Without it, running "arc diff" comes back to me claiming that it can not figure out the repository:
[root@freebsd ~/freebsd-master/doc]# arc which REPOSITORY To identify the repository associated with this working copy, arc followed this process: Configuration value "repository.callsign" is set to "rS". No repositories matched the query. Check that your configuration is correct, or use "repository.callsign" to select a repository explicitly. This working copy is not associated with any repository.
When the .arcconfig contains this setting, arcanist works without complaining:
[root@freebsd ~/freebsd-master/doc]# arc which REPOSITORY To identify the repository associated with this working copy, arc followed this process: Configuration value "repository.callsign" is set to "D". Found a unique matching repository. This working copy is associated with the FreeBSD doc repository - subversion repository.