Comment (by Roland Haas):

The issue most likely still exists but since git hash be9c164 "einsteintoolkit.th: use git checkout for RePrimAnd" of manifest and git hash 15eac20 "GetComponents: max --shallow and --branch work together (#6)" (sic) of CRL we no longer use svn in the ET thornlist, instead relying on shallow git checkouts.

So most likely the issue will no longer happen to new installs.

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Ticket URL: https://bitbucket.org/einsteintoolkit/tickets/issues/2396/potential-issue-with-github-svn-checkouts