The Subversion plugin of Hudson tries to estimate the remote timestamp of the Subversion server. It uses the root URL of the Subversion Repository, which fails if the Subversion Repository has a special security configuration that denies access to the root of the Subversion repository.

Example:

https://server/svn --> Hudson has no access
https://server/svn/project --> Hudson has access

The project's subversion location is https://server/svn/project, but Hudson tries to estimate the remote timestamp with the URL https://server/svn.

This exception is logged:

hudson.subversion.SubversionSCM: Failed to estimate the remote timestamp
org.tmatesoft.svn.core.SVNAuthenticationException: svn: PROPFIND of '/svn': 403 Forbidden

Possible solutions to the problem:

• Use the full URL to estimate the remote timestamp
• Catch the SVNAuthenticationException and try again with the full URL