In this post, I just want to cover how to quickly install Subversion 1.4.6 on Windows Vista. Subversion is a free source control system, easy to use and has a strong user base.
The first task is to download Subversion 1.4.6 from http://subversion.tigris.org/servlets/ProjectDocumentList?folderID=91. On this page you should find svn-1.4.6-setup.exe – Windows installer with the basic win32 binaries. I found this to be the easiest way to install svn.
Next, we need to setup the directory to store our source control repository. This will contain everything, including configuration and the revision database. On my E: drive, I have a folder called Source Control, in here I want a folder called svnrepos.
E:Source Control>mkdir svn
E:Source Control>cd svn
E:Source Controlsvn>mkdir repos
E:Source Controlsvn>
Next, we need to create our actual SVN database. We use the svnadmin create command which will take care of everything for us.
E:Source Controlsvn>svnadmin create “E:Source Controlsvnrepos”
The directory layout of our repos folder looks like this:
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17/05/2008 13:35 234 README.txt
The next task is to create and start the Subversion service. Windows Vista includes a command called SC which we can execute to create our service. Sadly the first time I can this I got the error ‘SC’ is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file. Turns out the problem was because my command prompt wasn’t running as administrator.
Starting my command prompt as administrator, I could then enter the following command to create my service.
sc create svn binpath= “C:program filesSubversionbinsvnserve.exe –service -r “E:Source Controlsvnrepos”” DisplayName= “Subversion Server” depend= Tcpip start= auto
Notice, as part of the argument to the binpath, I include the repository directory I created before. I can then use ‘net start svn’ to start the service. From now on, it will start automatically with Windows.
C:Windowssystem32>net start svn
The Subversion Server service is starting.
The Subversion Server service was started successfully.
You can now use the command line or TortoiseSVN to connect to the repository.
Hi Bell,
Did you try Visual SVN Server? All you need to do is following the wizard, then you will have a Subversion Server integrated into Apache (with SSL support).
But the Team Foundation Server install is so easy, why not just use that 😉
Hi,
No, I haven’t tried Visual SVN Server. Next time around I will give it a go 🙂
And Martin – i’ve installed TFS – I know that’s not true!!
Ben
Ah, and it’s free. Also it provides a simple UI to help you to create repositories and manage user/security settings.
Visual SVN is great and, as t800t8 mention it’s free and its control panel makes easier to manage the repositories/users, etc.
I have written a small tutorial you can check:
http://fabianmejia.blogspot.com
Thanks for your tutorails
I am facing problem when I try to start svn as service
net start svn
error: The service is not responding to the Externan function
Please help me
Don’t just copy and paste the [sc create] command, modify the path to suit your local installation…
Hi, I amtrying to connect this svn service on mmy visat machine to eclipse subclipse. I added repository location svn://localhost. It did not allow me to create a new folder and saying no athourization error. Can anyone help please.