New svn repository script This is my very first Bash script that does something real. I'm here to learn, so please tell me if and how this can be done better.

#!/bin/sh

# Daniele Brugnara
# October - 2013

if [ -k $1 ]; then
        echo "Error! You must pass a repository name!"
        exit 1
fi

SVN_PATH="/var/lib/svn"
currPath=$(pwd)

cd $SVN_PATH
svnadmin create $1
chown -R www-data:www-data $1
cd $currPath

echo "Done! Remember to set valid user permission in authz file."
If the first argument to your script contains a space, then you get an error message:

$ ./cr32076.sh "my repository"
./cr32076.sh: line 6: [: my: binary operator expected


To avoid this, put quotes around the variable $1, like this:

if [ -k "$1" ]; then

The man page for [ says:

-k file       True if file exists and its sticky bit is set.


is this really what you mean? It seems more likely that you want the -z option:

-z string     True if the length of string is zero.

You remember the current directory in a variable:

currPath=$(pwd)


and then later change to it:

cd $currPath


but this will go wrong if the current directory has a space in its name:

$ pwd
/Users/gdr/some directory
$ currPath=$(pwd)
$ cd $currPath
bash: cd: /Users/gdr/some: No such file or directory


To avoid this, put quotes around the variable, like this:

cd "$currPath"

If you want to change directory temporarily and change back again, then instead of writing

currPath=$(pwd)   # remember old directory
cd "$SVN_PATH"    # change to new directory
# do some stuff
cd "$currPath"    # go back to old directory


you can use a subshell:

(
    cd "$SVN_PATH"    # change to new directory
    # do some stuff        
) # old directory is automatically restored when subshell exits


But in this script, there's no need to change directory back again, because after you go back all you do is echo "Done! ..." and it doesn't matter what directory you do that in.
In fact, there's no need to change directory at all, because instead of

SVN_PATH="/var/lib/svn"
currPath=$(pwd)

cd "$SVN_PATH"
svnadmin create "$1"
chown -R www-data:www-data "$1"
cd "$currPath"


you could write

SVN_PATH="/var/lib/svn/$1"
svnadmin create "$SVN_PATH"
chown -R www-data:www-data "$SVN_PATH"