title: How to make svn follow a symbolic link to a file in a different project?
body: <p>I have two repositories A and B with LaTeX files/projects. Repository A contains
  a bibliography file mybib.bib and I would like to use this file in
  repository/project B as well. I created a symbolic link in repository B to
  mybib.bib but if my colleague checks out B, the file is not found. How can I
  teach svn to follow the symbolic link (the file mybib.bib in repository A)? As
  far as I could figure out, one could use SVN externals, but the commands I tried
  failed so far, e.g. <code>svn propset svn:externals '/path/to/mybib.bib
  https://host/of/repos/A' .</code>  leads to <code>svn: E195005: Invalid svn:externals
  property on '/path/to/repos/B': target '/path/to/mybib.bib' is an absolute path
  or involves '..'</code></p>
  
  <p>Also, does a solution (if it exists) work if the file mybib.bib would not be under version control in some repository already or would this require a totally different approach?</p>
  
  <p>Related topics are (... but neither addresses the problem for non-experienced
  'SVN external users'): 
  <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5134566/svn-external-file-workaround">SVN external file workaround</a> 
  <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1355956/can-we-set-a-single-file-as-external-in-subversion">Can we set a single file as external in Subversion?</a> 
  <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1044649/how-do-i-properly-remove-an-svnexternals-and-replace-it-with-a-local-non-exter">How do I properly remove an svn:externals and replace it with a local (non-external) copy of the same directory?</a></p>