Howto install subversion by Jonas Levring

Start by installing Debian (howto)

With just the minimal Debian etch (didn't try sarge) installed, I got a few errors while compiling Subversion due to missing required libraries.

So below is a checklist to run so that ./configure while work from the first try (since it takes looooong to run, I thought it could be useful )

Make sure you have a decent C compiler installed (note: on “etch” I needed both GCC and G++, otherwise I got an error: “Error: C compiler cannot create executables” while running ./configure) It also needs zlibc (actually a few other related libs too)

Run these commands to be sure you have everything to configure subversion succesfully

apt-get install gcc
apt-get install g++
apt-get install zlibc
apt-get install zlib-bin
apt-get install zlib1g
apt-get install zlib1g-devel

Note: Do NOT use the apt version of subversion - the authorization part of it is broken

Also, under debian etch the package zlib1g-devel does not exist, try zlib1g-dev instead.

I will go through the most common parts of setting up a subversion server, but as backup there is a good manual

Create temp directory

cd /mnt/HD_a2/
mkdir tmp
cd tmp

Get the source + dependencies (tested with 1.4.2)

wget http://subversion.tigris.org/downloads/subversion-1.4.2.tar.gz
wget http://subversion.tigris.org/downloads/subversion-deps-1.4.2.tar.gz

Extract the tar's and access directory

tar xzvf subversion-1.4.2.tar.gz
tar xzvf subversion-deps-1.4.2.tar.gz
cd subversion-1.4.2

Build and install

./configure
make
make install

Note1: Remember to drink a cup of coffee (or 3) Note2: There are some parameters to set if you want to use subversion through Apache. But please remember that it requires Apache 2.0, and in my experience the DNS-323 is not powerful enough to run this. - Sorry - But if you want to try out, remember to check the install manual for parameters.

Now it should be working

Create a couple of directories to ease the maintenance

mkdir /mnt/HD_a2/Data
mkdir /mnt/HD_a2/Data/svn
cd /mnt/HD_a2/Data/svn

If you are creating all the repositories inside this directory, its possible to start onlye one server, and still have the option to create special access rules to specific repositories.

In this case we start a repository only for my latest sourcecode (called: myLatestSourceCode)

mkdir myLatestSourceCode
svnadmin create myLatestSourceCode/

Sometimes it's useful to require username and password to access and/or update the repository.

By default its possible for anyone to read, but it requires username and password to update.

Edit svnserve.conf

pico svnserve.conf

Remove the # where there is only one, so it look something like this:

Note: Don't comment-out # authz-db = authz

[general]
anon-access = read
auth-access = write
 
password-db = passwd
# authz-db = authz
realm = My First Repository

Save the file and exit

It's possible to change the name of the repository by changing the realm-text.

Edit the passwd-file

pico passwd

Setup the usernames and passwords in clear-text. Example of creating a user named foo with the password bar.

[users]
foo = bar

Save the file and exit

Now the server is ready to start.. Yeapii

svnserve -d --listen-port <port> --listen-host <ip or domain> -r /mnt/HD_a2/Data/svn/

I am running the server on port 8080, but it's up to you to choose. When setting up the ip or domain, remember not to use http in front. Example: svn.mydomain.com

It is recommended to enter the server-launch-string in the linuxrc file

Now its possible to access the repository by the URL: svn://svn.mydomain.com:8080/myLatestSourceCode.

Have fun