TortoiseSVN is the source control
system integrated with Windows Explorer, and is based on SVN source control
system earlier introduced with Linux. SVN itself was inspired by CVS source
control system used with Unix since 1990 (and later with Linux). The advantage
of TortoiseSVN is that Windows repository created with TortoiseSVN can be used
as repository when accessing with Linux-based client SVN tools. This
Windows/Linux interoperability along with integration with Windows Explorer
sounded appealing for me when I opted to use TortoiseSVN for my own projects.
One other benefit of TortoiseSVN is that it is able to compare Word files
(though not side-by-side, v1.4.5), and works with UNICODE.
As with any source control system you should plan a central repository. It is a
good idea to place repository on file server or use internet server,
and use shared drive if the repository should be accessed from Windows and Linux.
In simple cases, you can choose flash drive. To setup SVN repository after
running setup program make new folder (SVN for example), right-click and
choose Create repository here...
. If you'd try to create repository starting from not-empty folder, the
TortoiseSVN will be complaining, which means that repository can be created
from empty folder only.
Once repository is created, you can add files (and folders) to the SVN repository.
You do this with Repo-browser, which can be invoked by right-click on
repository, choosing TortoiseSVN, and then Repo-browser.
Now, when you need to work with repository files locally, you first make a
checkout (right-click on
repository and choose SVN Checkout... or checkout from repo-browser). For the
destination of the local copy choose any location such as
MyDocuments/LocalSVNCopy. TortoiseSVN enables right-click menu for the folder
where you made a checkout. The new context-menu items are also available for
local files. Notice that
TortoiseSVN adds red exclamation mark to the left bottom of an icon of locally
edited file, and green mark if a local file was not edited since last checkout.
The same meaning have green and red marks for folder icons. In fact, it is
convenient to identify folder as local SVN copy by these folder marks.
Among menu items that SVN adds for locally edited file, the most useful is
Diff option, which makes possible to see differences between local and server
(repository) versions. Don't forget to update repo files
if you make changes to the local copy (right-click on file and choose SVN
Commit...). The accidental destruction of the local copy can cause no harm
if you did not forget to make commits after updates of the local files. To restore
local copy you simple make a checkout from the relative repo.
When new file is added to the repositoy, you can load it to the local directory
by right-click on local project folder and choosing SVN Update.
If you have programming experience with Microsoft development tools, you can
jumpstart using TortoiseSVN having in mind that mode of operations
with TortoiseSVN is based on paradigm used with other source control systems. Take
a look on Visual Source Safe
window, which is the Windows source control system provided by Microsoft
basically for version control of source files while programming. The
TortoiseSVN's analog of Visual Source Safe Explorer is already mentioned
Repository Browser.
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With Linux there are 2 major options1.
The first one is to use CVS, and the second is
to rely on Subversion (or SVN), which
inherits major CVS features and claims removing some shortcomings observed in CVS.
If circumstances do not require from you to use CVS, the use of SVN might be
a better option, especially if you need to track versions of UNICODE files. On the
other hand the use of CVS is simpler, more intuitive, and CVS is integrated with
KDE by default through Konqueror
file manager, even though you can use a separate UI frond-end for CVS called
Cervisia (cervisia).
Cervisia enables you to setup a CVS repository and run basic tasks such
as commit, checkout, update, adding files, viewing version differences without
running these tasks in command-line interpreter. Sure you can use console
(konsole), but unless you use CVS everyday keeping in mind its commands
might not be a reasonable and easy exercise (see the list of relative commands with:
# cvs --help-options or enter man:cvs in Konqueror's address bar).
The next steps show you how to setup an empty CVS repository from scratch so
that files and folders can be added later. It is a good idea to setup repository
on file or internet server, however, for simplicity, you can use flash-drive for tests:
- Run Cervisia (cervisia), and create repository cvs_repo from menu
option Repository/Create... (enter an appropriate path such as
/media/disk/cvs_repo to your flash-drive). In the result, the default structure
is created under cvs_repo folder (at this point there is only default CSVROOT
folder with CVS administrative files, which should not be ever edited manually).
