Server: Apache 2.0.52 + SVN 1.4.3 + mod_dav_svn enabled. Most repositories also use a bunch of post commit hooks to automate tasks.
Client: Eclipse 3.2.2 + stock subclipse callisto install.
Error message:
commit -m "commit message." files
RA layer request failed
svn: Commit failed (details follow):
svn: PROPFIND request failed on '/repo/path/!svn/vcc/default'
svn: PROPFIND of '/repo/path/!svn/vcc/default': Could not read status line: connection was closed by server. (http://example.com)
If you get the above error, it is very likely an issue with Subversion. Sometimes, running svn cleanup can help. However, sometimes nothing appears to work. This appears to be an issue caused by version conflicts between the subversion SVN client and the server client. Even creating another checkout doesn't appear to work.
That said, you can still commit any pending changes or continue using the dodgy checkout for a while by using the command line (in Linux) which continues to work, or should, if it is compatible with the SVN server.
Hopefully, Eclipse 3.3 and corresponding updates to Subversion will sort these issues out.
Update
Upon further investigation, it seems that my conclusion that this is related to version differences between client and server appear to be wrong. I tried installing Subversive and ran into the same issue. Subversive specifically states that it is 1.4.x compatible.
I then decided to try something else. I remembered that I'd changed the gateway IP on this box to point to a different ISP. I switched it back to my previous ISP and voila! everything worked once again. Neither connection uses a proxy or anything of that sort and the checkout of another project works fine on both connections on the same server. So I'm still not entirely sure what the fuck is wrong. But, hell, as long as it works, I'm happy. I've also switched to using subversive for the time being as the UI looks a touch better than subclipse.
If anybody can throw some light on this, I will be eternally grateful.