diff --git a/mercurial/subrepo.py b/mercurial/subrepo.py
--- a/mercurial/subrepo.py
+++ b/mercurial/subrepo.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import stat, subprocess, tarfile
 from i18n import _
 import config, util, node, error, cmdutil
 hg = None
+propertycache = util.propertycache
 
 nullstate = ('', '', 'empty')
 
@@ -521,7 +522,6 @@ class svnsubrepo(abstractsubrepo):
         self._ui = ctx._repo.ui
 
     def _svncommand(self, commands, filename=''):
-        path = os.path.join(self._ctx._repo.origroot, self._path, filename)
         cmd = ['svn']
         # Starting in svn 1.5 --non-interactive is a global flag
         # instead of being per-command, but we need to support 1.4 so
@@ -531,7 +531,9 @@ class svnsubrepo(abstractsubrepo):
             commands[0] in ('update', 'checkout', 'commit')):
             cmd.append('--non-interactive')
         cmd.extend(commands)
-        cmd.append(path)
+        if filename is not None:
+            path = os.path.join(self._ctx._repo.origroot, self._path, filename)
+            cmd.append(path)
         env = dict(os.environ)
         # Avoid localized output, preserve current locale for everything else.
         env['LC_MESSAGES'] = 'C'
@@ -544,6 +546,14 @@ class svnsubrepo(abstractsubrepo):
             raise util.Abort(stderr)
         return stdout
 
+    @propertycache
+    def _svnversion(self):
+        output = self._svncommand(['--version'], filename=None)
+        m = re.search(r'^svn,\s+version\s+(\d+)\.(\d+)', output)
+        if not m:
+            raise util.Abort(_('cannot retrieve svn tool version'))
+        return (int(m.group(1)), int(m.group(2)))
+
     def _wcrevs(self):
         # Get the working directory revision as well as the last
         # commit revision so we can compare the subrepo state with
@@ -638,7 +648,11 @@ class svnsubrepo(abstractsubrepo):
     def get(self, state, overwrite=False):
         if overwrite:
             self._svncommand(['revert', '--recursive'])
-        status = self._svncommand(['checkout', state[0], '--revision', state[1]])
+        args = ['checkout']
+        if self._svnversion >= (1, 5):
+            args.append('--force')
+        args.extend([state[0], '--revision', state[1]])
+        status = self._svncommand(args)
         if not re.search('Checked out revision [0-9]+.', status):
             raise util.Abort(status.splitlines()[-1])
         self._ui.status(status)
diff --git a/tests/hghave b/tests/hghave
--- a/tests/hghave
+++ b/tests/hghave
@@ -121,6 +121,15 @@ def has_docutils():
     except ImportError:
         return False
 
+def getsvnversion():
+    m = matchoutput('svn --version 2>&1', r'^svn,\s+version\s+(\d+)\.(\d+)')
+    if not m:
+        return (0, 0)
+    return (int(m.group(1)), int(m.group(2)))
+
+def has_svn15():
+    return getsvnversion() >= (1, 5)
+
 def has_svn():
     return matchoutput('svn --version 2>&1', r'^svn, version') and \
         matchoutput('svnadmin --version 2>&1', r'^svnadmin, version')
@@ -204,6 +213,7 @@ checks = {
     "pygments": (has_pygments, "Pygments source highlighting library"),
     "ssl": (has_ssl, "python >= 2.6 ssl module and python OpenSSL"),
     "svn": (has_svn, "subversion client and admin tools"),
+    "svn15": (has_svn15, "subversion client and admin tools >= 1.5"),
     "svn-bindings": (has_svn_bindings, "subversion python bindings"),
     "symlink": (has_symlink, "symbolic links"),
     "tla": (has_tla, "GNU Arch tla client"),
diff --git a/tests/test-subrepo-svn.t b/tests/test-subrepo-svn.t
--- a/tests/test-subrepo-svn.t
+++ b/tests/test-subrepo-svn.t
@@ -438,3 +438,54 @@ Test subrepo already at intended revisio
   $ svnversion
   2
   $ cd ..
+
+Test case where subversion would fail to update the subrepo because there
+are unknown directories being replaced by tracked ones (happens with rebase).
+
+  $ cd $WCROOT/src
+  $ mkdir dir
+  $ echo epsilon.py > dir/epsilon.py
+  $ svn add dir
+  A         dir
+  A         dir/epsilon.py
+  $ svn ci -m 'Add dir/epsilon.py'
+  Adding         src/dir
+  Adding         src/dir/epsilon.py
+  Transmitting file data .
+  Committed revision 6.
+  $ cd ../..
+  $ hg init rebaserepo
+  $ cd rebaserepo
+  $ svn co -r5 --quiet "$SVNREPO"/src s
+  $ echo "s =        [svn]       $SVNREPO/src" >> .hgsub
+  $ hg add .hgsub
+  $ hg ci -m addsub
+  committing subrepository s
+  $ echo a > a
+  $ hg ci -Am adda
+  adding a
+  $ hg up 0
+  0 files updated, 0 files merged, 1 files removed, 0 files unresolved
+  $ svn up -r6 s
+  A    s/dir
+  A    s/dir/epsilon.py
+  
+  Fetching external item into 's/externals'
+  Updated external to revision 1.
+  
+  Updated to revision 6.
+  $ hg ci -m updatesub
+  committing subrepository s
+  created new head
+  $ echo pyc > s/dir/epsilon.pyc
+  $ hg up 1
+  D    $TESTTMP/rebaserepo/s/dir
+  
+  Fetching external item into '$TESTTMP/rebaserepo/s/externals'
+  Checked out external at revision 1.
+  
+  Checked out revision 5.
+  2 files updated, 0 files merged, 0 files removed, 0 files unresolved
+  $ if "$TESTDIR/hghave" -q svn15; then
+  > hg up 2 >/dev/null 2>&1 || echo update failed
+  > fi