"svnadmin create /home/nikhil/.svndata"
to create one locally. Tried to link this repo from Eclipse by entring
"file:///home/nikhil/.svndata"
as the repo location. Failed with the error
"svn: Expected FS format between '1' and '3'; found format '4'"
The reason for this is that my Ubuntu subversion client was version 1.6* and the Eclipse plugin was 1.5* compliant. The real fix is to either downgrade the Ubuntu client or upgrade Eclipse client. However a quick and dirty fix worked. Made the file
"/home/nikhil/.svndata/db/format"
editable from its original read only mode and changed the first line in the file from 4 to 3. Eclipse was able to read and write with the older client since then. Your Mileage May Vary.
UPDATE: A month later, no problems faced so far.