The Repository

No matter which protocol you use to access your repositories, you always need to create at least one repository. This can either be done with the Subversion command line client or with TortoiseSVN.

If you haven't created a Subversion repository yet, it's time to do that now.

* Repository Creation You can create a repository with the FSFS backend or with the older Berkeley Database (BDB) format. The FSFS format is generally faster and easier to administer, and it works on network shares and Windows 98 without problems. The BDB format was once considered more stable simply because it has been in use for longer, but since FSFS has now been in use in the field for several years, that argument is now rather weak. Read Choosing a Data Store in the Subversion book for more information.

• Creating a Repository with the Command Line Client

Create an empty folder with the name SVN (e.g. D:\SVN\), which is used as root for all your repositories.

Create another folder MyNewRepository inside D:\SVN\.

Open the command prompt (or DOS-Box), change into D:\SVN\ and type

svnadmin create --fs-type bdb MyNewRepository

or

svnadmin create --fs-type fsfs MyNewRepository

Now you've got a new repository located at D:\SVN\MyNewRepository.

• Creating The Repository With TortoiseSVN

Open the windows explorerCreate a new folder and name it e.g. SVNRepository

Right-click on the newly created folder and select TortoiseSVN → Create Repository here....

A repository is then created inside the new folder. Don't edit those files yourself!!!. If you get any errors make sure that the folder is empty and not write protected.

• Local Access to the Repository To access your local repository you need the path to that folder. Just remember that Subversion expects all repository paths in the form file:///C:/SVNRepository/. Note the use of forward slashes throughout.

To access a repository located on a network share you can either use drive mapping, or you can use the UNC path. For UNC paths, the form is file://ServerName/path/to/repos/. Note that there are only 2 leading slashes here.

Prior to SVN 1.2, UNC paths had to be given in the more obscure form file:///\ServerName/path/to/repos. This form is still supported, but not recommended.

* Accessing a Repository on a Network Share Although in theory it is possible to put a FSFS repository on a network share and have multiple users access it usingfile://protocol, this is most definitely not recommended. In fact we would strongly discourage it, and do not support such use.Firstly you are giving every user direct write access to the repository, so any user could accidentally delete the entire repository or make it unusable in some other way.

Secondly not all network file sharing protocols support the locking that Subversion requires, so you may find your repository gets corrupted. It may not happen straight away, but one day two users will try to access the repository at the same time.

Thirdly the file permissions have to be set just so. You may just about get away with it on a native Windows share, but SAMBA is particularly difficult.

file:// access is intended for local, single-user access only, particularly testing and debugging. When you want to share the repository you really need to set up a proper server, and it is not nearly as difficult as you might think. Read Section 3.5, “Accessing the Repository” for guidelines on choosing and setting up a server.

• Repository Layout Before you import your data into the repository you should first think about how you want to organize your data. If you use one of the recommended layouts you will later have it much easier.

There are some standard, recommended ways to organize a repository. Most people create a trunk directory to hold the “main line” of development, a branches directory to contain branch copies, and a tags directory to contain tag copies. If a repository holds only one project, then often people create these top-level directories:

/trunk /branches /tags

If a repository contains multiple projects, people often index their layout by branch:

/trunk/paint /trunk/calc /branches/paint /branches/calc /tags/paint /tags/calc

...or by project:

/paint/trunk /paint/branches /paint/tags /calc/trunk /calc/branches /calc/tags

Indexing by project makes sense if the projects are not closely related and each one is checked out individually. For related projects where you may want to check out all projects in one go, or where the projects are all tied together in a single distribution package, it is often better to index by branch. This way you have only one trunk to checkout, and the relationships between the sub-projects is more easily visible.

If you adopt a top level /trunk /tags /branches approach, there is nothing to say that you have to copy the entire trunk for every branch and tag, and in some ways this structure offers the most flexibility.

For unrelated projects you may prefer to use separate repositories. When you commit changes, it is the revision number of the whole repository which changes, not the revision number of the project. Having 2 unrelated projects share a repository can mean large gaps in the revision numbers. The Subversion and TortoiseSVN projects appear at the same host address, but are completely separate repositories allowing independent development, and no confusion over build numbers.

Of course, you're free to ignore these common layouts. You can create any sort of variation, whatever works best for you or your team. Remember that whatever you choose, it's not a permanent commitment. You can reorganize your repository at any time. Because branches and tags are ordinary directories, TortoiseSVN can move or rename them however you wish.

Switching from one layout to another is just a matter of issuing a series of server-side moves; If you don't like the way things are organized in the repository, just juggle the directories around.

So if you haven't already created a basic folder structure inside your repository you should do that now. There are two ways to achieve this. If you simply want to create a /trunk /tags /branches structure, you can use the repository browser to create the three folders (in three separate commits). If you want to create a deeper hierarchy then it is simpler to create a folder structure on disk first and import it in a single commit, like this:

create a new empty folder on your hard drive

create your desired top-level folder structure inside that folder - don't put any files in it yet!

import this structure into the repository via a right click on the folder and selecting TortoiseSVN → Import... This will import your temp folder into the repository root to create the basic repository layout.

Note that the name of the folder you are importing does not appear in the repository, only its contents. For example, create the following folder structure:

C:\Temp\New\trunk C:\Temp\New\branches C:\Temp\New\tags

Import C:\Temp\New into the repository root, which will then look like this:

/trunk /branches /tags