#pragma section-numbers 2

= Manual Checkout =

Emulating a checkout to repair various issues

<<TableOfContents>>

== Why would I want to manually checkout a revision? ==

Sometimes it may be necessary to bypass Mercurial's consistency checks to fix certain problems:

 * fixing case collisions on Windows
 * changing non-portable file names (eg 'con' or 'aux' on Windows)
 * subrepository revisions that are no longer available
 * recovering data from damaged repositories

== Performing a manual checkout ==

If you are cloning a repository, first start by using the -U flag to avoid the initial checkout:

{{{
$ hg clone -U http://myproject/
}}}

Next, use the `revert` command to retrieve all the files from a given revision. Use one or more -X options to exclude problem files.

{{{
$ hg revert -a -r <some rev> -X badfile -X baddir
}}}

Next, manually set the parent of the working copy:

{{{
$ hg debugrebuildstate -r <rev>
}}}

Now Mercurial should be in a state where the target revisions is checked out except the problem files. Double-check against summary and status:

{{{
$ hg summary
parent: 15782:cde35835b333 
 blah blah blah
branch: default
commit: 7 missing (clean)
update: (current)
$ hg status
! badfile
! baddir/a
! baddir/A
}}}

Now you can manually repair or recreate those files, possibly with `hg revert -r <goodrev> badfile`.
When your working directory is in a consistent state, you can commit.

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CategoryHowTo