Script started on Thu 14 Sep 2006 09:02:47 PM PDT
$ pwd
/tmp/merge-bug
$ svnadmin create merge-bug-repo
$ repo="file://$PWD/merge-bug-repo"
$ svn mkdir "$repo/trunk" -m 'create directory tree' 

Committed revision 1.
$ svn mkdir "$repo/branches" -m 'create directory tree' 

Committed revision 2.
$ svn co "$repo/trunk" merge-bug-wc
Checked out revision 2.
$ cd merge-bug-wc
/tmp/merge-bug/merge-bug-wc
$ echo 'content' > file
$ svn add file
A         file
$ svn ci -m 'added file as a regular file'
Adding         file
Transmitting file data .
Committed revision 3.
$ svn cp "$repo/trunk" "$repo/branches/branch" -m 'branched while file is still  regular'

Committed revision 4.
$ svn update
At revision 4.
$ branchrev=$(svn info | grep ^Revision | awk ' { print $2 } ')
$ echo $branchrev
4
$ svn rm file
D         file
$ svn ci -m 'removed file in preparation of replacement with symlink'
Deleting       file

Committed revision 5.                        
$ echo blah > target
$ ln -s target file
$ svn add target file
A         target
A         file
$ svn ci -m 're-added file as a symlink (and its target too)'
Adding         file
Adding         target
Transmitting file data ..
Committed revision 6.
$ svn switch "$repo/branches/branch"
UU   file
D    target
Updated to revision 6.
$ echo 'replace file content' > file
$ svn ci -m "commit file change"
Sending        file
Transmitting file data .
Committed revision 7.
$ svn switch "$repo/trunk"
UU   file
A    target
Updated to revision 7.
$ svn merge -r "$branchrev:HEAD" "$repo/branches/branch"
svn: In directory '.'
svn: '.svn/tmp/tempfile.3.tmp' has unsupported special file type 'content'
$ svn up
svn: Working copy '.' locked
svn: run 'svn cleanup' to remove locks (type 'svn help cleanup' for details)
$ svn cleanup
svn: In directory '.'
svn: '.svn/tmp/tempfile.3.tmp' has unsupported special file type 'content'
$ exit

Script done on Thu 14 Sep 2006 09:05:40 PM PDT