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I assume they're `svn export`ing rather than `svn checkout`ing.

Yet I see at least one reference to `svn update`

I'm scurred.

Read the whole comment. It's easy to configure Apache or whatever HTTP server you're using to not serve anything in .svn directories. Duh.

Don't be afraid, just configure your Apache server correctly and you'll be fine.

One-liner if you're already using rewrite:

RewriteRule ^(./)?.svn/ - [F,L]

If you're not:

<Directorymatch "^/./.svn/"> Order deny,allow Deny from all </Directorymatch>