is it possible to completely expunge data in bzr?

[Jelmer Vernooij]

Hi Tom,

On Fri, 2007-01-19 at 17:33 -0600, Tom Marble wrote:
> An interesting scenario has presented itself in managing
> large, complex projects where some source code may need to
> be temporarily (or permanently) cloistered (e.g. source
> code with differing provenance).
> 
> To clarify the use case let's say I accidentally checked
> in some nuclear launch codes to the VCS, then realized
> my mistake and wanted to remove any trace of them.
> 
> Apparently this would be problematic when using VCS's
> such as Mercurial [1].  Obviously one cannot "unring the bell"
> if the repository has been published publicly.  However
> if one realizes that the launch codes have been checked
> into bzr (and not the most recent transaction) can they
> be expunged?
I've just published an experimental plugin that can actually remove this
data from a repository. It does this by making a backup of the
repository and then rebuilding the repository without the specified
revision(s.

Installing the plugin can be done by running:
$ bzr branch
http://people.samba.org/bzr/jelmer/bzr-remove-revisions/trunk
~/.bazaar/plugins/rmrev

Removing a revision would work like this:

$ bzr remove-revision ~/bzr.samba
svn-v1:15362 at 0c0555d6-39d7-0310-84fc-f1cc0bd64818-branches%2fSAMBA_4_0

Please note though that this experimental! It will backup your
repository before attempting to remove the revision, but may destroy
your repository, eat your cat, etc.

Cheers,

Jelmer
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