Version Control Using Subversion

ver: 0.2

(C)2005- Anand Vaidya, anand@vsa-services.com

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 Subversion
 This presentation is based on Linux server
running svn
 Comments should be sent to me at the email
below:
 anand@vsa-services.com

(C)2005- Anand Vaidya, anand@vsa-services.com

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 What is Version Control?
 Ability to manage changes to files.
 Can we make changes, realize we made a
mistake and undo the mistake?
 Can we find out who did what changes,
especially when collaborating?
 Can we go back and retrieve a set of files at a
certain point in time?
 How can we enable people to collaborate more
effectively?

(C)2005- Anand Vaidya, anand@vsa-services.com

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 Subversion
 Traditionally, we have used CVS or RCS
 Introducing SVN : Superior “CVS”

Get it from:
 Your Linux distribution
 http://subversion.tigris.org

Read documentation:
http://svnbook.red-bean.com/nightly/en/index.html
Browse archives and/or subscribe to the mailing list
users@subversion.tigris.org
and of-course, use Google.
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 CVS Problems
 Does not handle versioning for directories
 Differentiates binary and text files handling
 Non-atomic operations
 Not flexible (eg: per dir access control)
 Many irritants: eg: Replaced files carry the old
history.
 Failed commits problematic – no atomicity

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 What is Subversion
 Used for version control of files.
 Incremental changes, rollback edits
 Any type of file:
 Plain text : source code, config files, xml files
 Binary files: Images, audio, video, ROM images etc
 Svn is Free, Open Source
 Written by CollabNet in 2000, to be a part of their
Enterprise product. Still funded by CollabNet
 Karl Fogel (Cyclic Software, CollabNet), Ben
Collins-Sussman (CollabNet), Jim Blandy
(RedHat)

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Subversion – Time machine for files
 Directory tree with all your files and revisions
/info about changes – Repository
 Access locally, or across the network (eg.
Another country)
 Client-Server architecture
 SVN is not SCM. It is a generic tool (a hammer).
It can manage any fileset, not just C source
code.
 Does not provide build tools etc.
 Remembers all changes ever done – to the
repository

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 Subversion-Users
 KDE Project, Subversion itself
 Linux IEEE1394 dev project
 BioInformatics.org (eg:
http://bioinformatics.org/websvn/)
 GCC project
 LANL
 HP, Sun, Samsung, Intel, Motorola, SK Tel
 BEA, Sybase
 Allianz, Barclays, First American, Dresdner
Kleinwort
 Aventis, TCS, SAIC – many many more

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 Subversion-Goals
 Fixes CVS bugs, misfeatures
 As compatible as humanly possible with cvs
(atleast to the user)
 Efficient Branching, Tagging

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 Subversion-Commercial Support
 Many companies can provide svn support
 You can always go to CollabNet
(www.collabnet.com)

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 Subversion-Key Features
 Directory and file versioning (vs CVS' files only)
 Atomic Commits
 File & Dir Versioned Metadata : Any set of
key/value pairs -– also versioned.
 Multiple network access layers: Native svn
server, Apache, svn-thru-ssh
 Binary difference algorithm – works will with text
and binary data
 Efficient Branching and Tagging
 Implemented as C libraries
 well defined APIs – write software with your
favourite language (Perl, Python, C)

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Subversion-Architecture

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 Subversion
 Runs on Linux, FreeBSD, Unix, OSX, Windows
 Uses Apache Runtime Lib ( file access, memory
management, network access)
 Not dependent on Apache, though
 Repository is a virtual directory – do not mess
inside! Think, database file.
 Svn has no “conceptual understanding” of
projects. You do.
 Svn know one thing – Directory tree. That's all.

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 Subversion-sample installation
root@satdevel:~# apt-get install subversion
The following extra packages will be installed:
db4.2-util libapr0 libexpat1 libneon24 libpcre3 libsvn0 libxml2
patch
The following NEW packages will be installed:
db4.2-util libapr0 libexpat1 libneon24 libpcre3 libsvn0 libxml2
patch subversion
0 upgraded, 9 newly installed, 0 to remove and 2 not
upgraded.
Need to get 3208kB of archives.

