SVN server installation and workflows

Apache Subversion often abbreviated as SVN is a software versioning and revision control system. This post was written during a integration and PoC of SVN in a deployment stages.

SVN server installation

apt update
apt install apache2
apt install subversion libapache2-mod-svn libsvn-dev

a2enmod dav_svn
a2enmod dav

SVN server configuration

The apache2-module for SVN within the file is quiet short and understandable without additional comments.
/etc/apache2/mods-enabled/dav_svn.conf

<Location /svn>
   DAV svn
   SVNParentPath /var/lib/svn

   AuthType Basic
   AuthName "Subversion Repository"
   AuthUserFile /etc/apache2/dav_svn.passwd
   Require valid-user
</Location>

Create the directory structure for your repositories:

mkdir -p /var/lib/svn/
svnadmin create /var/lib/svn/<REPOSITORYNAME>
chown -R www-data:www-data /var/lib/svn
chmod -R 775 /var/lib/svn

Cerate SVN-user and set the user password:

htpasswd -cm /etc/apache2/dav_svn.passwd admin

Restart apache2 to take all changes in effect:

service apache2 restart

Access the repository

Access the just created repository over web browser: http://localhost/svn/powerx/

svn info http://localhost/svn/powerx
# Or with a different username
svn info http://localhost/svn/powerx --username admin

SVN worklow basics

# Create structure within repository and add files
mkdir Deploy01

svn add Deploy01
svn commit Deploy01 -m 'Initial commit for deploy 01'

# Update your working copy by fetching all changes
svn update

# See the overview over changes
svn log

If you are looking for a SVN subcommand, help will help you :)

svn help

SVN Client

There a a lot clients for SVN out there, this is a short list of the most suitable clients:
– Windows: TortoiseSVN
– Linux: command line tool svn is available
– macOS: build in command line svn and Visual Studio Code has a required plugin also Eclipse has a not bad SVN integration.

SVN server installation and workflows