ubun2

You can change svn format easily without upgrading subversion by using the python script from svn.collab.net Get the script from http://svn.collab.net/repos/svn/trunk/tools/client-side/change-svn-wc-format.py
 
Place the python script above the directory you want to switch svn version / format and execute as follows:-
 
This will change the current subversion version in checked out directories to 1.6 format
python ./change-svn-wc-format.py ./directory-name/ 1.6
 
This will change the current subversion version to 1.5 format
python ./change-svn-wc-format.py ./directory-name/ 1.5
 
Now you can execute any svn commands you like for e.g svn cleanup. And once work is over, you can switch the format again.