- Create a working directory such as cvs_client and import a project (module) you are going to use,
for example TODO (you can specify any module name such as TODO even though
it still does not exist under cvs_client) from cvs_client with Cervisia's
Repository/Import... This step is an equivalent of creating an new
(and empty) project in CVS repository. The fields "Vendor Tag" and
"Release Tag" do not matter in fact albeit mandatory (CVS keeps these fields for
historical reasons, you can use company name for "Vendor Tag" and "start",
without quotes, for "Release Tag"). Notice that under CVS a project is
called module, and modules are located directly under repository folder
(cvs_repo) that is on the same level with default CSVROOT folder.
- Create a working copy of TODO project (module) by making checkout with Cervisia's Repository/Checkout... This
step includes initializing of working copy with CVS administrative files (folder
CVS under project name TODO of cvs_client working directory).
- At this point the repository is initialized, has empty project (module) TODO,
and also you have its working copy (folder TODO under cvs_client). Now you can
add files to the repository. Firstly, you simply copy necessary files to
cvs_client/TODO. Then right-click on TODO folder and choose Open With/Cervisia.
This opens Cervisia within Konqueror file manager. Now right-click on local
file such as TODO.txt and choose Add to Repository... You need also make Commit...
2 in the same menu to accomplish adding TODO.txt
to the repository.
With Linux, SVN has become de-facto standard for users and developers who
want to obtain latest versions of source code for a package to build it on local
machine albeit obtaining source with FTP is no less practical. Frequently, a
user needs a few SVN commands such as checkout, which can be effectively run
(and bookmarked within console) from console (konsole), without invoking
UI-enabled front ends. For this reason, I provide here in a nutshell basic
steps necessary to setup SVN repository without UI-enabled tools (the order of
steps reflects the steps with CVS repository setup). As before you can use
for tests flash-drive:
- Create a repository such as svn_repo:
# svnadmin create
/media/disk/svn_repo At this point SVN creates a structure with
administrative files.
- Create working directory, where you want to work with local copy:
# mkdir /media/disk/svn_client
Or, use Konqueror to create an empty folder svn_client.
- Create a new project under SVN repository. This means, like with CVS,
to import an empty local directory like svn_client. The custom name TODO of new
project is set in command line:
# svn import /media/disk/svn_client file:///media/disk/svn_repo/TODO
-m 'initialization'
Notice that -m (log message), providing a description of revision, is
mandatory.
- As with CVS, at this point SVN repo is initialized and has an empty TODO
project, you need to make a checkout to start working with project locally:
# svn checkout file:///media/disk/svn_repo /media/disk/svn_client
This creates a local copy with .svn folder under svn_client containing
administrative files. In general, the local folder (svn_client in the sample) is
created if it was not set in command line.
- As with CVS you actually start working with repository by adding and
committing files. First, add to the working directory svn_client a file, for
example TODO.txt, and add it to the repository. Since making add does not
actually adds a file to the repository you need, in fact, execute two commands
(add and commit):
# svn add /media/disk/svn_client/todo/TODO.txt
# svn commit /media/disk/svn_client -m 'commit test'
As before, -m (log message), providing a description of an action, is
mandatory.
With KDE and GNOME come
KDESvn (kdesvn) and
RapidSVN (rapidsvn) programs relatively that enable you to
accomplish source control tasks within graphical interface avoiding the
use of console commands (you still need to create repository in console when
using RapidSVN). These programs represent UI front-ends to Subversion (SVN
commands).
The sequence of steps to create a new repository and add to it a file are
the same as described when using console:
- Create new repository: run kdesvn, go to File/Subversion Admin
and choose Create and open new
repository (uncheck Create main folders since for simple tasks you probably
don't need standard Subversion's structure: trunk, branches, tags).
- Create new project by adding new folder TODO from Subversion/General/New
Folder. Notice that KDESvn hides the use of import command, which was
used with console SVN commands to create TODO project.
- Create a local copy of new project by right-click on TODO and
making checkout to local
directory.
- Add a file to repository: make a file TODO.txt under TODO folder of local
copy, right-click on TODO folder and choose Open With/kdesvn, then right-click
on TODO.txt file and choose "Add selected files/dirs". As before, you still
need to Commit in the same menu to actually add file to the repository.
The pictures used above were obtained with Cervisia v2.4.9 and KDESvn
v0.11.2 3.
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