Dav SVN apache mod not working in Ubuntu trusty when there are spaces in the url

Question

I am using Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS with subversion 1.8.8 and attempting to set up remote svn access via apache2 with mod_dav_svn - this is a migration to linux from a windows server running apache2.

The issue I am having is that any <location> with a space in its name will not work, the below example will work:

<Location "/svn/Test_Repository" >

    DAV svn
    SVNParentPath "/media/windowsshare/TortoiseSVN-Repo-Store/Test Repository"
    SVNListParentPath On

    AuthType Basic
    AuthName "Subversion Repository"
    AuthUserFile /etc/subversion/passwd
    Require valid-user

    SVNIndexXSLT "/repos-web/view/repos.xsl"

</Location>

However when I replace the underscore in the location with a space to make it <Location "/svn/Test Repository" > I get a 403 forbidden error with the following in the error log:

[Tue Apr 21 14:46:34.991584 2015] [dav:error] [pid 30873] [client 192.168.20.5:63935] Could not fetch resource information.  [403, #0], referer: http://192.168.20.12/svn/
[Tue Apr 21 14:46:34.991597 2015] [dav:error] [pid 30873] [client 192.168.20.5:63935] The URI does not contain the name of a repository.  [403, #190001], referer: http://192.168.20.12/svn/

The directory /media/windowsshare/TortoiseSVN-Repo-Store/ is mounted with www-data having both user and group ownership.

What could be causing this, and how do I go about fixing it? I have spent the best part of six hours searching and experimenting with no luck.

Answer 1

It is a reported bug as you can see here: Ubuntu bug-launchpad

As you can see in the Bug-Track-Comment, the Bug has been fixed for apache2, but has not been added to the Ubuntu repo yet:

John Pye (jdpipe) wrote on 2014-09-04: #9 This bug is resolved by modifying a new 14.04 server to install the apache2 packages from https://launchpad.net/~ondrej/+archive/ubuntu/php5, ie

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ondrej/php5 sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Worked for me... the new Apache2 packages should be urgently included in Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, since users upgrading their Subversion servers will inevitably have horrible problems.

Note: I could not proof it yet! Just could check with Ubuntu 12