I think the bottom line here is that your only "for sure" method is to do all the encryption and decryption on your own local computer. But as others have said this means SVN sees only binary blobs.
You can not depend on the server unless you completely trust Root. But if you trust him why not simply tell him not to look? With an untrustful Root you can not depend on an encrypted file system on the sever. It would be easy for Root to pach it such that no encryption takes place and you'd never know it was patched. I work with data that can't be shared. As it turns out most of the compromises that occur are human error or procedural problems. and no, you can't depend on people promising to not make mistakes. You have to organized your work and systems so that they are fail safe. One hard and fast rule is to NEVER connect a computer that holds sensitive information to the Internet. Move the data through an "air gap". You have to decide if your data is really that sensitive -- ===== Chris Albertson Redondo Beach, California