diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
index b11844625cbd518c24177dc8e99bafdff58e6a73..494d56c35be4a9b2496269f4ef3ea710a79edda9 100644
--- a/.gitattributes
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -2349,7 +2349,6 @@ Docker/docker-build-all.sh -text
 Docker/lofar-base/Dockerfile.tmpl -text
 Docker/lofar-base/bashrc -text
 Docker/lofar-base/chuser.sh -text
-Docker/lofar-base/subversion_servers -text
 Docker/lofar-outputproc/Dockerfile.tmpl -text
 Docker/lofar-pipeline/Dockerfile.tmpl -text
 JAVA/GUI/Plotter/dist/lib/sgt.jar -text svneol=unset#unset
diff --git a/Docker/lofar-base/Dockerfile.tmpl b/Docker/lofar-base/Dockerfile.tmpl
index 42d5fb3913e4db10f7c6e6aa521e0c56947f1985..740b3b3345c8adb270f20c77edd38e6f7cadffb1 100644
--- a/Docker/lofar-base/Dockerfile.tmpl
+++ b/Docker/lofar-base/Dockerfile.tmpl
@@ -119,9 +119,16 @@ RUN sudo apt-get install -y git make g++ python-setuptools libboost-python-dev l
 # *******************
 #
 
-# Allow auto-checkout from lofar repo
+# Allow auto-checkout from lofar repo. We create ~/.subversion/servers in-line to prevent Docker cache invalidation
 RUN mkdir /home/${USER}/.subversion
-COPY subversion_servers /home/${USER}/.subversion/servers
+RUN echo '\
+[groups] \n\
+astron = svn.astron.nl \n\
+\n\
+[astron] \n\
+store-passwords = yes \n\
+store-plaintext-passwords = yes \n\
+' > /home/${USER}/.subversion/servers
 
 # Run-time dependencies
 # QPID daemon legacy store would require: libaio1 libdb5.1++
diff --git a/Docker/lofar-base/subversion_servers b/Docker/lofar-base/subversion_servers
deleted file mode 100644
index 986b312078ec2bdd8474d33f6dce788756d3f609..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/Docker/lofar-base/subversion_servers
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
-[groups]
-astron = svn.astron.nl
-
-[astron]
-store-passwords = yes
-store-plaintext-passwords = yes