apply the patch:
$ arc patch --diff 264 --conduit-uri=http://local.phacility.com/ A empty-dir OKAY Successfully applied patch to the working copy.
...but we created a file, not a directory:
$ ls -alh empty-dir -rw-r--r-- 1 epriestley staff 0B Nov 27 08:22 empty-dir
This affects a small number of users in a small number of use cases, so fixing it is not a high priority, although the fix is likely straightforward (I expect we are encoding the metadata properly, just not writing it correctly in arc patch).
@epriestley Thanks for the analysis, I'm happy it was easy to reproduce.
Actually, the metadata is transferred correctly it's just not used where the change is applied https://secure.phabricator.com/diffusion/ARC/browse/master/src/workflow/ArcanistPatchWorkflow.php;4f1141d0c59be24268a45edb0cd25f1d27f31674$619
I haven't proposed a patch for this yet as I'm waiting for D14484 to get evaluated.