Re: svn, subversion, repos
On Monday 09 March 2015 19:14:21, peter@easthope.ca wrote :
> http://svnbook.red-bean.com/en/1.7/svn.reposadmin.create.html has
>
> $ # Create a repository
> $ svnadmin create /var/svn/repos
> $
>
> In wheezy this fails of course. Is /var writeable by users in
> any widely used Linux?
>
> peter@dalton:/var$ svnadmin create svn/repos
> svnadmin: Repository creation failed
> svnadmin: Could not create top-level directory
> svnadmin: Can't create directory 'svn/repos': No such file or directory
>
> No mention of repos in /usr/share/doc/subversion/README.Debian.
> Nothing obvious in wiki.debian.org.
> Nothing in https://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/fhs/fhs-2.3.html.
>
> Is there a "common practise" in Debian? Write permission on /var?
> repos in /home/user/?
I store the repositories in /var/svn/repos to make them available for browsing
through websvn. It is very convenient when I need to have a quick look at a
code base without checking out the content.
Beside, I see no indication that svnserve can serve repositories out of more
than one directory. If every user stores his repositories in his own home, the
repositories can only be accessed using ssh. I don't know how well tools such
as tortoisesvn handle it.
Moreover, users need a valid user account on the server and a login shell to
administer the repositories. It may prove a challenge to Windows users :-) and
a security risk.
On my server, the repositories can only be created by root. When someone needs
a new repository, I create it myself. It let me review the proposed repository
name to filter out meaningless or silly names. I also discuss with the user if
it is best to have one repository for several related programs or if several
repositories should be created.
With my user base (17 users), I create one new repository every month at the
most.
If you want to let users administer the svn repositories, you may want to have
a look at projects such as FusionForge (https://fusionforge.org/), submin
(http://supermind.nl/submin/index.html), scm-manager (https://www.scm-
manager.org/), User-friendly svn (http://www.usvn.info/). I haven't tried any
of them.
Frédéric
Reply to: