SVN server installation (Linux)

SVN is used to managed file revisions, branches and application releases. You have to install a SVN server, then a client on each remote computer.

SVN server

Linux (subversion)

installation

Required package

apt-get install subversion

Source folder You must indicate to subversion how it's going to work

mkdir /var/svn
mkdir /var/svn/myRepository

Set rights

chown -R www-data:www-data /var/svn/myRepository 
chmod -R 777 /var/svn/myRepository

→ Use "www-data" user:group if you want to setup web access through HTTP(S) protocol later on.

Server automatic startup

Create SVN startup script

vim /etc/init.d/subversionServer

Put the following content

#!/bin/sh
### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides:             svn
# Required-Start:       $remote_fs
# Required-Stop:        $remote_fs
# Default-Start:        2 3 4 5
# Default-Stop:         0 1 6
# Short-Description:    SVN server
### END INIT INFO

do_start () {
	svnserve -d -r /var/svn --pid-file /var/run/svnserve.pid
}
do_stop () {
	start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --pidfile /var/run/svnserve.pid
}

case "$1" in
	start)
  		do_start
 		;;
 	stop)
 		do_stop
 		exit $?
 		;;
 	restart)
 		do_stop
		sleep 1s
 		do_start
 		;;
	*)
		echo "Usage: $0 start|stop|restart" >&2
		exit 3
		;;
esac

Set execution flags:

chmod 750 /etc/init.d/subversionServer

Create symlinks:

ln -s /etc/init.d/subversionServer /usr/bin/subversionServer

Update boot sequence

Register SVN server to server startup

cd /etc/init.d
update-rc.d subversionServer defaults

Start SVN server

/etc/init.d/subversionServer start

How to remove SVN from boot?

Just execute the following sequence

update-rc.d -f subversionServer remove

SVN repository

To do any advanced task, you've to use "svnadmin" To create repository you have to: 1. Create folder 2. Defines rights 3. Creates users

1. Create root folder

svnadmin create /var/svn/myRepo

Create repo structure

cd /var/svn/myRepo
mkdir trunk
mkdir tags
mkdir branches
chmod -R 755 */

2. Adjust rights

vim /var/svn/myRepo/conf/svnserve.conf

Adjust values:

anon-access = none		→ disable anonymous access
auth-access = write		→ allow read / write to all users
password-db = passwd		→ password required to log-in
realm = 'java'		→ Name of the current repo (without quotes!)

3. Create users

vim /var/svn/myRepo/conf/passwd

Restart your server to use the new repository.

Repository access

You can use the repository with the following SVN URL: svn://server/java

Web access

Required packages

# Apache2 modules
apt-get install libapache2-mod-svn
apt-get install libapache2-mod-ldap-userdir
# Enable modules
a2emod dav_svn
a2enmod ldap authnz_ldap ldap_userdir
# Restart server 
service apache2 restart

Configuration

You have 2 solutions to setup the SVN dav.

• Use the /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/dav.conf
• VirtualHost configuration

From a maintenance point of view it's better to use the VirtualHost configuration.

Add the following declaration:

<Location /svn>
    <IfModule dav_svn_module>
            # Enable DAV module
            DAV svn

            # SVN root
            SVNParentPath /var/svn
            SVNListParentPath On
 
            # LDAP authentication
            AuthType Basic
            AuthName "SVN Repository"
            AuthBasicProvider ldap
            AuthLDAPURL "ldap://localhost:389/ou=people,dc=vehco,dc=com?uid"
            Require valid-user
	    #Require ldap-group cn=vehco_staff
        </IfModule>
</Location>

!! Note that is it recommended to AVOID "/svn" !!

Reload apache2 server

service apache2 restart

Web access

Instead of “svn://” + dedicated SVN user you can use “https://myServer/dav_svn/” + LDAP user.

Please read the Apache 2 documentation to get more information.

>> TODO : add link <<

Windows

Installation

• Download Visual SVN server for windows: http://www.visualsvn.com/server/download/
• Install Visual SVN server. Choose your installation folder + repository directory

Users / groups configuration

• Open the Visual SVN server application.
• Open properties

Action > Properties

• Click Repositories, adjust “Everyone” rights to Read Only

• Add a new user and add 'read / write' permissions to this new user

Create a new repository (1) – standalone use

Right click on “repositories” -> create New Repository

Enter the repository name and let the server create the default structure for you:

→ Note the SVN URL. You’ll need it later when you’re gonna setup your project, within the maven pom.

Create a new repository (2) – mirror Google Code

Google provides a free subversion service through its “Google Code” service. However, there’s no quality analysis. … So, in order to provide quality checks we will mirror the google code repository.

Therefore, we’ll be able to perform quality scans.

• Create a new repository, see previous chapter

• Right click on the repository -> All tasks -> Manage hooks

You have to edit the “pre-revision property change hook” and put the following command:

exit 0

This will check that the execution (synchronization) was successful.

SVN client

The SVN client version must match the server version for better performances and to avoid errors.

Windows

Tortoise SVN is the best one available. http://tortoisesvn.tigris.org/

!! During installation, don't forget to install the svn command line tools !!

Linux

Command line client

apt-get install subversion

Then you can use the svn command:

• svn co --username=yourUserName --password=yourpassword http://path-to-your-svn
• svn add file
• svn commit -m "my revision comment"

Graphical client

RabbitVCS is a good alternative to tortoise SVN: http://rabbitvcs.org/

apt-get install rabbitvcs-cli rabbitvcs-core rabbitvcs-gedit rabbitvcs-nautilus