Getting around a subversion file lock on a live server

Another contractor on a project with us, and one way or another there came to be this issue with files modified locally on the live server— to which, in our own practice, we only ever update, so there can never be conflicts.

I've made the change we discussed last week to the audio blog module.
PIN numbers are now being stored in a separate table
outside the Drupal API, which should minimize the chance of the
arbitrary PIN resets we've been seeing. None of the existing PIN
numbers have changed. I've tested two PINs and have
verified they work as before.

Ben: Here is the SVN trace for this change. (FYI, I'm still getting a
file lock error when attempting to commit changes.)

M sites/default/modules/example_custom/field_reports_audio/field_reports_audio.module
M sites/default/modules/example_custom/field_reports/field_reports.module

Also, I've created the new table drupal_example_audio_pin.

Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks all.

cd ~/temp/
svn checkout svn://dev.example.com/branches/contractor/httpdocs/sites/default/modules/example_custom/field_reports/

A field_reports/field_reports.module
A field_reports/field_reports.info

-bash-3.00$ cd ~/httpdocs/sites/default/modules/example_custom/field_reports/

Not helpful: svn diff field_reports.module

ah, need -r HEAD

for instance, as in:
sudo svn diff -r HEAD record_story_stats.module

-bash-3.00$ cd ~/httpdocs/sites/default/modules/example_custom/field_reports/-bash-3.00$ sudo svn diff -r HEAD field_reports.module
-bash-3.00$ sudo svn update
G field_reports.module
Updated to revision 783.

So taking from the top:

-bash-3.00$ cd ~/temp/field_reports_audio/
-bash-3.00$ svn checkout svn://dev.example.com/branches/contractor/httpdocs/sites/default/modules/example_custom/field_reports_audio
A    field_reports_audio/field_reports_audio.module
A    field_reports_audio/field_reports_audio.info
Checked out revision 781.
-bash-3.00$ cd ~/httpdocs/sites/default/modules/example_custom/field_reports_audio/
-bash-3.00$ cp field_reports_audio.module ~/temp/field_reports_audio/

-bash-3.00$ cd ~/temp/field_reports_audio/
-bash-3.00$ svn commit -m "Making local changes to live site on out of date files get into the repository"
Sending        field_reports_audio.module
Transmitting file data .
Committed revision 784.

-bash-3.00$ cd ~/httpdocs/sites/default/modules/example_custom/field_reports_audio/
-bash-3.00$ sudo svn diff -r HEAD field_reports_audio.module
Password:
-bash-3.00$ sudo svn update
G    field_reports_audio.module
Updated to revision 784.

Resolution