If you’re looking to get your hands on Subversion, the open source version control system, you can install it on Ubuntu using Web Access. This guide will show you how to do just that. To begin, open a web browser and type in the following address: http://localhost:8080/svn/ If everything goes according to plan, you’ll be prompted to login. Enter your username and password (or create a new account if you don’t have one already) and click OK. Once logged in, you’ll see the main Subversion interface. To install Subversion, click on the Install New Software button and select the Subversion package from the list of available software. Click on the Install button to begin the installation process. Depending on your computer’s specifications, this process may take a few minutes or longer. Once it’s complete, return to the main Subversion interface and click on the Finish button to complete the installation. ..
To install subversion, open a terminal and run the following command:
We’re going to create the subversion repository in /svn, although you should choose a location that has a good amount of space.
Next we’ll need to edit the configuration file for the subversion webdav module. You can use a different editor if you’d like.
The Location element in the configuration file dictates the root directory where subversion will be acessible from, for instance: http://www.server.com/svn
The DAV line needs to be uncommented to enable the dav module
The SVNPath line should be set to the same place your created the repository with the svnadmin command.
The next section will let you turn on authentication. This is just basic authentication, so don’t consider it extremely secure. The password file will be located where the AuthUserFile setting sets it to… probably best to leave it at the default.
To create a user on the repository use, the following command:
Note that you should only use the -c option the FIRST time that you create a user. After that you will only want to use the -m option, which specifies MD5 encryption of the password, but doesn’t recreate the file.
Example:
Restart apache by running the following command:
Now if you go in your browser to http://www.server.com/svn, you should see that the repository is enabled for anonymous read access, but commit access will require a username.
If you want to force all users to authenticate even for read access, add the following line right below the AuthUserFile line from above. Restart apache after changing this line.
Now if you refresh your browser, you’ll be prompted for your credentials:
You now have a working subversion server!
