Subversion

Protest 0112

Subversion (often abbreviated as SVN), is a version control system used to maintain current and historical versions of files such as source code, web pages, and documentation. Its goal is to be a mostly compatible successor to the widely used Concurrent Versions System (CVS).

Overview

Subversion manages files and directories over time. A repository acts as a central storage of data. The files and directories are placed in a repository, which is then accessible over a network. Subversion can record the history of file and directory versions. Users can recover older versions of the data or examine the history of how the data changed. In Subversion, this is achieved through a commit operation, which makes a permanent snapshot of the current state of the repository.

Features

Subversion has several notable features:

• Atomic commits: An entire set of changes is committed as a single atomic transaction. Either all changes are committed, or none are.
• Branching and tagging: Subversion efficiently handles branching and tagging of the file system namespace for projects.
• Directories: Subversion can version directories, rename them, and move them.
• Networking: Supports network access via the Subversion protocol, HTTP, and HTTPS.
• Compatibility: Subversion is designed to be compatible with CVS, allowing easy migration for teams switching from CVS.

Architecture

Subversion's architecture consists of a client/server model. The Subversion server stores all the versioned data. Clients connect to the server to check out a working copy of the repository. After making changes, the client commits these changes back to the server. Subversion supports several types of servers, including Apache HTTP Server with a Subversion module, and svnserve, a lightweight server.

Usage

Subversion is used by software developers for source code management. It is also used for managing changes in any files and directories in a project. Users interact with Subversion via command-line tools or through various graphical user interfaces.

History

Subversion was created as an effort to write a free version control system that operated much like CVS but with fixed flaws and added features. It was officially released in 2000 by CollabNet Inc., and since then, it has undergone many enhancements and updates.

See Also

• Concurrent Versions System
• Git
• Mercurial

External Links

Given the constraints, external links cannot be provided.