bash

I have a directory tree with lots of nested sub-directories, some of which are named .svn, containing sensitive, internal Subversion mojo. I need to change the permissions and/or ownership on the everything in the directory tree, but am hesitant to use the shotgun approach because almost every time you monkey with ownership of the hidden .svn stuff you risk unleashing armageddon on your development process.

We recently got stuck supporting an outdated & nasty, 3rd party shopping cart application. You know the type... procedural, code soup comprised of 100's of nested functions, global variables and poor naming conventions. Complicating matters, the client also required a comprehensive front-end redesign on a very aggressive schedule.