Introduction
Subversion aka SVN (Debian package) is a version control system that is a compelling replacement for CVS in the open source community.
It has many features and improvements with respect to CVS, but most important ones are:
- rename support
- truly atomic commits
- directory and file meta-data are versioned
- efficient handling of binary files
- internal commands resemble a lot with CVS' commands
Note: more information about the features can be found in the Version Control with Subversion book.
Note: If you are looking for an administration tutorial, look at SVNAdministrationTutorial.
Each project must start its life in SVN by an import command. It is recommended that each project should have a structure that would allow branching and tagging in a convenient manner; see the chapter choosing repository layout more info. After the initial import, the source just used for the import should be removed and a checked out version should be used for further modifications. Summary:
Once the project is in subversion, a developer can get a copy of it by using the checkout command. This is necessary so subversion can track your local changes. Usually one would want to get the most recent version from trunk, but in some cases one would want to check out a branch. Checking out a branch is no different from checking out from trunk, one will use the svn checkout command. Now you can make your modifications to the checked out directory. Note: Checking out a single file is not possible, only directories can be checked out. Summary:
You made modification, but you want to see a summary of the local copy's status. Summary:
You have found out that a file has some modifications since it was synced with the repository. Seeing the contents of the change can be done with svn diff. Summary:
You have seen what changed and you decide is time to make your changes public to do that, use svn commit If no parameter is specified, the current directory's (and subdirectories') changes are committed in subversion. The commit can be done also on a "per file" basis by specifying the names of the files/subdirectories to have their changes committed. Summary:
From time to time it is necessary to isolate a certain snapshots (usually from trunk) of the project. This might be the case if in a project a release is wanted or a certain feature is to be developed in a branch. Subversion does not distinguish between copying, tagging and branching and all of them can be accomplished through the usage of the copy command. or, in order to be sure that the correct version is tagged: Note: replace the -r argument (123) with the trunk revision number which needs to be tagged. Summary:
The SVN book describes very well the basic working cycle; more informations are available there.
enabling ssh key access and using an ssh agent will spare you from entering a password at each operation that involves the repository; also the user name can be set in settings in ~/.ssh/config, so when issuing commands that require server authentication, it will not be mandatory to insert all needed data (ssh remote port number, username, etc.), because this data is already in ~/.ssh/config DO NOT fiddle with or remove the contents of the .svn directories!
Basic commands and usage
Projects must start: svn import
svn import -m "New import" localprojdir svn+ssh://svn.debian.org/svn/aliothproj/path/in/project/repository
Getting a working copy: svn checkout
svn checkout svn+ssh://developer@svn.debian.org/svn/aliothproj/trunk
Checking status: svn status
svn status
Checking modifications: svn diff
svn diff
Saving your changes: svn commit
svn commit -m "made foo changes to current directory"
svn commit -m "made foo changes to some_modified_file" some_modified_file
Branching and tagging: svn copy
svn copy -m "Tag release 0.4" svn+ssh://svn.debian.org/svn/aliothproj/trunk svn+ssh://svn.debian.org/svn/aliothproj/tags/0.4
svn copy -r123 -m "Tag release 0.4" svn+ssh://svn.debian.org/svn/aliothproj/trunk svn+ssh://svn.debian.org/svn/aliothproj/tags/0.4
Basic work cycle
Tips and tricks
Other information