Basic SVN usage

SubVersion is the follow-up for CVS, so for all your new projects you should use SubVersion.

You can dowload a free SubVersion book, as well as all SNV packages for different OSs > http://subversion.tigris.org/∞

For a list of repositories, see SoftwareRepositories (access restricted)

Short introduction:

Create repository directory on server (by administrator)

Fill repository with inital files (by administrator)

First download of files in repository (by editor; this will create a folder called "project-dir" on your local disk)

subsequent downloads of files in repository (by editor); first cd to the project directory

upload of changes you made to the repository (by editor)

other svn commands you like to perform


(This example uses https, but it works similarly for http and svn over ssh: svn+ssh)

Notes: once created (first step), your subversion repository is accessible from any host, using the svn+ssh://host/path/to/repository URL to indicate its location. You can add projects (step 2) to your repository from any host, and you can check out your project on any host (step 3). In your project directory, you can then do anything you want, and update, commit, diff (etc.) away to your heart’s content (steps 4, 5, 6). Always remember, svn help is your friend.

Repository Management

We found out the hard way that repository management for multiple users is best done using Apache2 and dav_svn. (You can use svnserve over SSH, but all users have to have a umask of 002, or use a dedicated user, in which case all logging of who did what is lost).

So below is a short overview of how to enable svn over https:

1) Create a (self-signed) certificate for Apache and enable SSL. (See Apache Docs∞)
2) Install mod_dav_svn
3) Configure Apache2 as follows:

1. First enable the mod_dav_svn module by linking to /etc/apache2/mods-available/dav_svn.load in /etc/apache2/mods-enabled
2. Link to or create a file name /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/mod_dav_svn.conf
3. Enter the following in the configuration file:

   <Location /svn>
     DAV svn
     SVNParentPath /repo/path
     SSLRequireSSL
   
     AuthType Basic
     AuthName "Subversion Repository"
     AuthUserFile /etc/apache2/dav_svn.passwd
   
     Require valid-user
   </Location>

   
   
   
4. Add users using the following command: htpasswd2 /etc/apache2/dav_svn.passwd username

For more information about this procedure, see the relevant chapter∞ in the online SVN Book∞.

Configuration file comments

The configuration file for Apache is not long, but I'll walk through the details here.

- <Location /svn> - The server is located at http://hostname/svn/
- DAV svn - This is an svn repository
- SVNParentPath /repo/path - This specifies where the repository can be found. Because we use SVNParentPath instead of SVNPath, we don't point directly to the repository, but rather to a director. This directly enables repositories located beneath that directory.
- SSLRequireSSL - Require SSL for all connections to the repository.
- AuthType Basic - Plain htpassword username/password authentication
- AuthName "Subversion Repository" - The name that is given when asking for username/password.
- AuthUserFile /etc/apache2/dav_svn.passwd - Where the htpasswd username/password should be looked up.
- Require valid-user - This requires that for everything you have to login. More finegrained access control is possible (anonymous reading, directory ACLs, etc.), all covered in the online SVN Book∞.

Access Control

We have also implemented access control for repositories. Adding this to the setup requires the following (minor) changes:

1) Add the following line to /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/dav_svn.conf:

2) Create the file /etc/apache2/dav_svn.acl. Simple example is below:

3) And off you go! There is no need to restart apache, the files are automatically read every time the repository is accessed, so changes take effect immediately.

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