Jenkins jobs assigned to java web-start slaves.

The jobs in question were all working fine.
Suddenly I get:

jenkins java.io.ioexception remote file operation failed

The call stack is essentially useless, and points to an exception handler in some Java class without indicating what exactly was attempted.

Unfortunately this occurred just as I was preparing for a holiday. I do not have exact call stack now (I'm on a train).

I fixed the problem by making the script explicitly perform a svn checkout/update rather than the normal method where one provides the URL and credentials in the fields for the "configure" page.

That should be a good indication of where the issue lies.

I really would like some kind of feedback on this issue, even though I will be away for a week. I would like to have the "normal" functionality and am willing to help investigate.

Environment is:

Fedora 21 x86_64 - all updates current as of 09.Feb.2015
Master and slaves are identical.

I appreciate any help.