Geoff - Thank you very much for your extensive advice of how to avoid these problems! We'll definitly implement your hint regarding a subversion hook.
My problem was not any existing svn:mergeinfos. Neither the source nor the target contained *any* svn:mergeinfo except one at the target root. But I finally found the solution! My problem was: *svnversion reported 3128P* I have no clue how this occured. We *never* do partial chechkouts, but a short poll at my collegues showed, that many of them having this situation, too! After recovering the partial state all works as expected. Thanks a lot to everybody for your time and support! - Ben -----Original Message----- From: Geoff Rowell [mailto:geoff.row...@gmail.com] Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2010 2:56 PM To: 'Ben' Cc: users@subversion.apache.org Subject: RE: Spurious svn:mergeinfo updated on random, untouched files on minimalistic merge?! In addition to adding merge info to your working copy target, merge info will be added to any file or folder under a target folder if the file or folder already has an "svn:mergeinfo" property. This will happen even if the original "svn:mergeinfo" property is empty. The only way to correct this is to consolidate the merge info into the root folders of a working copy, and its externals, and to *delete* the "svn:mergeinfo" property from all child folders and files. To avoid an increasing number of items with this property, as a result of non-root merges or copies, you would have to restrict setting of the "svn:mergeinfo" property to a root folder. The Subversion Hook Framework can be used to enforce this policy. - http://sourceforge.net/projects/svnhook There's an example of the required configuration (XML) file entry on the "Hook Configuration File Examples" page of the wiki. - http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/svnhook/index.php?title=Hook_Confi gura tion_File_Examples -Geoff