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 Subversion
 Svn The command-line client program.
 Svnversion A program for reporting the state (in terms of
revisions of the items present) of a working copy.
 Svnlook A tool for inspecting a Subversion repository.
 Svnadmin A tool for creating, tweaking or repairing a
Subversion repository.
 Svndumpfilter A program for filtering Subversion repository
dump streams.
 mod_dav_svn A plug-in module for the Apache HTTP
Server, used to make your repository available to others
over a network.
 Svnserve A custom standalone server program, runnable as
a daemon process or invokable by SSH; another way to
make your repository available to others over a network.

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 Subversion – client software
 svn command line client -linux/unix/osx/cygwin
 esvn – Linux, Windows (based on Qt)
 kdesvn – KDE svn client
 rapidsvn – Linux (GTK)
 tortoiseSVN –Integrates into Windows Explorer
 WebSVN – webbased (PHP scripts.)
 SmartSVN – all java, $$

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 Subversion -access methods
 http://, https:// - use Apache
 svn://, svn+ssh:// - use svnserve
 file:/// - use filesystem

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 Subversion – create repos
 Prepare the source code/files for upload:
mkdir idedriver
cd idedriver
mkdir branches tags trunk
cd trunk
cp -axv /usr/src/linux/drivers/ide .
cd ../..

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 Subversion – create repos
# svnadmin create –fs-type fsfs /var/svn/idedriver
# ls /var/svn/idedriver
conf dav db format hooks locks README.txt
#
for RHEL, CentOS:
#chown -R apache /var/svn/idedriver
for debian, ubuntu :
#chown -R www-data /var/svn/idedriver
tip: Create repos of type fsfs only and not BDB type
tip: Add a section to specify the access rights to the svn access file! (eg: I
use /etc/svn-access – filename defined in apache config)

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 Subversion – add files – first time
 prep input:
mkdir idedriver
cd idedriver
mkdir branches tags trunk
cp -axv /usr/src/linux/drivers/ide .

 Upload:
cd
svn import idedriver
file:///home/user01/proj1/idedriver -m
“first upload”
Wait for the upload to finish

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 Subversion – check...
$ svn list file:///home/sysadmin/proj1/
idedriver/
$ svn list
file:///home/sysadmin/proj1/idedriver
branches/
tags/
trunk/

 Upload OK. You might delete your input

directory, if you wish
rm -rf /home/sysadmin/idedriver

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 Subversion - Checkout
 Get a personal copy of idedriver to idedrv:
svn co http://localhost/svn/idedriver/trunk idedrv

Note that the parameter idedrv is optional directory name.

If not provided, repos is checked out to current
directory.

The http:// url assumes you have setup svn access via
apache.

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 Subversion - Diff
cd idedrv/trunk/ide ; svn diff
 returns nothing since original and local copy are
identical.
 edit ide-dma.c and change some lines. Try now:
$ svn diff
[sysadmin@vmcos4n00 ide]$ svn diff
Index: ide-dma.c
===================================================================
--- ide-dma.c (revision 1)
+++ ide-dma.c (working copy)
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@

#include <asm/io.h>
#include <asm/irq.h>
-
+/* WE ADD A COMMENT */
static const struct drive_list_entry drive_whitelist [] = {

{ "Micropolis 2112A" , "ALL" },

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 Subversion - revert
 Ah, we made a mistake, just now, can we
recover:

$ svn revert ide-dma.c

Reverted 'ide-dma.c'
$ svn diff
$

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 Subversion- commit
 Now edit ide-dma.c again and let us commit the
changes:
$vi ide-dma.c
$svn commit -m "add comments to ide-dma.c -
anand"
Sending ide/ide-dma.c
Transmitting file data .
Committed revision 2.
$

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 Subversion - update
 If others have been working on the repos, and
committing, you need to pull down those
changes:

svn update

Note: svn responds with files listed with the

following status:

A=add, R=replace, D=delete, G=merged

successfully, C=conflict

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 Subversion – log, status
 Check log entries:
$svn log
-----------------------------------------------------------------
r1 | sysadmin | 2006-05-03 12:32:16 +0800 (Wed, 03 May 2006) | 1 line

first upload
------------------------------------------------------------------
$

svn log –revision {15:35}

svn status
tip: check status while you are inside your local repos tree.

