If you have not created any subversion repositories yet, you can create one with svnadmin:

# svnadmin create ~/my-repository

• Tweaking svnserve.conf

Open up and edit the svnserve.conf file located in the $HOME/my-repo/conf/ directory.

Sample $HOME/my-repo/conf/svnserve.conf

[general]

# Path to the file containing svn users and passwords.
password-db = $HOME/my-repo/conf/passwd

# Authentication realm of the repository. Two repositories using the
# same password-db should have the same realm.
realm = My-test-repository

# Deny all anonymous access
anon-access = none

# Grant authenticated users read and write privileges
auth-access = write

• Setting up password authentication

Open up and edit the password-db file (ie. $HOME/my-repo/conf/passwd). A sample entry might look like this:

[users]
user1 = password1
user2 = password2

• Starting up the server

Run the server by invoking svnserve with the -d switch (daemon mode) and –listen-host 1.2.3.4 (substituting 1.2.3.4 for your v-host IP address).

# svnserve -d --listen-host 1.2.3.4 -r $HOME/my-repo

To ensure that your svnserve gets started whenever the server is booted, you must add a @reboot line to your crontab. Use the crontab -e command to bring up your crontab in your favorite text editor and add the following line:

@reboot svnserve -d --listen-host 1.2.3.4 -r $HOME/my-repo

• Testing the server

To test the server’s functionality, you can create a working copy of your repository using your shell. The checkout command will create a working copy of the repository:

# svn co svn://your-domain.com/$HOME/my-repo my-working-dir
# cd my-working-dir
# echo "foo bar" test-file
# svn add test-file
# svn remove test-file
# svn commit

If you have not created any Subversion repositories yet, you can create one with svnadmin:

# svnadmin create ~/my-repository

Adding mod_dav_svn to your httpd

# a2enmod mod\_dav\_svn

If you plan to use fine-grained permissions, load mod_authz_svn.so as well:

# a2enmod mod_authz_svn

• Configuring access to repositories

HTTP access to your repositories is defined using a <Location> section in your httpd.conf.

<Location /myproject>
DAV svn
SVNPath /home/myself/myrepos/myproject
AuthType Basic
AuthName "My project"
AuthUserFile /home/myself/private/myproject.pw
Order deny,allow
<LimitExcept GET PROPFIND OPTIONS REPORT>
Require valid-user
</LimitExcept>
</Location>

This entry would grant read-only access to everyone and write access to every user AuthUserFile. You can use the htpasswd utility to create or update this file, as described here.

The next entry grants read/write access to users in the AuthUserFile, and no access to anyone else.

<Location /myproject>
DAV svn
SVNPath /home/myself/myrepos/myproject
AuthType Basic
AuthName "My project"
AuthUserFile /home/myself/private/myproject.pw
Order deny,allow
Require valid-user
</Location>

The previous examples all define access on a per-repository basis. It is also possible to grant access from specific users to specific areas of the repository, using fine-grained permissions.

• Testing the repository

Using either a remote Subversion client or the standard svn command from your shell, you can generate your working copy of the repository with the checkout command. If you are accessing public data over a read-only account, you can use a standard http URL:

# svn co http://your-domain/myproject/

If you are accessing private data or using a read/write account, make sure to use an https URL:

# svn co https://your-domain/myproject/

The contents of public repositories are also accessible from a web browser. Keep in mind that search engines will try to index any public data, so you may want to use a robots.txt file.

• Using fine-grained permissions (optional)

You can allow or deny specific users read/write privileges on specific items within a repository using AuthzSVNAccessFile. If you use this directive, make sure the mod_authz_svn module is loaded.

<Location /repos>
DAV svn
SVNPath /home/myself/myrepos

# Access Control via the authz module.
AuthzSVNAccessFile /home/myself/private/myrepos.acl
# Anonymous access is allowed. Prompt as needed.
Satisfy Any
Require valid-user
AuthType Basic
AuthName "My subversion repositories"
AuthUserFile /home/myself/private/myrepos.pw
</Location>

The file specified in AuthzSVNAccessFile is a plain text file which defines fine-grained access lists. Note that all path names specified are relative to the SVNPath.

#
# Allow anonymous read access to everything by default.
#
[/]
\* = r

#
# Grant alice and bob write access to all of /myproject1/.
#
[/myproject]
\* = r
leo = rw
temp = rw

#
# Grant carol and charlie write access to only /myproject/foo
#
[/myproject/foo]
leo= rw
temp = rw