# Removing a directory form SVN and thus, Capistrano Deploy **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [May 30, 2007, 1:42am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/removing-a-directory-form-svn-and-thus-capistrano-deploy/105447 "2007-05-30T01:42:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![blinking\_bear](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@blinking\_bear](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/blinking_bear)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 1:42am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/removing-a-directory-form-svn-and-thus-capistrano-deploy/105447/1 "2007-05-30T01:42:02Z")
I have a public/user directory created by file\_column. I have a capistrano task setup to symlink with: run “ln -nfs #{deploy\_to}/shared/user #{release\_path}/public/user” . The problem is since the user directory is in svn, the symlink doesn’t work because the directory already exists. Does anyone know how I can remove the public/user directory and contents from subversion and set it so that new files are not ignored? I know how to set an ignore propset like /log/_._ but can I actually tell it to ignore the whole directory itself? Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![blinking\_bear](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@blinking\_bear](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/blinking_bear)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 3:07am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/removing-a-directory-form-svn-and-thus-capistrano-deploy/105447/2 "2007-05-30T03:07:06Z")
To delete a directory in svn there is a rmdir command. It is not clear from your post if that is all you need, or if you are concerned about the target server as well. You could always add a rm command to your deploy script to empty the user directory, then use rmdir to remove the user directory itself. The actual user files of course should be in a separate directory tree from the one managed by capistrano (which you seem to be setting up). Michael