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 Subversion -versions
 HEAD : latest in the repos
 BASE: What is in your local repos (ignoring any
local modifications)
 COMMITTED: Equal to BASE, or one rev before
BASE where a file changed
 PREV: COMMITTED-1

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 Subversion - example
svn diff -r PREV:COMMITTED ide-dma.c

svn diff -r HEAD

svn log -r BASE

svn log -r {2006-05-03}

tip: use tomorrow's date to get the latest else you will recv changes as of
yesterday (2006-05-03 00:00)
svn co -r {13:45}

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 Subversion – add / delete files/dir
 You can't just delete a file/dir in your local repo
and commit. You have to also inform svn (or
mark for add/del):
svn delete file.txt
 You need to tell svn of a new file/dir addition to
your repos, eg:
cd $MYREPOS
cp /tmp/file.txt .
svn add file.txt
Note: dir adds are recursive
svn mkdir http://localhost/svn/idedriver/etc

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Subversion – file copy, move, view, list
 You can't just copy a file locally:
svn copy ide-lib.c newlib.c
A idelib.c

svn move ide-lib.c idelib1.c

A idelib1.c
D ide-lib.c

svn cat http://localhost/svn/idedriver/Makefile

svn list http://localhost/svn/idedriver

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 Subversion -conflicts
svn status -u
 will display files that can conflict
 All commits will fail until you resolve the conflict
 You can throwaway your changes:
svn revert file.txt
 Call the other dev, discuss and agree to use one
of the versions:
svn resolved file.txt
svn ci -m “string.....”

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 Subversion- recovering deleted files
 If you know the file name/path, hunt down the
rev when it was deleted, then:
cd repos
svn delete ide-pnp.c
svn ci -m “del file”
new rev=5
svn copy -r 4
http://localhost/svn/idedriver/trunk/ide/ide-pnp.c
ide-pnp.c

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 Subversion - WebSVN
 Please watch the demo

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 Subversion-Branches
 Create a branch when you need to start from the
main repos, but work independently
 You need to share you mods with everyone
without affecting the main repos.
eg: linux kernel has several branches: famous among
them: -git -aa (andrea arcangeli), -mm (andrew morton),
quilt tree (greg hartman), netdev network drivers (jeff
garzik) etc
Note: Linux kernel uses git and not svn but the concept is
same.

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 Subversion-Branches
 Create a branch:
mkdir work
cd work
svn co http://localhost/svn/idedriver idedriver
cd idedriver
svn copy trunk/ide branches/ide
svn status
A + branches/ide

or:
svn copy http://localhost/svn/idedriver/trunk
http://localhost/svn/idedriver/branches/branch2

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 Subversion-branches
 Merge – actually diff-and-patch repos->your
working copy
 use
svn merge -r rev1:rev2
http://localhost/svn/trunk
branches/branch2

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 The End
 This presentation is based on the svn book, Version Control with
Subversion, by Ben Collins Sussman, Brian W. Fitzpatrick, C.
Michael Pilato and my experience with svn

 This presentation can be redistributed as follows:

➢ No commercial re-distribution: eg, as part of a for-profit
CDROM. Seek my permission first.
➢ Must attribute the document creator.
➢ Share alike: If you use this document and enhance it or
modify, share the modifications or the modified document
➢ Which means I apply: Creative Commons License,
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/

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 The End
 Thanks for your time. If you have any feedback, corrections
or questions please contact me: Anand Vaidya,
anand@vsa-services.com

 This document was created with OpenOffice on Linux

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