How to get a list of all recent SVN commit messages?

At times I want to revisit a change I committed to SVN a short while back, but don't recall the specific files involved or the revision number. So I would like to see a list of recent commit messages, ideally including the files included in each commit.

I picture going to the root of my working copy and entering something like the following to see the messages and files associated with the most recent 5 commits:

svn log -l5 -v *

Unfortunately, this command requires a single target, and won't accept '*'. I know SVN has the information I want. Is there a simple way to retrieve it?

You can use svn log -l5 -v <URL of your repository>. svn info can be used to get the root URL for the repository where your working copy is connected to.

svn log -q -v --limit N inside working copy (you have WC, isn't it?!) will show short list of latest N commits with commit-message (mea culpa, -q supress commit-message output) and files only

Log output example - repo

>svn log -q -v http://mayorat.ursinecorner.ru:8088/svn/Hello/ -l 5
------------------------------------------------------------------------
r33 | lazybadger | 2012-02-28 16:10:41 +0600 (Вт, 28 фев 2012)
Changed paths:
   M /trunk/Hello.en.txt
------------------------------------------------------------------------
r32 | lazybadger | 2011-12-27 17:37:31 +0600 (Вт, 27 дек 2011)
Changed paths:
   M /trunk/Hello.de.txt
   M /trunk/Hello.en.txt
------------------------------------------------------------------------
r31 | lazybadger | 2011-12-27 17:29:00 +0600 (Вт, 27 дек 2011)
Changed paths:
   M /trunk/Hello.de.txt
   M /trunk/Hello.en.txt
   M /trunk/Hello.fr.txt
------------------------------------------------------------------------
r30 | lazybadger | 2011-10-19 16:23:52 +0600 (Ср, 19 окт 2011)
Changed paths:
   M /trunk
------------------------------------------------------------------------
r29 | lazybadger | 2011-10-19 16:18:43 +0600 (Ср, 19 окт 2011)
Changed paths:
   M /trunk
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Secong log for commit-messages (removed -q -v)

>svn log http://mayorat.ursinecorner.ru:8088/svn/Hello/ -l 5
------------------------------------------------------------------------
r33 | lazybadger | 2012-02-28 16:10:41 +0600 (Вт, 28 фев 2012) | 1 line

One more change
------------------------------------------------------------------------
r32 | lazybadger | 2011-12-27 17:37:31 +0600 (Вт, 27 дек 2011) | 1 line

Cleanups
------------------------------------------------------------------------
r31 | lazybadger | 2011-12-27 17:29:00 +0600 (Вт, 27 дек 2011) | 1 line

Purification
------------------------------------------------------------------------
r30 | lazybadger | 2011-10-19 16:23:52 +0600 (Ср, 19 окт 2011) | 1 line

Try fix FS #2
------------------------------------------------------------------------
r29 | lazybadger | 2011-10-19 16:18:43 +0600 (Ср, 19 окт 2011) | 1 line

If I checkout repo from root and svn log in WC-rot, result will not differ at all

Hello>svn log -q -v -l 5
------------------------------------------------------------------------
r33 | lazybadger | 2012-02-28 16:10:41 +0600 (Вт, 28 фев 2012)
Changed paths:
   M /trunk/Hello.en.txt
------------------------------------------------------------------------
r32 | lazybadger | 2011-12-27 17:37:31 +0600 (Вт, 27 дек 2011)
Changed paths:
   M /trunk/Hello.de.txt
   M /trunk/Hello.en.txt
------------------------------------------------------------------------
r31 | lazybadger | 2011-12-27 17:29:00 +0600 (Вт, 27 дек 2011)
Changed paths:
   M /trunk/Hello.de.txt
   M /trunk/Hello.en.txt
   M /trunk/Hello.fr.txt
------------------------------------------------------------------------
r30 | lazybadger | 2011-10-19 16:23:52 +0600 (Ср, 19 окт 2011)
Changed paths:
   M /trunk
------------------------------------------------------------------------
r29 | lazybadger | 2011-10-19 16:18:43 +0600 (Ср, 19 окт 2011)
Changed paths:
   M /trunk